Rachel's Journey
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Rachel’s Story:
Rachel was born with a heart defect which consisted of a hole in her heart and a permanently damaged mitral valve. She had open heart surgery to repair the hole in her heart and replace the mitral valve
with an artificial valve when she was nine years old. Rachel had three (3) subsequent open heart surgeries due to heart failure at ages ten (10), thirteen (13) and forty (40) years of age. Complications
from her last surgery in 2005 left Rachel’s heart dependent on a pacemaker to function properly and she has had three (3) pacemaker replacement surgeries since. She is our Miracle sister and is the strongest and most courageous person we know.
Rachel has suffered from A Fib and A Flutter for the past couple of years. On April 5, 2019 Rachel had a heart ablation surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital in an attempt to correct the A Flutter and A Fib. This is a very common procedure for people with heart disease and usually takes about 3 to 4 hours. Rachel’s heart ablation surgery took 9 Hours and was not as successful as the Cardiologists would have
liked as they did not get to several areas of the left side of her heart due to scar tissue from all of her open heart surgeries. Rachel suffered extraordinary pain post-surgery which was atypical and on
Saturday, April 6, 2019 neurosurgeons were finally consulted.
We learned that complications from her surgery resulted in blood pooling in her spinal cord which was the cause of all the pain she was
experiencing. The blood pooling in her spinal cord also left her paralyzed from the diaphragm down. Rachel was taken into Emergency Surgery at Brigham & Women’s Medical Center to remove the blood
in her spinal cord, but she remains paralyzed.
Rachel was transferred to Spaulding Rehabilitation Center on Monday, April 15, 2019, where she will remain for up to 8 weeks. Once Rachel is discharged from Spaulding, she will need six months or more
of outpatient rehabilitation.
Rachel’s medical expenses; including her hospital stay, and her rehabilitation, will be enormous. Rachel will also have to either make significant changes to her house upon her discharge from Rehab or relocate and find a new home. She will also need specialty equipment and a new vehicle. Hotels and housing for Family are also several thousands of dollars.
Any help is appreciated, whether monetary or through positive healing thoughts and energy to help Rachel get better.
Rachel was born with a heart defect which consisted of a hole in her heart and a permanently damaged mitral valve. She had open heart surgery to repair the hole in her heart and replace the mitral valve
with an artificial valve when she was nine years old. Rachel had three (3) subsequent open heart surgeries due to heart failure at ages ten (10), thirteen (13) and forty (40) years of age. Complications
from her last surgery in 2005 left Rachel’s heart dependent on a pacemaker to function properly and she has had three (3) pacemaker replacement surgeries since. She is our Miracle sister and is the strongest and most courageous person we know.
Rachel has suffered from A Fib and A Flutter for the past couple of years. On April 5, 2019 Rachel had a heart ablation surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital in an attempt to correct the A Flutter and A Fib. This is a very common procedure for people with heart disease and usually takes about 3 to 4 hours. Rachel’s heart ablation surgery took 9 Hours and was not as successful as the Cardiologists would have
liked as they did not get to several areas of the left side of her heart due to scar tissue from all of her open heart surgeries. Rachel suffered extraordinary pain post-surgery which was atypical and on
Saturday, April 6, 2019 neurosurgeons were finally consulted.
We learned that complications from her surgery resulted in blood pooling in her spinal cord which was the cause of all the pain she was
experiencing. The blood pooling in her spinal cord also left her paralyzed from the diaphragm down. Rachel was taken into Emergency Surgery at Brigham & Women’s Medical Center to remove the blood
in her spinal cord, but she remains paralyzed.
Rachel was transferred to Spaulding Rehabilitation Center on Monday, April 15, 2019, where she will remain for up to 8 weeks. Once Rachel is discharged from Spaulding, she will need six months or more
of outpatient rehabilitation.
Rachel’s medical expenses; including her hospital stay, and her rehabilitation, will be enormous. Rachel will also have to either make significant changes to her house upon her discharge from Rehab or relocate and find a new home. She will also need specialty equipment and a new vehicle. Hotels and housing for Family are also several thousands of dollars.
Any help is appreciated, whether monetary or through positive healing thoughts and energy to help Rachel get better.
Fundraising team: Team Rachel (4)
Kelly Gorham
Organizer
North Windham, ME
Rachel Dufresne
Beneficiary
Mary Sauschuck
Team member
Raised $100 from 1 donation
Jim Dufresne
Team member
Mike Sauschuck
Team member
This team raised $28,884 from 138 other donations.
