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Shawn's post transplants expenses

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My husband has struggled since birth with heart problems. He was born with a congenital heart defect and had to have open heart surgery at the age of 2. However, that was not a permanent fix. His arteries were crossed at birth and the only fix at that moment was to make his only 2 of the arteries pump in and and out on 1 side of his heart. With only one side of the heart doing all of the work eventually his heart got weak and this started to put a strain on the other major organs in his body, because of this he was diagnosed with copd at the age of 28 and given roughly 5 years to live, but he beat those odds by a long shot. He has however been in and out of the hospital countless times over the last 12 years. He was put on life support 6 times in the last 5 years before transplants. One hospital stay lasted 68 days. We have spent many holidays in hospitals as well. We have even spent Christmas in the hospital with our children. Shawn is a fighter though and he never gave up. He even walked on life support 4 different times while in the hospital to help strengthen his lungs. One time he even went 5 days with no sedatives or narcotics while on the ventilator it was very painful for him, but he did it because he wanted to live. And on July 3rd of last year he got what he had been working so hard for a second chance at life an chance to live life like a normal healthy person and enjoy all of the things that we take for granted everyday. Just to be able to really breathe without assistance from a machine or struggling means so much to him. He had been waiting on the call for transplants for over 4 and a half years and on July 2, 2017 we got the call that the hospital had a donor. On July 3, 2017 my Shawn was blessed with the most amazing gift that anyone could ever give him a new heart and lungs. God bless his donor and his donors family for such a priceless gift. He is the 3rd person in the state of Missouri to ever recieve a heart and lungs from one donor at the same time and we were told that it had been over 12 years since this was done at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St.Louis, MO. The reason why I'm posting this is, because throughout this whole experience I have struggled, but I have always supported our little family. However, since he got the transplants money has gotten way to tight in our home and with all of these new expenses I'm really struggling to keep up. Shawn has lots of new medications that are more costly than before and he has been having rejection in his lungs since transplants. So he has to travel back and for from where we live in Independence, MO. to St.Louis, MO. At least once a month for appointments this is a 3 and a half to 4 hour drive each way sometimes he has to stay in St.Louis over night for 2 days of appointments. And he still has lots of doctors appointments here locally. He hasn't been released by his doctors to go back to work, because of the lung rejection. So I am still the only provider and its just really overwhelming. Any help would be really appreciated even if its only 5 dollars anything helps. Thank you taking the time to read Shawn's story ❤
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Donations 

  • J Leach
    • $50 
    • 5 yrs
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Organizer

Tammy Cosgrove
Organizer
Independence, MO

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