A heart within a heart

Hi my name is Catherine and I am the wife of Randall Thomas. Randall’s journey with his illness began 11 years ago when he had to undergo a quadruple bypass at the age of 39 in 2010. Shortly thereafter in 2014 he was told he had Stage 5 Kidney failure which caused him to go on dialysis. Randall continued to work despite having to do nine hours of peritoneal dialysis at night daily. After having five surgeries for peritonitis, Randall had to go on medical disability in 2016. He continued to keep his faith and strove to live life to the best of his ability by spoiling his grandkids, and maintaining his yard. Several more obstacles came his way by several stents, bleeding disorders, coding in ICU in 2017 which required life support, mitral valve replacement in 2019, life vest, impeller placement to route the blood to the vessels so his heart can rest for surgery, and being sent home with 10% heart function requiring a defibrillator (pacemaker) and hospice in 2020 only a few weeks before the Covid Pandemic. God restored Randall and he was able to discharge hospice a few months later due to regaining his mobility and strength and his heart function increased to 50%. Although still very ill and under the advisement of a RN from Lafayette General, who informed him of Houston Methodist in Houston, Texas. Randall was referred by his cardiologist (CIS Opelousas)and began health care in Houston. He was then placed on the transplant list for a donor heart and kidney in the early part of this year. Currently due to reoccurring health issues, his heart function has decreased to 35% requiring an Intra-Aorta Balloon Pump (IABP) to be placed on September 10, 2021. Because of this and him being being placed in ICU and also the Covid pandemic, I am not allowed to stay overnight. This required me to seek hotel accommodations. We were informed by medical staff of the many hurdles that are still yet to come. He has been upgraded to level two. Having a double transplant requires several months of immediate care with daily anti rejection medication. Randall and I are grateful for any support given toward the expenses of my stay here, but most importantly your prayers. God is still ultimately in control and we believe that he has and will continue to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think. His testimony can be seen on YouTube (Opelousas man needs heart and kidney) An interview that was done by KATC in Opelousas in 2020.