Help cover Althea's medical bills
Donation protected
Hello, my name is Eric and my wife's name is Karen and I truly appreciate you giving this a read.
We have been friends with Dan and Meghan for about a decade, but have become much closer after we moved back to town 6 years ago and our two boys and their oldest daughter have had occasional playdates together since the days they were all in diapers.
Their second daughter, Althea, was born on January 31, 2023 with a birth defect called Tetralogy of Fallot with Pulmonary Artresia and Mapca’s, which means that the pathways from the heart to the lungs were underdeveloped. She was also born with a hole in her heart. In the past or in another country, this would be a death sentence. Thanks to modern medicine and an excellent University of Iowa Children's Hospital, Althea has a chance.
On November 14, Althea at 10.5 months old had her major open heart surgery to implant a pulmonary artery conduit, fix the hole in her heart and unifocalize the mapca’s. After surgery, she was heavily sedated with a breathing tube and various medications in the PICU for 2 weeks. Since then (2.5 weeks so far at the time of this writing) the doctors have slowly been reducing her sedatives and working on getting her body to adjust to the new physiology. Dan and Meghan have been taking turns staying at the hospital so one of them is there 24-7 to keep an eye on Althea and talk to the doctors.
We have found that Dan and Meghan are not the type of people that would feel comfortable asking for help. That is why it is up to their friends and family to show them love and support. We might not be able to take away the stress of having their baby in the hospital and recovering from major surgery, but we can at least help take away some of the financial stress that goes along with having a child with an extensive medical diagnosis.
If able, please consider chipping in some financial support for Dan and Meghan. To show that we're serious about this GoFundMe, we are personally kicking it off with a $500 donation.
Please forward this message on to other friends and family members.
-Eric & Karen
Fundraising team (4)
Eric Wilke
Organizer
Coralville, IA
Meghan Menzel
Beneficiary
Karen Wilke
Team member
Sarah menzel
Team member