Bharati Das's Road to Recovery

My name is Priyanku Rajkhowa, and I am doing this fundraiser to raise funds to cover my mother-in-law Bharati Das's ongoing medical expenses for heart treatment.

My mother-in-law visited us from India and arrived in Phoenix, AZ, on November 8th, 2021. It was a sudden plan for her to visit us after we heard about our unborn child's multiple neurological disorders to provide emotional support, especially to my heartbroken wife Priyambada Das, her elder daughter. Before her arrival, I ensured she had visitor's medical insurance with the proper coverage for any unforeseen medical situations.

On November 11th, 2021, we welcomed our son Purav Rajkhowa, little brother to our 3 year old daughter Paulina Rajkhowa, who spent 17 days in NICU before bringing home to the extended family. Our son, who is 7 months old, has had 2 surgeries and several hospital admissions and is currently under epilepsy watch. In addition, due to his developmental delays, he has to undergo several weekly therapies.

On June 24th, 2022, my mother-in-law started feeling sick, losing appetite, and struggling with a cough around a week back. I gave her medicines, and she felt instant relief. Since this was the first time, even I thought it was a seasonal allergy. Again, on June 27th, 2022, she had chest pain and difficulty breathing, which concerned my wife and me. I took her to the nearest emergency center at night around 10:30 PM, where based on the symptoms, they did a chest x-ray and ECG, by which they found she might have irregular heart rhythm. After a few hours, her condition worsened, and they decided to continue her treatment in a hospital. And she was immediately transferred in an ambulance to Abrazo Arrowhead Emergency ICU unit in Phoenix, AZ.

After her admission to Abrazo Arrowhead Emergency ICU Unit, the doctors immediately started administering heart medication to stabilize her irregular heart rhythm and gave her oxygen support. At the same time, they started several tests like CT scan, X-ray, Ultrasound and numerous blood draw. Then, on June 28th, 2022, we heard unexpected news from specialists (Cardiologists, Renal and GI). She was diagnosed with heart arrhythmia with heart functioning at 15%, due to which her kidney functions have decreased to 16%, and her liver was also impacted. This has also resulted in fluid accumulation in lung cavities.

Watching her in ICU struggling for her life with multiple IVs, oxygen, and whatnot was devastating. Doctors suggested doing Cath Lab to find more details about the heart condition. But given her kidney condition, if we proceed with Cath Lab, her kidney functioning might stop. So at this point, we have to bring her home with a life vest and give her some time to recover with cardio rehab. In a couple of weeks, we have to plan for her surgery to implant a cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) similar to a pacemaker to control her heart rhythm. We somehow managed the lifevest lease and medication cost, which is again not covered with visitors insurance, so far by tapping into our savings.

With a medically complex child at home to take care of, which involves a significantly high ongoing cost, we cannot think of any other way to raise funds to cover her ongoing medical expenses. Unfortunately, there is limited coverage with visitor's insurance.

This fundraiser is our only hope to get her the proper ongoing treatment, cardio rehab, medications, and future surgeries that insurance will not cover.

For people who know Priyambada and me, we are always the first in line to help people when they need help in whatever shape or form we can. I never imagined we would be in this situation raising funds for my mother-in-law.

Any help can help us cover her medical expenses.

Lastly, please continue contributing your hopes, prayers, and positive energy. God Bless all of you.

Most Sincerely,

Priyanku Rajkhowa