Cindy & family's heart fundraiser

It's October & my birthday month. With that said, There is no greater gift that I could ask for but to help my sister Cindy & her family during this incredibly stressful time.. especially financially!

First, let me introduce my sister Cindy to you. For those of you who know her, you would all agree that she is as kind as they come!! She in the most selfless human being! She is always willing to help, she's genuine, she loves Micky Mouse & she's crafty!

She's an amazing mother to her 2 wonderful children Amanda & Anthony, Grandmother to her 2 grandchildren Zachary & Makenzie, #2 daughter to our parents Clark & Lori Andrus, incredible sister to myself & my 2 older sisters Teri & Kimberly, AND best friend & wife to her husband Michael for the last 42 years!!

Why is this fundraiser is SO important.... Cindy & Mike had gone on vacation and had been gone 3 weeks. During that time Cindy had found herself very fatigued but didn't think much of it because she was on vacation & they were constantly on the go!! Fast forward to September 10th. They had just got home & she had a rough night, not feeling well at all. By early morning they had made the decision to rush her to the ER (Edwards hospital) After she was triaged and a series of tests were done they had mentioned that they thought she had a blood clot in her lung, that was eventually ruled out to be told that it was now pneumonia & Afib (she has a history of this) Michael felt comfortable at this time to go home quickly to take care of a couple things... to barely make it home to receive a phone call that Cindy had crashed & to get back to the hospital ASAP!! At this point is when all of our lives took a turn and started us on this fearful rollercoaster ride!!

It was determined at this point that during the time Cindy was on vacation she was experiencing Afib and unaware of this happening and for how long, there was extensive damage done to her heart causing it to only function for her at 15%!! They explained to us at Edwards that it was crucial for Cindy to be put on a form of life support called ECMO, and they did not offer it there & she would need to be transferred to Christ hospital in Oak Lawn. The hope was to airlift her, but unfortunately she was too critical, and they transported her by ambulance where during that time her heart function had dropped to 12%!!

The following day, they performed the procedure to hook her up to the ECMO machine. (this procedure alone costs $73,122.00 with the range of hospital costs for the ECMO support being approx $6586.00 per day)

Fast forward... she had to come off the ECMO machine (not by choice) but because there was a large hematoma that was forming in her leg causing her severe pain and there was a risk of her losing her leg if they did not remove this.

They decided to switch her to a "balloon pump" that allowed her heart to work in conjunction to this machine. While her heart is still not anywhere near where they would like to see it, they have seem very slight improvements in her heart & that it is oh so slightly repairing itself from the damage that was done.

This leads me to today.... Ideal situation is that Cindys heart can heal itself!!! This is what we are praying SO HARD for, however... the doctors are skeptical and putting her through every test possible to clear her that in case it does not, she will be put on the heart transplant list!! If this takes place and Cindy IS put on the list... a new heart can cost $1.4 MILLION dollars!!! There is NO cost to Cindy's life to ANY of us & we will do whatever possible to get her healthy again & back home where she belongs to start recovering & trying to learn her "new normal".

I apologize for this long story, but want you to understand the importance of this fundraiser to Cindy & her family. If we can lessen ANY stresses or at least HELP... we would be SO SO grateful!!

Please continue to pray, pray for Cindy, the doctors & nurses that care for her, Her husband, children, & grandchildren. Our parents, and my sisters & I, as we are all trying to stay strong while supporting each other during this tragic time.

THANK YOU in advance & Bless you all!!