Connie Strozak's Road to Recovery

Connie Strozak has been an absolutely incredible mom, wife, grandmother, and friend to so many throughout her life.

A few years ago, she was diagnosed with a rare, but very serious lung disease called pulmonary hypertension at the age of 50. The condition restricts blood flow through the lungs and significantly reduces the ability for the blood to get oxygenated and provide oxygen to the rest of the body. Only about [phone redacted] people every year are diagnosed in the United States. The ultimate treatment for this condition is lung transplantation. She finally became so sick that she had to wait in the hospital ICU on life supporting medications until she finally received her double lung transplant in May 2018.

Shortly after surgery, she encountered rare complications as a result of her body’s response to the transplant trauma. They caused seizures, brain swelling, and ultimately brain damage. No one was sure if she would make it, let alone be functional. She spent months in rehab gaining her communication and motor skills back. Even though we knew she’d never be the same, we were just happy for her to be alive.  We were ready to try and move forward with life.



But a few months ago her mental status/functional status suddenly started seriously declining (due to her sustained brain damage) to the point of hospitalization. She has been at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania since May 2019. Various teams of psychiatrists and doctors have been trying to treat her as best as they can. Ultimately the doctors aren’t able to pinpoint a diagnosis and have tried numerous therapies.

As a last resort, the transplant and psychiatric teams have been trying to get her accepted into a residential care brain injury facility. Due to her medical complexity (brain injury, transplant therapies, no clear diagnosis, etc.) dozens of facilities have denied her. In the interim, the only option is to send her home with 24/7 home care and the cost is astronomical; amounting to over $20,000 per month. 

Insurance will not cover ANY part of home care because she has no “skilled” needs; although her mental status prohibits her from doing day to day tasks. We will be putting her in outpatient therapies to try and get her help but there is NO guarantee if or when she could get better. 

We would greatly appreciate any and all support from friends, family, and the community as we aim to help Connie get back to health. She'll be most likely coming home very soon as we continue to look for the right facility to help her get her mental capacity back. 

Thank you all in advance!

Connie Strozak's Family