Help Donna Mahony cover medical expenses

Donna was diagnosed with Pulmonary Hypertension several years ago.  As many of you know, this is the same disease that led my late wife to heart/lung transplant and ultimately her untimely death.  Unfortunately, to advocate for my late wife, I had to be well versed with this disease.  Now I'm thankful that I can be there to help Donna when she needs me to translate medical jargon, explain medications, or when she needs guidance surrounding this disease.

Not surprisingly, Donna's condition has worsened over the last couple of years which prompted her doctors to take more aggressive actions.  She's been tested, retested, and tested again.  They've determined that her version of Pulmonary Hypertension is CTEPH (Chronic ThromboEmbolic Pulmonary Hypertension).  This is kind of good news as it means she could be a candidate for PTE (Pulmonary Thromboendarterectomy) surgery.  Her doctors in Phoenix have sent all of her records to UCSD (University of California San Diego).  USCD is the number 1 hospital in the world for PTE surgery.

Donna's case has been accepted by USCD and she is set to arrive there on 4/21 for three days of testing.  Once the test results are back, UCSD will then determine if they can move forward with the PTE surgery.

Traveling from her home in Chino Valley, AZ to San Diego, CA with meds, oxygen equipment, and a slew of other things needed to support her comes with its own set of obstacles.  She has a very dear friend, Roxanne, who will be taking Donna to San Diego and staying with her to make sure she gets to all of her testing appointments.  If Donna is given the green light for surgery, that will take place on 4/28.  Roxanne will stay until Donna is stable post surgery and then head back to Arizona.  Once Donna completes the post surgery rehab (3-4 days in ICU and approximately 2 weeks in a step down unit), she will be discharged.  Roxanne will then make the trip back to San Diego ahead of Donna's discharge to pick her up and bring her back to Chino Valley.

Obviously, this will come with expenses.  Donna is a friend to many of us in this small little world of ours.  She's too humble to ask for monetary donations on her own.  Knowing this disease is expensive, I'm asking for her.  If you can donate a few bucks, it'll go a long way in helping her stress less about an extremely stressful and scary situation.