Help Donna Recover from a Stroke

This is a fundraiser for Donna Heckman, a loving wife and mother of 3.

 

Donna was admitted to the hospital on January 31st due to Covid complications. Since then, she has been in 3 different hospitals, having had multiple issues - pneumonia, blood clots, strokes, bleeding in the brain and a few other issues. We knew she didn’t want to live on machines or be a burden to others, but we couldn’t pull the plug on her - she was loved too much and was too young to be let go. After talking with the doctors and to her (the best we could), we put our faith and trust in the Lord and went with life!

 

Donna had to be placed on a ventilator on February 3rd. She struggled with it for 3 weeks - which included 2 failed extractions and re-incubations of the ventilator tube, then a tracheostomy and a final extraction of the ventilator tube. She then had a surgery to insert a feeding tube. She suffered much trauma to the throat and vocal cords through this whole ordeal.

 

She’s currently staying at a skilled nursing home to receive several types of therapy and respiratory care for the trach. She is to see an ENT specialist next week to assess the condition of her throat and vocal cords and move forward from there.

 

She is paralyzed on her right side with a weakened left side; her vocal cords & throat muscles have been paralyzed, and her hearing and vision have also been affected. She suffers from depression and anxiety, but with family support, she is coping.

 

We continue to pray for healing and are hopeful for her to return home in the near future where she will continue therapy and work on getting stronger every day.

 

She will need much financial/medical assistance and therapy and even the use of robot technology to help stimulate her brain to find new ways to connect to her limbs. We want to give her the best chance of recovery and to recover as much as possible, and the sooner, the better.

 

We all thank each and every one of you for any donations you may make. No one expects a life-changing event to occur, so when it does, a lot of the time, you aren’t prepared. So we’re reaching out to you to lend a helping hand.

 

With love,

The Heckman Family