Help Fund Heather's Life-Changing Surgeries

HEATHER'S DAILY ROUTINES WITH LYMPHEDEMA

WHY SURGERY?

We're so glad you're here because Heather needs your help in order to save her leg. God is a big God, and His people have big hearts.

My name is Sandi Youngren and I have known Heather Olson for three decades. When I first met Heather (in her early 20s), she was discovering the hard truth about why her leg was often swelling. Now it had a name and a prognosis: Lymphedema.

I have marveled at how this young and active person handled such a blow, and how she still handles it today. Her life has had to accommodate a disruptive and difficult chronic disease, yet you will rarely hear her draw attention to it, complain about it, or let it slow her down. She is a whirlwind of joy, compassion, laughter, and deep thought.

Heather is now a wife to Phil and mom to Grace, Anna, David, and Sarah.

In order to understand what she deals with daily, I encourage you to watch her explain in the videos on this site, and to read about Lymphedema here, here, and here.

There are 4 stages of Lymphedema:

Stage 0 (Latency)

Stage 1 (Spontaneously Reversible)

Stage 2 (Spontaneously Irreversible)

Stage 3 (Lymphostatic Elephantiasis)

Heather has suffered through these stages and Dr Chen explains the stage she is in right now:

"In terms of lymphedema severity staging, she is at Campisi III, no infection yet. At this stage, nonsurgical treatment will not meaningfully reduce bulk, and is challenging to successfully manage the condition."

In the past, there has been little hope for relief in Stage III.

Until now.

As the years of living with this condition have taken its toll on her leg, and the hope of reducing bulk on her own has diminished, Heather’s physical therapist encouraged her to look into surgery. She told her about Dr Chen at Cleveland Clinic and the advancements that have been made in the field of lymphedema. You can read about it here.

This is where YOU come in. This treatment seems like a miracle answer to Heather's worsening battle with lymphedema, as this surgery would give her worn-out leg a "reset." Unfortunately, the Olsons' insurance does not cover this type of surgery, and it is costly. Heather's family and friends have encouraged her not to give up. We know that there are MANY people that know and love her and would want to participate in making this happen for her.

The surgery is set to take place in Ohio, but because there is no insurance coverage and the entire plan will be self paid, surgery cannot be scheduled until the full amount is paid in full.

The money we are raising would cover:

With the help of a financial planner at Cleveland Clinic, these costs will add up to:

$120,000. Which we think is an amazing price considering all that it will cover.

God is a big God.

Would you please give what you can (maybe even sacrificially) to help Phil and Heather meet this financial need in order to get Heather the help she needs? Please also pass this site on to anyone you know that would help with this project.

Thank you!