Please help us stay with our mom

My name is Stephanie Bruder (Blanchard) and for those of you who don’t already know, I am the daughter of Liz Campbell.

In 2020, my mom suffered a significant health crisis that resulted in both her lungs and heart being damaged due to life-threatening blood clots. Liz now lives with Pulmonary Artery Hypertension which often leaves her breathless, struggling to complete normal day-to-day activities. The scar tissue in her lungs makes life very difficult, and every day puts added stress on her heart, ultimately shortening her life. Her condition is rare and very serious.

My mom has been given the opportunity to regain and save her quality of life by the means of a rare specialized surgery called a Pulmonary Endarterectomy. However, this surgery can only be performed in Toronto. The procedure is extremely complex and will require my mother to be placed in a hypothermic state. This means they will stop her blood flow completely while the surgery is performed. They are required to induce hypothermia to prevent brain damage and it must be completed methodically. After the surgery, she will need to be slowly warmed up over several hours to prevent a shock to her body and organs that could be fatal. She will then need to remain in an induced coma for three days while her body recovers.

After hospitalization for what we hope will be three weeks, we will fly her home with us to Alberta where we will help her continue her recovery for a minimum of six weeks and up to three months.

As you can imagine, this is a tremendous strain on both her physical and emotional health, and she will require extensive support from me and my sister Iris during her recovery. We are raising funds to help with the significant cost of travel/accommodations from Alberta to Toronto as well as to New Brunswick for my mom. I have been blessed with some financial help from family but it doesn’t cover all the costs and the financial stress my mom will face while recovering. We simply cannot afford all of this without help from our family, friends, and community. We are humbly asking for any assistance you can offer during this difficult time.