Jessica Boyd's Journey to Recovery

On May 18th, 2020, my best friend, recent new mother of two (Dax - Baby #2 was born on May 12th, 2020 via C-Section), wife, daughter and sister was admitted to the ICU at Ross Memorial Hospital with neck and chest pains. After seeing the cardiologist they had determined that she had had a heart attack and they detected a problem with the carotid arteries on both sides of her neck. She was placed on oxygen. That night she was airlifted to Toronto General and admitted to the CICU. On May 21st, Jess had an MRI of the brain and blood vessels of the heart. The results came back showing rips on both sides of her heart. She was going to be an outpatient at the stroke clinic to watch the blood vessels in her neck. On Sunday, May 24th she was told that if everything stayed good she would be able to return home to her babies and husband on Tuesday, May 26th. Monday her Troponin levels had risen drastically. The doctors thought she had experienced another heart attack the night prior. She would be going for bloodwork, an ECG, an echo and a catheter through the thigh on Tuesday, May 26th. The echo didn't look good. Around 1pm that day while trying to take a picture of the heart her aorta closed and she experienced another heart attack. She was rushed into emergency surgery where she had triple bypass surgery and would be out of the OR at 7. Her husband Eric was notified by the Doctor to hurry to the hospital, "things didn't look good". Shortly after 7 Jess was rushed back into surgery for a second time that night. She was bleeding internally around the graft. She would be in the ICU for 48 hours and sedated until the following afternoon when they could remove the catheter to her heart and her breathing tube and wait for her to wake up. 

Jess was born with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Type IV, it affects her vascular system and connective tissues. This makes everything she is going through at the hospital more severe and harder to predict. 

She is a fighter. She woke around 4:30pm on Wednesday, however she has a long road to recovery. After she is able to return home in about two weeks, she will be on bed rest for 6 months. Her schooling no longer attainable and her husband unable to work as he looks after their two children. She is strong and will keep fighting. 

Any donations are greatly appreciated and will help in numerous ways.