Amber Thomas's Final Days

My name is Amber Thomas and for about the last two years, I have had health issues that have been life threatening. I truly am lucky to be alive today. I have a loving husband Josh Thomas and three kids Kendyl (7), Kenzie (4), and Emmitt (2). All this started with a tooth infection which turned into endocarditis  (bacteria in the blood). From there the endocarditis turned into having to have open heart surgery and removal of three blood clots, one of which completly cut off the circulation in my left leg.

In the beginning I started getting really sick and having high fevers of around 105 every day. If I didn't take tylenol every four hours I would be so sick that I couldn't even drive to get the kids from school  which caused Josh to miss a lot of work. This eventually caused him to have to quit his job to take care of me and the kids.
The doctors kept telling me I had the flu, broncitis etc. or anything to get me on my way with some antibiotics that were not the ones i needed so i never got better. This went on for about four or five months. Finally my husband Josh was fed up, he knew something more serious was going on and took me to the emergency room. He wouldn't leave until finally one doctor figured out that I had endocarditis. The bacteria went into my blood stream giving me an infection that caused the high fevers and night sweats. It had been going on for so long without the proper treatment I ended up getting an inch and a half piece of bacteria on one of my heart valves. They started treating me with iv antibiotics which was supposed to help, but because they had let it go on for months without catching the real problem it had time to get 1 1/2 inches damaging my heart valve. A piece of the bacteria ended up breaking off and gave me three clots in my leg. I was then life flighted to Spokane where they removed the clots and told me I needed emergency heart surgury to remove the bacteria and repair my heart valve or I wouldn't live much longer.

Because of the surgury and the endocarditis I have to be on blood thinners the rest of my life and I have a weakened immune system. Since then I have had two other bacteria infections and haven't been able to work or even take care of my family on my own. My husband had to quit his job back in March in order to take care of me and the kids and to get on Idaho medicade to cover some of our medical bills. Since March my husband has had to be my nurse and a stay at home dad due to my illness. 

Right now we have no income and the bills just keep piling up. We owe at least $20,000 to $40,000 in medical bills that they are asking $1,000 a month payments. We are asking for your help raising some money in order to pay off some of our medical debt that occured before insurance kicked in. We also need to catch back up on bills because my husband still isn't able to return to work. He has to be my nurse and give me my iv medication. He does about everything around the house and takes care of the kids because I am still really sick and have no energy to even take care of myself. Please everybody even a few dollars helps.