Help Lena Yarger VerKuilen
Donation protected
Lena is my sister-in-law and she has been battling several health issues for several months requiring numerous hospital stays.
Lena is an Educator. She educates children and adults in all things nature. She has a great knowledge of the environments of insects, plants and animals and how they impact our environment. She has worked for Spenser Park Conservation, Welty Environmental Center, and Atwood Forest Preserve teaching children how to identify animal tracks, the part insects play in our environment. She has created her own backyard prairie garden with all plants and flowers indigenous to Illinois. When you walk into her backyard you will find Praying Mantis, numerous other insects, all types of birds and wildflowers. She has taught me a lot about theses things and I am fascinated by her vast knowledge on these subjects. She also loves to hike, cook and bake. She is the center of my brothers world along with her feline family members.
This roller coaster journey began March 21, 2020 in the emergency room with terrible headaches, caused by dangerously high blood pressure, which lead to the diagnosis of chronic heart failure and Stage 3 kidney disease. All this has occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic, she was tested and came back negative, twice. Each time she returned to the hospital, total of 4 times, with fluid on her lungs making it difficult to breathe. During one hospitalization she was placed on a ventilator.
During her first hospital stay she was treated for pneumonia, migraines and severe hypertension. The drug she was given for the migraines actually caused rebound migraines. After multiple attempts to see her family doctor, she was finally able to get an appointment and address this issue. With the migraines finally under control, she was hospitalized for the second time. This time for the very high blood pressure. The doctors were able to get the right medications to treat this condition.
Unfortunately, the kidney disease is still causing problems. She has been going for dialysis treatments 3 times a week, in hopes that it will help her kidneys begin to function properly on their own. The kidney disease causes the fluid retention that ends up in her lungs, because the kidneys are not able to filter the blood properly.
She recently had an angiogram to look for any blockages that may be hindering the blood supply to the kidneys. Thankfully there are no blockages and her heart is in good shape, but damage has been done to her kidneys causing the need for dialysis. It has been determined that dialysis treatments will be a life time condition.
All four of her hospital stays were alone. No visitors, no one to help make medical decisions, or to just hold her hand and offer comfort. Needless to say this has been a very emotional struggle for her and my brother, no two people have loved each other as these two do.
Their current situation and the Shelter in Place order does not allow either of them to work. All donations will be used to help Lena and her husband Ed with upcoming medical expenses and day to day expenses to get her back and forth to appointments, dialysis treatments and filling of numerous prescriptions.
Lena is an Educator. She educates children and adults in all things nature. She has a great knowledge of the environments of insects, plants and animals and how they impact our environment. She has worked for Spenser Park Conservation, Welty Environmental Center, and Atwood Forest Preserve teaching children how to identify animal tracks, the part insects play in our environment. She has created her own backyard prairie garden with all plants and flowers indigenous to Illinois. When you walk into her backyard you will find Praying Mantis, numerous other insects, all types of birds and wildflowers. She has taught me a lot about theses things and I am fascinated by her vast knowledge on these subjects. She also loves to hike, cook and bake. She is the center of my brothers world along with her feline family members.
This roller coaster journey began March 21, 2020 in the emergency room with terrible headaches, caused by dangerously high blood pressure, which lead to the diagnosis of chronic heart failure and Stage 3 kidney disease. All this has occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic, she was tested and came back negative, twice. Each time she returned to the hospital, total of 4 times, with fluid on her lungs making it difficult to breathe. During one hospitalization she was placed on a ventilator.
During her first hospital stay she was treated for pneumonia, migraines and severe hypertension. The drug she was given for the migraines actually caused rebound migraines. After multiple attempts to see her family doctor, she was finally able to get an appointment and address this issue. With the migraines finally under control, she was hospitalized for the second time. This time for the very high blood pressure. The doctors were able to get the right medications to treat this condition.
Unfortunately, the kidney disease is still causing problems. She has been going for dialysis treatments 3 times a week, in hopes that it will help her kidneys begin to function properly on their own. The kidney disease causes the fluid retention that ends up in her lungs, because the kidneys are not able to filter the blood properly.
She recently had an angiogram to look for any blockages that may be hindering the blood supply to the kidneys. Thankfully there are no blockages and her heart is in good shape, but damage has been done to her kidneys causing the need for dialysis. It has been determined that dialysis treatments will be a life time condition.
All four of her hospital stays were alone. No visitors, no one to help make medical decisions, or to just hold her hand and offer comfort. Needless to say this has been a very emotional struggle for her and my brother, no two people have loved each other as these two do.
Their current situation and the Shelter in Place order does not allow either of them to work. All donations will be used to help Lena and her husband Ed with upcoming medical expenses and day to day expenses to get her back and forth to appointments, dialysis treatments and filling of numerous prescriptions.
Organizer and beneficiary
Lorrie Nimmo
Organizer
Loves Park, IL
Edward J VerKuilen Jr
Beneficiary