Mary wants to go home

MARY SORRENTI

AMOUNT $18,500

04 August 2024

HELP MARY GET HOME

My longtime friend Mary Sorrenti has been in hospital for a year. She wants to go home.

Her original injury was a blister on her foot. Through misdiagnosis and lack of competent medical care, Mary’s blister became infected. In a matter of days it was necrotic. By the time she was taken by ambulance to Emergency, she was incoherent, unaware of her surroundings and was suffering an acute infection in her foot, blood and osteomielitisi (infection of the bone). While in hospital she got Covid twice and developed COPD, and caught VRE and MRS. Continued misguided medical treatment caused her to go from bad to worse. Put in a rehab facility before she was ready, the staff made her walk on her necrotic foot, which caused a spiral fracture. The wound was down to the bone and Mary started to retain water at an alarming rate. Eventually Mary stopped responding to medication and could not get out of bed. Her condition got her an emergency admittance to a critical care hospital and her condition was incomprehensible.

How could someone be in hospital for five months and be worse off than when she started?

The wound was no better, the infection was still there, and the swelling has doubled. Mary could not bear weight on her foot, and it took three people to turn her in bed, thus she developed bedsores.

The diagnosis came in: Mary had lost both her kidneys. She is now expected to be on dialysis, a life sustaining therapy, for the rest of her life. To put this in perspective when Mary started dialysis, she was carrying an extra 60 KILOS ~120 lbs, OF WATER. This was the beginning of the end.

When she checked into the average lifespan of patients on dialysis, it is a mere five years!

Mary is as sharp as she ever was, but the hospital transferred her to a ward where 95% of the patients have dementia. The ward is a holding cell, with a group of kind, underfunded, and understaffed caregivers doing their best for these poor souls. Those patients and their loving families wait for somewhere they can get the care they need.

HELP MARY GET HER LIFE BACK.

The care team suggests she move to a similar ward in a LTC home. But my friend Mary wants to go home, where she can live with her son, and see her family for as long as she is able.

MARY COULD LIVE AT HOME.

How? Her house needs renovations to make it wheelchair accessible. An early estimate of renovations required is $18,500, to pay for a wheelchair friendly bathroom, and a ramp into the house. This would also make the possibility of dialysis at home a reality. What a truly life changing opportunity.

Mary and her son have been through hell. The sudden death of her husband, three months after moving into a new home, threw her into a tailspin. She had to fight severe depression, anxiety and panic. Her son was 18 when his dad died, and he was starting university with this pall over his head.

The years of worry about Raymond's wellbeing, holding on to her home, fighting for ODSP and pension, living through the Pandemic, and using up equity and savings helped create this outcome.

Mary is just plain worn out.

Swallowing her pride to accept help is hard, but to keep her home and her world together, she is asking you to look into your hearts…and give what you can.

Can you help Mary get home?

Mary wants to go home, but she just doesn't have the resources, her family can't help: she is out of options.

THERE IS HOPE. IT'S YOU!

Mary’s family is behind her. Her son has given up university to be a support for her, until this situation is untenable. He has left his friends, his job and future in limbo.

Mary is trying to work with the hospital, but it is a bureaucracy, rigid, and driven by meeting their financial targets. She has been moved from a rehab floor (without prior knowledge or any warning) and it is clear that a decision on her next home will have to be made in short order. She wants to be the one to make that decision.

THE CLOCK IS TICKING

To those of you who know Mary and Raymond, you know how much she loves her family and her home. You know how proud she is, and how hard this is for her.

For those of you who met Mary in passing, or who don't know this wonderful lady, I assure you she needs your help, and I would be grateful beyond words for your consideration. Mary changed my life.

Look into your hearts, and consider making my friend's life worth living, for as long as possible.

PLEASE GIVE: HELP MARY GO HOME