Mending a Broken Heart for Louise

For those who haven't had the privilege of meeting my mom's sister Louise, I would like to tell you a little about her humble life. Aunt Lou is a child of God. She is kind and soft-spoken, gentle and meek. She lives a simple life, unbothered by material things; rather, she cares more about the wellbeing of others than of herself. She has been married for 48 years to a wonderful loving man she met when she was 17. Together they have two loving sons, both married to wonderful women and two beautiful grandchildren. To me, Aunt Lou has always been a living saint on earth.

 

But now, it is her precious, tender heart that is struggling for the same love and care that she has always provided to those around her. Louise was diagnosed with a life-threatening condition called Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy. Unknowing, hers was more severe than she could have imagined.

 

On October 5th, Louise was scheduled for a risky but necessary surgery to help save her life and improve the condition of her failing heart. Sadly, her surgery went terribly wrong, causing a new catastrophic problem to occur, leaving her with a hole in her main ventricle that is required to pump blood throughout her body. Several attempts to repair and patch the hole were made, but their efforts were unsuccessful.

 

She was placed on a heart transplant list for only a couple of days while she laid in the ICU, connected to tubes and monitors, hoping that one would become available quickly. However, she was removed shortly after from the list due to developing kidney failure and active pneumonia.

 

Louise returned to surgery again to transition her to a more sustainable heart pump device. The surgery commenced over 13 hours, with yet again unfortunate circumstances. Louise began uncontrollably bleeding for hours which the surgeons struggled to get under control with every possible strategy. By the grace of God, they were able to regain control of her bleeding, and she was transitioned back to ICU.

 

Louise has been in ICU since October 5th. So far, she has had 6 surgeries and numerous procedures, with more than 35 hours in the operating room. She is currently working hard to regain her strength with the physical therapy team and waiting to be reinstated on the active heart transplant list. The doctors are still hopeful for her difficult recovery and are not giving up. Now, only God knows what her future holds.

 

My family and I have started this Go Fund Me account to ease the burden of her family.

 

We want to thank everyone for the continued prayers and thoughts and ask that you keep praying for Louise. Still, there will be continued hospital stays and surgeries over the days ahead. As you can imagine, the normal costs of everyday living and medical expenses can be astronomical.

 

Any generous donation will provide an ounce of ease during this unimaginable battle.

From the bottom of our hearts, we humbly ask that you share this link with friends and family and, if possible, give (any amount will help).

 

We thank you for your prayers and support, and God bless every one of you!!

 

The Loving Family of Sweet Louise