Mending Mandie

On July 5th, Mandie Albright, a healthy 32 year old mother, wife, sister, caregiver to her Grandmother & aunt, gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Emmett. He was welcomed into the world by his father, Rick Albright Jr. and his two older sisters, Cali (4) and Bailey (13)

Shortly after arriving home on 7/7, Mandie fell victim to Spontaneous Aortic Dissection, which led her to have a massive heart attack.

She is currently in Jefferson Hospital in the Cardiac Care Unit. She was initially placed on a ECMO machine, one that would allow her heart and lungs to rest while in a medically induced coma.

On 7/13 doctors discovered that the use of this ECMO machine provided Mandies heart a chance to heal itself, so they took her off of life support and opted for open heart surgery. This is where they implanted a machine called a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) that will do all of the work for the left ventricle of her heart.

Three hours into this surgery, they discovered that they will also need to attach one to the right side of her heart as well because it is damaged more then doctors initially thought. At this time, doctors have placed Mandie on the heart transplant list. She is currently recovering from this immediate surgery and will be an a medically induced coma for atleast another week. She was placed back on life support, but they are going to attempt to take her off next week and allow the new pumps (LVAD) to eventually take over.

From this moment forward, all we can do is take this day by day, and pray that her heart heals as much as possible. She will have a nurse in the room with her at all times, so that should speak to the severity of the situation.

Doing this, should allow her to lead a somewhat normal life, but she will have a long road of recovery, healing and therapy. Her family was instructed to expect her recovery to be several months.

Her oldest sister, Nicole and her husband, Kirk has taken in the three children for the foreseeable future, so that Rick is able to be with Mandie and assist in making medical decisions that will lead her down the road to recovery. Rick has gone on FMLA to do this, and he will eventually need to care for Mandie as she moves forward with her progress.

Your donations will go directly to the family, helping to pay medical bills, provide food for the two oldest children, both formula and diapers for the newborn baby boy. 

We will update this as there are any changes, and as always many prayers and lots of love to the Albright family.