Patti Chu's Fight Against Systolic Heart Failure

On March 13th, our mom was experiencing shortness of breath and had very swollen legs. We brought her to urgent care and they immediately found a large buildup of fluid in her chest and lungs. They transported her to Mass General to see what was causing this. 

On March 17th we found out that at some point in the near past, she had a heart attack and didn’t know, which resulted in her heart only working at 18% capacity. They ultimately determined that her heart was failing and her arteries were narrowing.

On March 23rd, her 47th birthday, she had surgery to insert 5 stents to widen her arteries and help the blood flow. Throughout the first night post op, her heart stopped pumping and she went into another emergency surgery. They placed a pump in her heart to assure that blood was being pumped to important organs.

She is in the intensive care unit recovering and waiting for her heart to start working properly. If it does not start functioning, she will need another heart surgery to place a left ventricular pump in short term, while she waits on the heart transplant list. She is B+. 

She is projected to be out of work for at least another 5 - 6 months. She will hopefully be coming home to recover. She will need accommodations at home to ensure she will have a safe and healthy start to recovery. 

Needless to say, during this time, we are struggling to keep our sanity, health and finances in check. We can handle the first two, but the latter is difficult due to the fact that the medical bills and medications are not fully covered by insurance. So if you are able to help my family and I with the financial burden that we are facing during this trying time, we will be forever grateful. If you would prefer to help in another way, please feel free. The porch is always open for visitors. 

Our sincere thanks to all for your prayers, thoughts, positive energy and support.