Stand With Vicki Visser-Kendall: Overcoming Health Crisis

My name is Melissa. I decided to start this GoFundMe account to help my family absorb some of the costs that are incurring as a result of my sister, Vicki's Visser-Kendall's unexpected, critical illnesses. Vicki is a 47-year-old mother of 2. On March 6th, her son, Collin, got home from work and found her unresponsive on the floor and called 911. Later, she was transferred to Des Moines, intubated, and remained unresponsive for nearly a week. Through a magnitude of tests, it seemed like we had more questions than answers piling up. It was decided to transfer her to ICCU. It has now been determined she has had multiple strokes caused by a bacterial infection causing sepsis. The infection colonized and gathered on a mitral valve of her heart. A piece of this infection broke off and traveled to her brain. This caused her to have 2 major strokes: one a brain bleed and the other a blockage. She is going to need open-heart bypass surgery to replace the heart valve that is infected. In her current condition, the doctors are saying that she is not stable enough to undergo the surgery. First, she will need 8-12 weeks of IV antibiotics for this bacterial infection to ensure that it is gone. Hopefully, this gives her brain bleed (which is currently inactive) time to scar over and heal some. Because part of the treatment plan for the bypass is blood thinners, she can't currently have them due to the brain bleed. She and her children live in Oskaloosa, 1.5 hours away. Her children are young and both work. Her parents live in Pella, an hour away. She will likely be looking at a 4-6 month stay in the hospital. Then she will need to go to a skilled rehabilitation facility to learn how to live her life all over again while she learns how to retrain her brain to live with any new limitations, as well as any long-term lasting effects that are not yet fully determined. Our family truly appreciates any thoughts, prayers, or monetary assistance.