Stephanie Stephens Transplant Fund

Stephanie Stephens is an extraordinary woman who is full of life, caring, light-hearted, a fantastic cook, and oh-by-the-way is a world-class wife and mother of two.  As many of you know, Stephanie was born with Cystic Fibrosis, a life-altering disease that progressively destroys the lungs.  She has battled valiantly over the years, often with a bright smile and contagious laugh, showing all of us what it means to be brave.  This fact is made clear by this picture, taken an hour before surgery.  Her condition has worsened over the last 6 months or so as she sat at the top of the transplant list awaiting new lungs.  Well…her time has come! 

Stephanie received “the call” on Saturday (11/19/16) and had a life-saving double lung transplant just hours later.  She is currently in the ICU recovering from a grueling 12-hour surgery.  She is stable and there are a few issues that need to be cleared up, namely bleeding, and the large size of the lungs compared to her envious size 00 frame!  The doctors assure us this is not a problem, in fact, we just see it as Steph having that much more lung capacity than the rest of us!  She still has a long road to recovery ahead of her as her body learns to use these new lungs.  Her husband Ryan, and two children Molly and Jacob, are lovingly at her side in Cleveland as she begins this historic climb to freedom. 

With a typical recovery lasting 6 months or more, the family has been up-rooted and will live in Cleveland, 220 miles from home.  The money raised by this campaign will go directly to meet the needs of the family, which include such things as lodging, food, gas money, and much needed entertainment during Steph's recovery.  We ask that you, our friends, prayerfully consider giving to this, the worthiest of causes.  Steph has touched so many of us personally, let’s show her how much she means to us.  We will continue to post updates on Steph’s condition and progress on Facebook as we receive them.  Thank you and God bless each of you for your prayers that have brought Steph to this life-saving milestone!