Tracy McInnis is a dear friend who has been in the hospital since December 1st – 8 very long weeks. She went in for a kidney stone removal and things went horribly wrong. Two days after her surgery to remove the kidney stone she developed an infection that nearly took her life. She ended up septic and on a ventilator in the ICU in a medically induced coma. Due to the sepsis, she also lost all of her toes and several of her fingers. There have been multiple complications, and they are ongoing.
She is having to re-learn how to walk and how to use her hands in new ways. Now considered disabled and handicapped she will need time in a rehab facility before she can be released to home. Prior to that she has, at a minimum, 3 to 4 more weeks in hospital. And to make matters worse she has developed blood clots in both legs as well as another kidney stone that is creating concern for another potential surgery.
Her medical bills are enormous and mounting higher by the day, as you can imagine. Her home needs some work to make it ready for her to live in as a disabled individual, especially the bathroom, and she needs a stair lift to allow her to access her bedroom on the 2nd floor as stairs are too difficult at this point.
As an entrepreneur in the dog food business, her business is suffering without her at the helm and she is having to depend on others to try to keep it going. She also has a number of pets at home that need care and these worries are taking a toll on her mental and emotional health.
She is facing enormous challenges financially, psychologically and physically. Please, won’t you search your heart and find a way to help her in this time of crisis? Every little bit helps!
UPDATE 2/24: Tracy has been moved to Dartmouth Hitchcock Hospital as The Elliot Hospital was at the limit of what they could do for her. We are hopeful that things will progress more quickly now and Tracy can either get into rehab or home with the necessary services put into place. While this is good it does make the necessary renovations for her home much more urgent as her discharge appears to be sooner than previously thought. We are praying for help for her, be it donations of money, time and materials, building expertise, what have you! Please help!!!
UPDATE: 5/5/24
Tracy was discharged from the hospital at the end of March to her sister’s home in Massachusetts. Since then she has been in and out of the hospital for various reasons. Most recent admission was on March 28 for a bowel obstruction. This was due to a mass of adhesions from her surgery and infections (sepsis). She required a feeding tube after this for a period of time and has just recently had that removed. She is currently scheduled for an upcoming surgery on May 31 to correct the amputations of her toes. It is highly likely that her finger amputations will also need to be surgically corrected, as well.
Tracy is bearing up fairly well, all things considered. Her life has been completely turned around and she is relearning how to do simple things that we all take for granted. Her bathroom remodel will be starting next week so any contribution you can find in your heart to make will be a huge help! Thank you all!