Chip Chick
Not wanting to wait for that 4-month appointment, and Kenzie’s cardiologist told Heidi that they need to immediately operate on Kenzie.
The words Kenzie said to her mom were so wise beyond her age as she attempted to quell her fears over needing major surgery at such a young age.
“Mom don’t be sad and scared that I have to have surgery. Be glad that they can fix my heart,” Kenzie told her mom.
Kenzie is set to undergo her surgery in just a few weeks on December 8th.
“Her aortic valve is unrepairable so they will take that out and use her pulmonary valve to replace her aortic valve,” Heidi said.
“Then they will use a prosthetic valve to replace the pulmonary valve. This is a highly complicated surgery and we Are looking at a lengthy hospital stay with about 5 days in ICU and 14 days in the hospital.”
After Kenzie is able to come home, she’s going to need a lot of therapy, and Heidi is going to need to take time off work to help her through everything.
“I am a single parent and her only parent. I will be taking an unpaid leave of absence from work to stay with her in the hospital and take care of her when she comes home,” Heidi continued.
Heidi feels humbled to now be in a position where she’s asking for help, but as you can imagine, Kenzie’s expenses are quickly adding up, between her actual medical bills, and the travel costs for her and her mom.
If you would like to donate to the GoFundMe Heidi created to help Kenzie as she undergoes her upcoming open heart surgery, you can do that here.
