Thank you to all of you who have donated to help Stephanie Buswell pay medical bills as she goes through her lung transplant process.
In just one month, you have donated over $3,000 for Stephanie! How Will Your Donations Help? Stephanie is planning to use these funds to help with medical bills that include her copay for doctor visits and other bills that come about during her transplant process. By donating, you have made Stephanie's journey a little bit less stressful. Once again thank you all for supporting Stephanie! About Stephanie To learn more about Stephanie's journey, click here. Donate If you haven't donated yet, click on the link below. Reach Out If you are a lung transplant patient or are about to receive a lung transplant, reach out to us so we can help you on your journey! You can learn more about our Lung Transplant Patient Support Program here. Once again, thank you for all your donations and support!
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“After I receive this double lung transplant I hope just the everyday living tasks are a lot easier. Just being able to spending my life making countless memories with my children without the struggle to breathe.” Stephanie is a 32 year old Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patient who is in need of a double lung transplant. She was diagnosed with CF when she was 6 weeks old and has had many complications along the way. Stephanie was an athlete and dancer during her childhood. Her active lifestyle kept her CF symptoms at bay for most of her school years. However, when she was a senior in high school, she was hospitalized for the first time. After high school her CF continued to worsen especially after she became pregnant with her first child at 22. The weight she gained from her first pregnancy made it difficult for her lungs to function properly. Her second pregnancy made her life even more difficult. Although she had two healthy children without CF, her health took a turn for the worse. Stephanie is now raising her two children with only 20% lung function. Everyday tasks like playing with her children are extremely difficult for her and she spends much of her time taking breathing treatments during the day. She also stopped working at her job as a medical billing and coder and give up many hobbies such as swimming, traveling, and dancing. In 2018 alone she has been hospitalized 5 times. She was put on oxygen 24/7 and on a feeding tube to help her gain weight. Following her last serious hospitalization episode, her doctors began the process of getting her ready for a double lung transplant. Without it, they said, she has about two more years to live. Despite all of the hardships, Stephanie is hopeful about the future. “After I receive this double lung transplant I hope just the everyday living tasks are a lot easier. Just being able to spending my life making countless memories with my children without the struggle to breathe.” She also has some inspiring words and advice for others living with CF. “I’d just like to let anyone who is fighting this disease [know] to never give up [and] always have hope. I have beaten the odds past my life expectancy of 18, [and] was told I couldn’t conceive or even birth a child. I’m very blessed with two very healthy cystic fibrosis free kids. Never let anyone tell you that you won’t or can’t. Believe in yourself and just keep fighting!” Stephanie plans to use the funds donated for medical bills her insurance doesn’t cover such as co-pays and other post-transplant care. 
You can help Stephanie on her road to a double lung transplant by donating here: The Sid Foundation donated $3000 to the University of Kentucky Hospital Lung Transplant Program at the end of 2017 to fund lung transplant research. Here is the research we funded:  Here is a summary of the research written by the UK Healthcare team: "The generous gift from the Sid Foundation was used in two parts. First, funds were used to support research investigating the correlation between bacteria and organ rejection in post-lung transplant patients. Their research revealed a greater need for broad spectrum antibiotics at the time of donor brain death in order to limit harmful, life threatening bacteria and increase survival rates among lung transplant patients. Tangential research will allow for more advocacy in this arena, with the ultimate goal of limiting pathogenic bacteria and improving the life span of lung transplant patients. This research was presented at the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation in Niece, France. The investigators presented the attached poster. An abstract is below. Impact of Donor Lung Pathogenic Bacteria on Patient Outcomes in the Immediate Post-transplant Period Abstract: Lung transplantation is an effective treatment for advanced pulmonary diseases refractory to medical therapy. However, patient outcomes after lung transplantation are suboptimal compared to other solid organs. In fact, the median survival for all adult recipients is only 5.7 years. A major cause of death within the first 30 days post-transplant is the graft failure-mediated acute lung injury known as primary graft dysfunction (PGD). PGD has been associated with increased mortality, a longer duration of mechanical ventilation, and poor functional outcomes. Additionally, acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common consequence of lung transplantation. Associated with increased morbidity and mortality, it has been known to prolong both hospitalization as well as the need for mechanical ventilation postoperatively). Finally, the need for mechanical ventilation in the immediate postoperative period exposes lung transplant patients to the various risks associated with positive pressure ventilation – such as gastrointestinal hemorrhage, neuromuscular dysfunction, and ventilator associated pneumonia. Given the detrimental effects of PGD, AKI, and extended mechanical ventilation, we investigated whether the presence of potentially pathogenic bacteria (PPB) in perioperative donor lung bronchial cultures was associated with said occurrences in the immediate post-transplant period. We also investigated whether PPB affected 30-day postoperative mortality rates." If this still sounds too complicated to understand, don't worry. Your donations are helping increase the survival rate of lung transplant patients by funding lung transplant research.
Thank you for your donations! To help us keep growing, click here. Your donations to The Sid Foundation have helped so many. Here is a detailed breakdown of how we have used your donations for the last three years: Thank you for watching and for donating to us over the years!
To help us continue to grow, donate here.
The Sid Foundation Lung Transplant Patient Support Program is expanding! We want to share our new projects with you.
To donate, click here:
To volunteer, email us at info@thesidfoundation.org
To learn more about our lung transplant patient support program visit our Lung Transplant Patient Support Program Page. Thank you for your support! Mini Con 2018 was a blast! We met so many wonderful people in our community and:
Check out the pictures below to see what we did and visit our Facebook page to see videos of us going live at the event. Enjoy :) A big thank you to the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center and Prime Vice Studios for helping us make this event a success!
 On July 21st, The Sid Foundation will be at Mini Con!
Mini Con is a one-day comic con at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center. It will include workshops, panels, cosplay, games, face-panting, competitions, food trucks, and our sponsor King of Pops! This is a FREE family-friendly event so bring everyone for a fun filled day. Location: Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center 2051 Lower Roswell Road Marietta, GA 30068 Date/Time: Saturday, July 21st 1:00 pm-6:00 pm No registration required. Wear your favorite cosplay costume and come see us and Lung Girl at table number THREE! :)  Thank you to all of the donors who helped Chris Zastrow! We raised over $1500 dollars in one month to help him with his medical expenses on his journey towards getting a double lung transplant.
Chris will use the funds donated to purchase a spirometer called Spiro PD (not covered by insurance) to help him keep track of his lung function post transplant. We wish Chris the best of luck on his lung transplant journey and hope to learn more from his post transplant experience. If you haven't already read Chris' inspiring story, read it here. If you would still like to donate to Chris' journey, just donate through our website and type "Chris Zastrow" in the message section. Click here to learn more about our Lung Transplant Patient Support Program. If you are a lung transplant patient and would like us to share your story or help you on your journey, please reach out to us at info@thesidfoundation.org. Once again, thank you to all our donors for making this fundraiser a success! 
“Just a guy on a quest to one day living a post double lung transplant life”
Chris Zastrow is 33 years old and living on a constant supply of oxygen. When he was 3 months old, Chris was diagnosed with RSV (Respiratory syncytial virus), which is a common and usually mild virus most children get by the age of 2 according to the Mayo clinic. In Chris’ case, the virus became severe and caused permanent damage to his lungs. The virus continued to attack Chris’ lungs throughout his childhood. One day, his RSV attack became so severe that his lungs collapsed. Chris was taken on a medical flight (Mercy Flight) from the local hospital to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo (WCHB) to see some specialists. Although the doctors had very little hope of Chris’ survival, he beat the odds. Overtime, the specialists at WCHB began closely monitoring Chris who faced more severe episodes of RSV attacking his lungs. During his preteen years, Chris hit a growth spurt. As he grew in size, his RSV created further complications. On April 10, 1998, Chris went to WCHB for a routine check up. He was put through the usual tests to check his lung function. Chris was asked to walk on the treadmill at 1.5mph and 0% incline while the doctors measured his blood oxygen level. For a healthy adult, a blood oxygen level of 98% or higher is normal. As Chris began to walk, his blood oxygen level dropped into the 80s, then 70s, and finally when he reached 60s, the doctors stopped the test. They told Chris he needed to be on oxygen 24/7 from then on and get on a double lung transplant list. “From that day forward, I would be known as that kid/guy on oxygen.” As Chris grew older, his health plateaued so he was taken off the transplant list. He was transferred from WCHB to the University of Buffalo (UBMD) when he outgrew pediatric care. Unfortunately, after years of being on oxygen, Chris’ health declined. In the beginning, he needed 2 liters per minute of oxygen flowing through his tube. Today, he needs 6 liters per minute of oxygen. It is extremely difficult for him to do everyday tasks like walking up a flight of stairs. He has to take frequent rest breaks when walking and has an especially difficult time breathing during the cold New York winters. In September of 2017, Chris felt his breathing becoming even more difficult than usual. He assumed it was the cold weather that was making it harder for him to breathe. However, his situation continued to get worse. “It felt like my lungs were like sponges I just couldn’t wring out.” On Christmas night, Chris was transported in an ambulance to Buffalo General Hospital and was diagnosed with having Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). He was given antibiotics through IVs and sent home after five days with more antibiotics. Chris began to feel better and returned to work after two weeks. Then, on January 31, 2018, his health began to decline again. His doctors put him on additional antibiotics and a stronger dose of Prednisone (immunosuppressant). After two weeks, Chris did not improve. He was admitted into the ER again. Tests revealed that the MRSA had not returned, but this time he was found to have the Pseudomonas Aeruginosa bacteria in his lungs. He was in the hospital for another five days. Chris needed a transplant more now than ever. On February 28, 2018, Christ met with a pulmonologist at the Cleveland Clinic. He had been doing tests to try and qualify for a transplant at Cleveland Clinic. His pulmonologist, Dr. Turowski, suggested Chris get a transplant now while he is young and his other organs are healthy. Dr. Turowski also explained that Chris’s lungs will continue to get damaged by these infections which could lead to intubation down the road. Chris made the decision to get on the transplant list. Chris is returning to the Cleveland Clinic this week to finish his evaluation and put himself on the double lung transplant list. It could take days, weeks, or even months for him to find a donor. However, based on Cleveland Clinic’s reputation and their average turn around time of 6 months to 1 year, Chris is hopeful for the chance to have a new pair of healthy lungs soon. There are many sides to a lung transplant patient’s story. Before a lung transplant is even a possibility, many patients like Chris live with lung health issues for years before they are able to qualify to get on a lung transplant list. Chris understands that life after a lung transplant is not an easy one, “The idea both from a doctor and patient perspective is to keep your “originals” as long as possible because the transplant isn’t a cure. You’re merely exchanging one set of problems for another.” In addition to health issues, living with chronic illness and getting a double lung transplant are extremely expensive for the patient. The patients go through these life saving procedures and worry about how to pay for them.Chris is hopeful that the Cleveland Clinic will help him go from “the guy on oxygen” to “the guy with healthy new lungs” in the near future.
If you would like to support Chris on his quest for new lungs, you can donate here:
 This year, we are launching our Lung Transplant Patient Support Program. This program is to help lung transplant patients find useful resources and financial assistance to improve their quality of life and increase their chance of survival.
This program will include:
If you are a lung transplant patient who would like to share your story with us, please email us at info@thesidfoundation.org or contact us through social media. If you would like to help us fund or develop this program please email us at info@thesidfoundation.org. Stay tuned to our progress with developing this program. Follow us on social media or sign up for our newsletter below. We want to thank all our donors and sponsors who have helped us continue to grow over the past two years. It is because of you that we are able to launch this program. Thank you for your support! |
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