We regret to inform you that there is nothing we can do for you. You have 1-3 years to live.
Shocked in disbelief, I watched as my brave son lay in a hospital bed with three specialists at the foot of his bed all saying they can’t help him. His young bride in tears and friends in disbelief surround him. These doctors give references to another doctor who may have alternative methods of helping, but there is nothing they can do for him. The diagnosis is fibrosing mediastinitis with severe pulmonary hypertension, and the only cure is a heart and double lung transplant. Trying to process what just took place was unfathomable. My son seemed to process it like he processed life, “give me the data and I can come up with something that will work.”
Well, that was October 17, 2016, and we are praising God he is still here. Ben is doing well considering all the heart catheters, angiograms, blood tests, hospital stays, office visits, hospital and doctor searches, disease searches, medicine changes with side effects, and traveling thousands of miles.
I believe he has gone full circle in his search since then and is back to square one.
His heart is very enlarged now and cannot last much longer because of the severely high pressures built up inside the arteries to the lungs. The heart is trying to pump life-giving oxygen and blood through tiny, mostly occluded vessels. His whole right lung has been cut off from blood and oxygen. It’s an idiopathic disease as no one knows how he got it. Rare diseases list only a few people ever to have a mildly similar version of this disease. Every breath is a struggle leading to decreased function and mobility. Every chest pressure he feels is his heart taking on damage.
Your donations for his heart-double lung transplant will greatly help with the expenses of travel and five months of boarding near Stanford University, rehabilitation, and many other costs associated. The costs of transplant will continue for the rest of his life.
He is the kindest, most considerate, bright and talented person you would ever hope to meet. I have never heard him utter one unkind word. Ever! He always focuses on the positive side of everything, even throughout his medical journey. He is an amazing uncle to his nieces and nephews, and his plans for the future are to experience the joys of fatherhood. I pray he gets to experience that as well for there is no greater joy in the whole world than being a parent.
I ask for your prayers.
I ask for your monetary gifts.
Thank you and God bless you.
– Nicki Lemmond
Family and friends of Ben Lemmond are raising money for the nonprofit Help Hope Live to fund uninsured medical expenses associated with transplantation.
Ben has chosen to fundraise for Help Hope Live in part because Help Hope Live assures fiscal accountability of funds raised and tax deductibility for contributors. Contributors can be sure donations will be used to pay or reimburse medical and related expenses. To make a tax-deductible donation to this fundraising campaign, click on the Give button.
For more information, please contact Help Hope Live at 800.642.8399.
Other ways to double your donation is to check if your company does donation matches.
Thank you for your support!
