Help Sara (Moore) Hernandez get through a Heart and Liver Transplant

June 7, 2025

Hello supporters and followers and friends, I apologize for these infrequent updates! I have had a facebook page with all my daily updates since my last update here and since I have been in the hospital. Unfortunately, a hacker stole my Facebook pages, and I’ve been unable to recover them so far. I've started a new one: My Trail Ride to Transplants. I had a wonderful fall season, traveling, riding my horses, visiting friends, and checking off bucket list items! In January, I said farewell to my job at the library. I also bid my career of 20 years in childcare a final goodbye. I arrived in Palo Alto mid January to be officially admitted to Stanford Medical Center to await transplant. Ten days into my stay, I received my first offer for organs. Unfortunately, this fell through and became my first “dry run.” What a Rollercoaster!

In February, I celebrated my 42nd birthday and enjoyed visits from friends and family. I also was approved for a new drug to lower my antibodies. Due to many blood infusions over the years, I had a lot of antibodies preventing me from matching with most possible donors. When I checked in, my numbers were at 91%.  After a bit of a rough start with reactions to the  drug, by the 3rd infusion my reactions evened out and I was able to continue. After four months, my number of antibodies has been reduced to 77%, therefore widening the door to more donors. I’ve continued to enjoy visits  from friends and family throughout the rest of winter and throughout spring. The biggest struggle over those months has been keeping the skin around my PICC line healthy and happy, and maintaining a good appetite after months of looking at the same hospital menu!  Last month I encountered some new  obstacles.

My insurance from my employer officially terminated on May 31st. After months of juggling and jumping through hoops I was finally approved by Medicaid.  The next major issue we've faced is that my husband Israel had a quite serious heart attack.  I was contemplating whether I needed to return home to  be with him. Luckily, doctors were able to devise a plan to keep him stable for the time being. He is coming to visit mid-June. This month I have a whole new, more &nbsp ; complicated problem with  insurance. Since I have been in constant  contact with my social worker (who helps me with the insurance issues),  I was not prepared for the visit I got yesterday.  My Transplant coordinator came to visit to inform me that Medicaid will not authorize my Transplants due to my inpatient status. After waiting 5 months here in the hospital, and after my previous insurance approvals,  it simply blows my mind that this is happening. I’m scheduled to be involuntarily  discharged the day my husband arrives. The current plan is I will spend  several days out of the hospital, and then return to the hospital through the ER  to show my insurance that this is a necessary procedure.

Luckily I’m surrounded by a large supportive medical team that has  my back and that are helping me plan this work around.  If you all wish to read more frequent updates, please follow my new facebook page, My trail ride to Transplants. And thank you for the love, prayers, calls, and support and donations.  It's helped so much and I appreciate you all.

September 11, 2024

So, a year has come and gone since my whirlwind trip in July of 2023. For me, healthwise, it was a pretty low key 6 months from July, 2023 to January, 2024. I did have some energy decrease and a few paracentesis (fluid draining procedures) done, but continued to go to work full-time and go about my daily life. The low point of the year happened in November when my husband's leg from the knee down became infected and was amputated. The highlight of the year was a trip to Bali, Indonesia in December. I traveled with friends and family to see my brother and his girl become husband and wife. What an unforgettable adventure!

In January 2024 I flew back down to Stanford with a very good friend, Leanne Mezerkor. She was very good at helping me write down questions for the doctors as they came up. We had great conversations with my Cardiologists there. The general consensus from the visit was that I should monitor my energy use, and that we revisit the possibility of being admitted at the next visit (July 2024).

When I returned to Portland, life got crazy! After a routine paracentesis in mid February, I suffered a full stroke. The stroke made it difficult to communicate in any form for around 24 hours. Both my speech and right extremity function was quite diminished. I am so thankful that in the following days and weeks I made a near full recovery, with only some speech irregularities continuing occasionally. Following my stroke was 3 weeks of chaos as my husband suffered 3 heart attacks in a 3 consecutive week span. The final incident required an ambulance ride! Again I remain extremely thankful for his healing and recovery during the following months.

The next major change for me began in mid April, when I developed a very bitter/metallic taste in my mouth. The taste made eating very unpleasant. In the following months I underwent a steep decrease in appetite and began to lose weight. By the beginning of June, my energy had decreased enough that my Cardiologist in Oregon helped form a plan to decrease my schedule at work.

In July I dropped from 40 hours a week (5 days) to 24 hours a week (3 days). Even with my decreased appetite and energy level, the new routine brought life back into me. My summer kicked off with a beach camping trip with my horse. It continued with pleasant outings, day trips, visits from friends, and lots of restful hours in reading in my Hammock by the garden.

In late July, Leanne again returned with me to Stanford. My team discussed my energy, appetite, and several other odd little ailments. The general consensus this time was a certain hospital admittance. The plan was to return to Oregon, get all my affairs in order and return to Stanford in January, 2025.

By mid-January, I will become a hospital patient and wait for the right donor to become available.

In the meantime; I have several trips planned during my next few months of “freedom!” I will enjoy a lot of time with my family, friends, pets, and horses! I have found amazing families to lease my two geldings together while I am in the hospital and recovering afterwards. My turtles have gone to live with my friend Sonja Tuma in Billings and my cats will be fostered at the homes of close friends (Laura Young and Leanne Mezerkor) here in Portland. My husband will continue to take care of our pups, and my older sickly ragdoll kitty. I have created a facebook page: "Riding the Trail to Transplant" for everyone interested in following my journey! I will be adding a matching Instagram account as well with the same name in the near future. Please feel free to add me as a friend and follow my journey of the heart. https://www.facebook.com/riding.the.trail.to.transplant

As far as finances are concerned, I will be able to continue to use my insurance through my work though a program called Cobra. This will cost $1000 a month starting most likely in January, 2025. I will have used up my Oregon Paid Leave hours to cover my reduced work schedule by then. Once I am an in-patient, I will obviously not be able to work. Thank you for all of you that have donated and that have continued to help support me on my way down this trail!