Help Hope Live lung transplant campaign for Julie Dodson

My name is Brianna, but many of you know me as the daughter of Julie. My mother was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension on March 22nd of 2024. This condition, also known as PH, makes it difficult for the heart to pump blood through the lungs and causes shortness of breath, chest pain, fatigue, swelling in legs and feet, and can lead to heart failure if not treated. This disease also has no cure, the only cure for the condition is total lung transplant. My mom has always been the person to take care of others before herself, her lifelong dream was to be a mother. She has always had trouble asking others for help when she needs it, and right now she needs our help. When my mom was diagnosed in Erie at UPMC they had seen that she was on the verge of heart failure. She was then transferred to UPMC Presbyterian hospital after 1 week. At Presbyterian they have a PH specialty team there where she spent 2 and a half weeks there, where they diagnosed her with idiopathic pulmonary hypertension. This means that the disease is from an unknown cause, this is super rare in PH since there is usually always an underlying condition that makes this disease happen in patients like autoimmune diseases. The doctors have done a plethora amount of testing to figure out why this happened, they have found nothing and have concluded she is an anomaly and is in perfect health apart from her diagnoses of PH. My mom has been on a numerous amount of medications since then in hopes of helping the side effects of the condition and in hopes of preventing total heart failure. These medications have included a wide range of different meds all the way from a constant IV medication drip hooked up to her 24/7, to injection medications, all the way to oral meds. All of these medications helped her heart numbers but made her quality of life intolerable due to the serious side effects of each one. The PH team decided in November to start her on extensive testing for a lung transplant which is pertinent to her survival. Ever since her diagnosis her quality of life has made many hobbies and daily tasks difficult. Before she loved to go kayaking with friends and family and enjoys any activity in the sun and loves to travel! It has been almost impossible for my mom to do any of the hobbies she loved to do. I watch her struggle everyday to do simple tasks such as walking up the stairs, cleaning, showering, grocery shopping, etc. This transplant is her only hope at leading a long and close to normal life, if anyone deserves it she does and anyone who knows my mother would agree. She is one of the strongest women I know and reaching out for help is so challenging for her, but with the upcoming expenses with the transplant she needs our help. Some of the expenses is going to include medical, traveling, and lodging. My father and I have been my mother’s caregivers throughout this period since she was diagnosed, my father will be my mother’s full-time caregiver for 3 months in Pittsburgh, 2 hours away from home. This meaning he will have to be unemployed for the entirety of her healing. My mother will be spending around 3 weeks in the hospital with full time care from the PH team after her surgery. She then will spend over 2 months near the hospital with my dad being the full-time caregiver. All prayers and any donations are gravely appreciated in this time of need for my family.