Andrea McKinnie

My name is Andrea McKinnie, and I was born March 26, 1976. I am the youngest of 13 kids born to a single mom.

I had an extremely hardworking Mom and as the youngest of her children, I spent a lot of time helping her as she worked at a local laundromat. When I was 14 or 15 years old my mom had a stroke and lost the ability to move her right side which changed everything for us, and I learned that I would have to take care of her. I did not have much of a childhood. I spent my days picking my mom up, wheeling her to the kitchen and listening to her as she taught me how to cook for her. While this meant that I had to grow up fast, it taught me to very strong and I learned not to depend on people. I was broken hearted when my mom couldn’t come to my 8th grade graduation. My sister stayed with us, but she had her own life and eventually had two children that I looked after as well. A lot of the responsibility fell on me at that time.

At 19 years old I had my first son, Michael McKinnie, and one year later I gave birth to my eldest daughter, Andrea Cross. My next son, Maurice Cross came when I was 23 and at 27, I gave birth to a set of twins, Miracle and Malik Cross. I had been with my children’s father for 13 years at this point and we decided to separate. I decided to take that time and focus on being who I wanted to be as a person, like really focus on the person that made me happy. That’s when I came out as gay.

With each of my pregnancies, my legs were always swollen, and I never really knew why. That changed when I went to get my first tattoo, it made my leg swell so bad that it put me in the hospital, and I was diagnosed with lymphedema. Unfortunately, they only gave me blood thinner shots and sent me home with water pills. Around the year 2000, my right leg was always swollen, and I never realized it was related to my heart because I was never properly checked and diagnosed. When I moved to Fort Wayne Indiana two years ago, that all changed. Around May of 2019, I was hospitalized for two weeks, and after multiple tests I was informed that I had congestive heart failure and I was sent home with a life vest. Unfortunately, the life vest had to be removed and the doctors noticed that my heart rate was consistently dropping. They then rushed to put a defibrillator in my upper right chest. I was hopeful after receiving the defibrillator that it would be what I needed but when I went to my last appointment on December 27, 2021 and took more tests, it showed that my heart rate was still too low from the stress test.

My doctor suggested that I’m a candidate for a new heart.

So now…this is my life…AL Vac or a heart transplant.

Family and friends of Andrea McKinnie are raising money for the nonprofit Help Hope Live to fund uninsured medical expenses associated with transplantation.

Andrea 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.

Thank you for your support!