Cathryn Sellers

UPDATE: Cathryn received her transplant on August 19, 2013 and is on the road to recovery. Cathryn and her family greatly appreciate your continued support!

Dear Friends and Family,
I am writing this on behalf of my beautiful wife, Cathryn Sellers, also known as Cathy to some of you. She needs a heart transplant and needs your help to make it happen.
Cathryn was born with a complex congenital heart condition and has struggled with it her whole life. She’s had multiple heart surgeries, and over the past couple of years she has been struggling with heart failure. In spite of all of this, she is an amazing person and has inspired so many through her various roles as a loving wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, teacher, boss and advocate for those in need. She has had an amazing career as an educator, and helper of others, doing everything from producing and directing plays, teaching science, working to help families and students with disabilities to reach their goals, and finally reaching her goal as an educational administrator!
Unfortunately, Cathryn has been unable to work for over a year and half. Over the past six months, especially, her condition has deteriorated significantly. We have finally exhausted all of the medical resources and the doctors have determined that Cathryn needs a heart transplant in order to survive. They are hoping that they can get her a “new” heart before too much damage has been done to her liver. She is required to move to Atlanta while she waits for a heart at Emory University Hospital, as she has to be able to get to the hospital in less than three hours. She must also stay there for many months after she gets her new heart.
We have been asked by so many of you, “How can we help?” Up until now meals, rides, a push in the wheelchair to events, places to stay while out of town, dog sitting, Hannah sitting, friendship and prayers have gotten us through! Obviously you know we still need that support but we have reached a new level of need.
Although Cathryn currently has health insurance, there are many uninsured expenses, such as high COBRA payments, costly transplant medications (thousands of dollars a month for the rest of her life), relocation costs to Atlanta while Cathryn waits for her new heart, as well as post-transplant follow-up trips to Emory.
To help alleviate this financial burden, a fundraising campaign in Cathryn’s honor has been established with HelpHOPELive, a nonprofit organization that has been assisting the transplant community for 30 years.
All donations are tax-deductible, are held by HelpHOPELive in the Southeast Heart Transplant Fund, and are administered by HelpHOPELive for uninsured transplant-related expenses only. Any contribution is greatly appreciated.For more information, please contact HelpHOPELive at 800.642.8399.
This great organization helps families like ours by providing help for our friends and family with coordinating fundraising activities. If you are interested in hosting a fund-raising event, please contact us.
Your prayers, continued support and contributions are greatly appreciated and will help Cathryn survive this unbelievable challenge, and return to her to her productive life as soon as possible.
With much love and appreciation,
Ford (Frodo) Sellers
[email protected]