Julie Strickland

Family and friends of Julie Strickland are raising money for the nonprofit Help Hope Live to fund uninsured medical expenses associated with a double lung transplantation.

Julie’s story:
On August 3, 2022, I was diagnosed with severe pulmonary hypertension. Unfortunately, the doctors & facilities I needed to go to for proper treatment were out of network with the medical insurance I carried at that time.
After four months of no treatment, I changed to a new insurance plan through my husband’s employer starting January 1, 2023. In February of 2023 I was seen by a Cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic and a local Pulmonologist who specializes in Pulmonary Hypertension. I completed a variety of tests & my oral diuretics were changed in hopes of ridding my body of the excessive amount of retained fluids.

Jump forward to June 2023:

Proverbs 19:21
Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

I went into the Cleveland Clinic on June 1 for a routine right sided heart cath to check the pressures. I planned on leaving that appointment & going to Edgewater Park to put my feet into Lake Erie. God had other plans.
The pressures were still severely high with no improvement since the last cath in February 2023 (and August 2022) I was still retaining fluid, so I was admitted to the hospital & put on IV diuretics. Over the course of June my weight went from 165 to 134!! And here I had been thinking I had gained weight because “I am a woman of a certain age.”
Week 1 & 2 brought a plethora of doctors (in teams) coming in & out of my room. Cardiac team, Pulmonary team, & Transplant team. The first week I was told I would need a heart & lung transplant (not just a heart transplant as originally thought) & because my kidneys were so diseased I would be staying in hospital until the transplant happened. I went through various tests, scans, caths etc.
The Pulmonary team decided that I needed to try Epoprostenol, which is an IV medication that if worked, I could have avoided transplant by going home on a pump taking this medication. Unfortunately, I did not tolerate the side effects as they increased the medication & my pressures did not approve with taking it at lower doses. I was put back in a regular room in the Pulmonary building. Still being told I needed a heart & lung transplant.
In my final week in admission, my Transplant team came to talk to me. The lead doctor said he was not completely convinced that I needed a heart transplant, but that I needed only a lung transplant. So a left side cath was completed. From this it has been discovered that my heart is ill, (right side heart failure) the left side shows minimal disease. The lungs (Pulmonary Hypertension) was causing the heart failure & not the other way around. So, because God is the God of details & Created the heart, the heart will slowly heal once the new lungs are in & it doesn’t have to work so hard with constricted arteries, vessels, etc. Just like my heart began healing & restoring the diseased parts after my mitral valve was replaced in 2017 & it was pumping properly. My kidney function improved throughout the month of June also!!
Long story short, I will be moving forward as a lung transplant candidate only!! This is why it’s so important to wait on the Lord, His will. As confusing & frustrated I became at time over the month of June, I continued trusting God, & praying for wisdom & discernment for my medical team, knowing that God’s will would prevail.
I am now home & will complete any testing needed to complete my lung transplant assessment as outpatient. And can await my lung transplant in the comfort of my own home.
This will also allow me to gather organizers to help my campaign fundraising to raise funds to cover the excessive medical costs involved with my double lung transplantation.

Julie 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!