Our family started this campaign for my Mom(Pat) after she was faced with the impact due to a medical error.

Pat,  a  Registered Nurse, born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, now lives down the shore in her small home on LBI, where she has lived for the past 20yrs.   She was still working 90 hrs/week at Southern Ocean County Hospital, with expectations to make positive plans for her life  ahead until impacted by a devastating/life altering outcome after surgical procedure.  The thought of this surgical accident happening to her within her own health system makes this situation even more difficult.


Back in March 2012, mom went in for surgery at Ocean Medical Center.  She had been working with recurring, very painful diverticulitis.  Many days worked with the pain and fevers while trying to research where to have her surgery.

The day of her surgery, mom bottomed out, they gave her Narcan, then sent to a medical floor.  The day before she was discharged, I went to go see my mom in the hospital, only to find her in tears, pain was worse.  The nurse manager blamed it on the Narcan she got 4days prior, said she wasn't getting the full effect of her meds.

Mom was discharged without having a bowel movement, this is after having 6ft of colon removed and the surgeon telling us that it was the worst diverticulits he had seen. A few days after discharge, mom trying to walk off the pain,  reached out to her surgeon  who instructed to take 3 laxatives despite her concerns and complications emerging.

Pat ended up in the ER,  was found with heart ejection fracture of 10, White count of 1, had an anterior wall ischemia,  and was vented. She now had an ileostomy, fistula, open wound, wound vac.  We almost lost her!!

The surgeon shared with us that the instrument used to inflate abdomen for the 1st procedure,  caused a herniation then her  bowel to blow up inside her!

This was beginning of more surgeries to come. She then needed a revision of fistula due to it prolapsing from damage to abdominal wall in June 2012,  double bypass Oct 2013 now needed for next surgery, April 15th 2013 a 6hr surgery: reversal of ileostomy, ventral hernia repair, gallbladder removed, lysis of adhesions, belly button back to midline and rough 2hrs closing/rebuilding abdominal wall after attempts to close it. She then was coded, had bilateral PEs and DVTs April 2013.

As she tried to recover after her last surgery, trying to grasp and recover what had been lost, her quality of life was consumed with pain and exhaustion. This is from someone that had no medical history, wasn't afraid to work and ran 5ks.  Fortunately I also work in healthcare and reached out to our doctors after efforts through pain mgt, and GI doctors blaming it on food intake.   A CT scan was done and found she had now absolutely no abdominal support, rectus muscles completely retracted.  Surgery was set up for abdominal reconstruction.

On July 31st, mom had what is called a TARS procedure.  They found she had 2 incisional hernias, bowel wrapped around the hernias about 3xs,  scattered areas of her mesentery torn. Her surgeon used bovine mesh attached to spine and anchored to ribs and pubis.  Through her recovery, her incision site began to open, needed a wound vac.

Through all of this, she lost her job as a dedicated, caring Nurse and is now on social security back home with hopes of healing enough so she can go back to work. In the middle of this she also lost her cat of 15yrs.  She is falling behind on bills,now medical bills, specifically her small home due to past due taxes because of the finacial burden.

This was a medical negligence lawsuite.  The 1st lawyer she had did not tell us until 6 months in that his represented the surgeon, then wanting to stick around in the backround bringing another lawyer in.  The last lawyer was referred by a good friend.  He waited until few weeks before the statute of limitation was up to get a medical expert.  He then conveyed to me that he kept us on as a favor.  

The medical expert said the surgeon used "poor judgement" but would not sign an affidavit. Through the time she should be spending to recover from surgeries she found had to be spent to find a lawyer we can trust.  We found that if the surgeon uses "poor judgment" that does not mean that he should be held accountable.  

I am trying to Pay it Forward to an amazing mom, who has overcome so much in her life. Especially this past year.she has been through more than most do in a life time.

 For this to happen to a nurse, so dedicated to her profession, a woman with so much dedication in making a secure life for her family, such inner drive strength, was able to reinvent herself with  the goal to make plans for her future financially and her home.

Now it is falling apart in front of her eyes. 

We are reaching out to our friends and family, the nursing and healthcare community. Please  help my Mom by donating what you can and sharing her wish via email, Facebook or Twitter.

She is use to always helping others so it’s been very difficult for her now being the one asking for help.

When we find ourselves being a patient, at times we feel vulnerable and scared. Most of the time it is our Nurse that alleviates those fears and advocates for us,especially when we need it the most. My mom is one of those Nurses and always that Mom.

ANY DONATIONS TOWARD OUR FUNDRAISING GOAL WILL HELP WITH THE FINANCIAL BURDEN PLACED ON MY MOM, WILL HELP CATCH HER UP WITH HER  MORTGAGE, TO  STAY IN HER HOME THAT SHE HAS WORKED SO HARD FOR, THE MEDICAL EXPENSES AND GIVE HER THE MUCH NEEDED CHANCE TO RECOVER IN HOPES OF GOING BACK TO DOING WHAT SHE LOVED, TOOK PRIDE IN, BEING A NURSE.

AFTER FIGHTING FOR HER LIFE, AFTER EACH SURGERY, THIS LAST SURGERY, WE ARE TOLD, HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST AND THE MOST DIFFICULT  WITH RECOVERY. IN THE END, WITH OUR HELP, WE WANT TO FINALLY GIVE HER THE CHANCE AT PEACE OF MIND, LESS PAIN AND A CHANCE AT LIFE AGAIN.