https://helphopelive.org/campaign/18353/
Charity Event: During the Summer all pottery proceeds (100%) will be donated to this perfect rated charity HelpHopeLive.org for the benefit of Benjamin T. Lemmond (https://helphopelive.org/campaign/18353/). It hits close to home because Ben is my son-in-law. He was diagnosed 13 months after he and our daughter got married. They have been living with this rare disease since October 2016 - when he was given a life expectancy of 1 to 3 years maximum. The double lung heart transplant is his last option and he has kept his body in the best physical shape even though his heart and lungs are so damaged. This should enable him to recover faster from the needed transplants and enable him to live a much longer life. NOTE: Update below...
Bowls - Bottles and Baskets for Ben!
Words from Ben's mother...Nicki Lemmond
THE LAST WORDS YOU EVER WANT TO HEAR
We regret to inform you that there is nothing we can do for you. You have 1-3 years to live.
Shocked in disbelief, I watched as my brave son lay in a hospital bed with three specialists at the foot of his bed all saying they can’t help him. His young bride in tears and friends in disbelief surround him. These doctors give references to another doctor who may have alternative methods of helping, but there is nothing they can do for him. The diagnosis is fibrosing mediastinitis with severe pulmonary hypertension, and the only cure is a heart and double lung transplant. Trying to process what just took place was unfathomable. My son seemed to process it like he processed life, “give me the data and I can come up with something that will work.”
Well, that was October 17, 2016, and we are praising God he is still here. Ben is doing well considering all the heart catheters, angiograms, blood tests, hospital stays, office visits, hospital and doctor searches, disease searches, medicine changes with side effects, and traveling thousands of miles.
I believe he has gone full circle in his search since then and is back to square one.
His heart is very enlarged now and cannot last much longer because of the severely high pressures built up inside the arteries to the lungs. The heart is trying to pump life-giving oxygen and blood through tiny, mostly occluded vessels. His whole right lung has been cut off from blood and oxygen. It’s an idiopathic disease as no one knows how he got it. Rare diseases list only a few people ever to have a mildly similar version of this disease. Every breath is a struggle leading to decreased function and mobility. Every chest pressure he feels is his heart taking on damage.
Your donations for his heart-double lung transplant will greatly help with the expenses of travel and five months of boarding near Stanford University, rehabilitation, and many other costs associated. The costs of transplant will continue for the rest of his life.
He is the kindest, most considerate, bright and talented person you would ever hope to meet. I have never heard him utter one unkind word. Ever! He always focuses on the positive side of everything, even throughout his medical journey. He is an amazing uncle to his nieces and nephews, and his plans for the future are to experience the joys of fatherhood. I pray he gets to experience that as well for there is no greater joy in the whole world than being a parent.
I ask for your prayers.
I ask for your monetary gifts.
Thank you and God bless you.
– Nicki Lemmond
Ben and Lyndsey
New Update
They Got the Call! They took the Med Flight!
Day 1 of a new life. Thank you donor!
The stimulus to do well is just two months away from this time.
Setback...
Discharge Day!
Physical Therapy
More Therapy
Hard Therapy... to go downstairs!
BABY THERAPY...
Ben got to go home to see his baby born. He needed to return for another 6 weeks of monitoring and physical therapy before being released in good health from Stanford.
A transplant patient is a patient for life. The lungs and heart must be monitored for signs of rejection or health. The whole body needs to be examined because the anti-rejection drugs enable other pathologies such as infections, viruses, skin cancer or other tissue complications to arise. The costs go beyond the transplantation because medications that follow are often not covered by medical insurance policies and are extremely expensive. The cost of flying to your transplant center every 6 weeks and having to stay overnight for testing procedures add hotel costs and car rentals. Before you even obtain a transplant, sufficient funds have to be raised and donated through a legitimate agency like the one posted above. No donor funds are lost. If a patient dies before obtaining a transplant, the funds are distributed to another transplant recipient on the list. Not everyone can help financially. But you can help by letting your family know your wishes if you have an untimely death and you desire to be a donor. It is a comforting thought to many families who have gone through the process. Confidentiality is utmost. There is no direct contact with a donor family unless after at least a year of grieving their loss, both the donor and recipient families mutually desire to exchange letters through the transplant center in a 100% confidential manner. Consider adding this option to your driver's license and letting your thoughts known to your family.