First
Person Story From Kari Goerl
May 19,
2008
This first
person story was captured in person from EllwoodCity.org
representative who interviewed Mr. Goerl at the social Saturday.
"My name is Kari Goerl, I'm 43, I have
Cystic Fibrosis and in July of 2007 I found out I had to have a double lung
transplant. I was listed for transplant September 25th and I got the call 14
days later, which was a shock to me, I was not ready. I was scared to death
but I have a great faith that God wouldn't let me down and I have a great
church family here at Calvin who have been very supportive even before my
transplant making meals when I was sick and just helping out at the house
and stuff like that.
They decided they would have a fund raiser for me because the medication is
extremely expensive; it's about $15,000 per month and that's for the rest of
my life. We have very good insurance, but that's the part that insurance
doesn't cover. Plus I have medical bills from my surgery that I'm still
paying for.
I have a wonderful family, I have a husband named Ron, a daughter named
Lindsay, My mother lives with me, her name is Sue. I have two step children,
Austin and Emily, who do not live with us but they see us frequently. Austin
and Lindsay have been here helping with the fund raiser. I had my surgery
done at Presbyterian Hospital, I went in on October 10, 2007 and came home
October 25th and I was not ready to come home; I was really afraid and in an
excruciating amount of pain. I have two incisions that go to from my armpit,
to my breastbone, to my armpit. I had a complication after the surgery where
I ended up with a very big infection in my new lung-it was a septic
infection meaning it's a blood infection. I had to have another test tube
put in for another two months.
I'm a registered nurse and I started my career at the Presbyterian
University Hospital on their heart and lung transplant unit. I ended up back
there as a patient, so it was kind of a full circle for me-I even got to see
some of the people that I worked there with and they came to visit me and it
was really nice. If you were to ask me if I would do it again, I'd say no
because it was a traumatic and very difficult surgery, but at least now I'll
get to see my daughter who is now 17 and a junior in high school and I'll
get to see her graduate from high school and hopefully from college and get
married, God willing. The community of Ellwood City has pulled together and
has been awesome-I wouldn't want to live anywhere else."
