on behalf of the Goff Family ~~~
June 15th, 2009 should have been the happiest day in Debbie and Ken’s life. After spending more than two weeks at Missouri Baptist Medical Center in St. Louis on bed rest, Debbie Martinez Goff gave birth to three healthy and beautiful babies: Kyle, Cara, and Molly. Debbie’s oldest son, Ben, 6, finally had the three siblings he had hoped to receive.
Debbie and Ken were overjoyed – but their elation was short lived. As Debbie was being wheeled out of the operating room, she suffered a sudden, lethal and extremely rare delivery complication called Amniotic Fluid Embolism that resulted in cardiac arrest.
The nurses and physicians, acting immediately, brought Debbie back to life. However, the damage from this event was catastrophic to Debbie’s organs. She needs a ventilator to breathe, dialysis in place of functioning kidneys, and is fighting everyday to keep her liver functioning. She has suffered multiple cardiac arrests.
A tragic cascade of further complications has left Debbie on life support systems since that day – unable to speak, move, and most saddening – unable to care for and bond with her babies who were born 6 and 1/2 weeks premature. And her future is cloudy and uncertain. She has a tracheotomy, continues full time kidney dialysis, is still draining excess fluid from her body, receives an antibiotic for an unknown infection/excess white blood cell count, has received more than 100 units of blood, and is being prescribed antidepressants to help her deal with depression due to her condition.
The devastation from this horrible event is widespread. It has left Debbie unable to work, care and nurture her newborns together with Ken, or run a household of four young children with the unexpected expenses related to that task. Ken is obviously under unbelievable stress.
So far, Ken has relied upon the help of family and others just to “get by”. The babies are now home and are being watched in shifts. Meals are cooked and delivered by volunteers. This has allowed Ken to be at Debbie’s side around-the-clock, providing her with love and encouragement to keep the fight for her life going.
A distressing reality has begun to set in as Debbie’s family digs in for a long, long road to her recovery. It is not clear that she will ever be normal again. Any recovery will come after months of rehabilitation.
It has become very clear that more in-depth assistance is required in order for Debbie and her family to survive this ordeal and be able to offer Kyle, Cara, Molly and Ben a fighting chance for a normal life.
Debbie has now been in an Intensive Care Unit for six weeks. While the medical costs are not fully known at this point, they will be huge and not even close to fully covered by insurance. And her expenses are separate from the hospital and doctor care for three premature babies, one of whom also needed a surgery following his birth.
The family is working to deal with their huge, devastating financial demands as best they can. To this end, a medical expense fund has been established. If you are able to help Debbie, Ken, Kyle, Molly and Cara, and Ben, you can make a contribution directly to:
Bank of America, Deborah M. Goff – Medical Fund
ATTN: Patti Hickey, 15115 Manchester Road Ballwin, MO 63011
From Ken and all of the family and friends of Debbie, we thank you for taking your time to read Debbie’s story and for any assistance that you may be able to offer.
