Although Karen passed into the Kingdom of Heaven on November 21, 2008, this was her website that she so diligently kept up to date when she was able and her husband and mother took over when Karen could not.  It will remain intact just as Karen created it; in her memory.  It will remain a place where the people that she loved can look upon to remember the valiant effort that she gave every day as she struggled to hold on to her fragile life. From time to time I will post updates on how I, along with her 2 boys are doing.  I will post these in the "Contact Info" section in order to keep everything else as original as possible. 

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*December 20, 2008 update in Contact Info section posted by Donnie. 

Karen Arrowood is 37 years old, married with two boys ages 5 and 6. She was born with a severe heart defect known as Transposition of the Great Vessels.  Basically her pulmonary artery and aorta formed in a manner that did not allow oxygenated blood to flow to her body causing her to be a "blue baby".  To temporarily fix the problem her doctors performed a procedure called a balloon septostomy; a balloon-tipped catheter is used to create a hole in the wall that separates the right and left atria. The medicines and the balloon septostomy were only short-term solutions, but they allowed the body to get some oxygen-rich blood until surgery could be performed to correct the transposition.

At the time of Karen's birth her father, John, was stationed in Vietnam. Upon receiving the news of his daughter's birth and severe condition he spent the next three days trying to get home. During the next two years the military doctors took excellent care of Karen, but when she turned two years old it was time for a more permanent fix to her heart defect. With the military's help, John located a surgeon at University of Alabama Medical Center in Birmingham that had perfected a surgery that would correct Karen's problem. The only catch was that the military would only pay for any procedure performed by their doctors. If help was sought outside the military physicians the patient was responsible for the cost. Up to this point the military had never performed this surgery successfully. However through the assistance of Karen's military doctor and the Champus Insurance Grant, the surgery was paid for. The surgeon at UAB used a technique called the Mustard procedure. He basically built a baffle behind her heart and reversed the blood flow to allow oxygenated blood to be pumped to her body. Two years later she had her second open heart surgery to replace the baffle with one that would grow with her body. Both surgeries were a success and have sustained her life up to this point.

In 2003, Karen gave birth to our first biological child. We adopted our first child in 2001 due to infertility problems. During her pregnancy Karen developed a dangerous disease known as Pulmonary Hypertension. This is a constricting in the vessels of her lungs that causes severe strain on the heart. Because of the risk to Karen and her child, Karen's cardiologist recommended a C-section at 29 weeks into the pregnancy. Our son was born at Northside Hospital weighing 2 pounds, 11 ounces. Karen was immediately taken to the ICU where she was stabilized and then transported to Emory Hospital ICU where she remained for two weeks. During this time she saw her newborn baby only in pictures. During the next few weeks and months our baby grew and was eventually released from the hospital but Karen continued to deal with her new disease. Statistics show that once diagnosed with Pulmonary Hypertension, the disease is fatal within 5 years or less. There are treatments available that only slow the progression of the disease but there is currently no cure. She currently takes a cocktail of medication each day along with an inhaled medicine she must do every 3 hours. She is also on oxygen 24 hours every day.

Karen is now on the list for a heart/double lung transplant.  At this time this is the only solution to beat this disease. Karen's surgery will be performed at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. According to the insurance and the hospital, the cost of this surgery from beginning to end will be in the range of $650,000 to 1 million dollars. Insurance will pay most of this but there are co-pays, deductibles, relocation expenses, and out of pocket expenses. After the surgery, Karen and her family will continue to live in Pittsburgh for 3-5 additional months acquiring additional costs. She will also take anti-rejection medication for the rest of her life. This medicine typically runs from $3,000-$4,000 a month. Anything you can do to help would be greatly appreciated. 

On January 3, 2007, at approximately 5:30pm Karen received the call for her surgery. On January 4, 2007, Karen had her Heart and Double Lung Transplant Surgery. For continuing updates on Karen's progress please check the Post-Surgery Updates section.

3-26-08 - Karen is now on the Liver/Kidney Transplant List. This one to be done here at Emory.