Enabling Life-Saving and Life Changing Experiences
Heart transplants are traumatic events that impact thousands of people each year in the US. Over the last decade, the list of candidates actively awaiting heart transplant has increased nearly 40%, signaling that the volume of people who undergo this intense surgery and recovery process will only increase over the coming years. While these stats are easy to find, what’s less commonly known is that a core component of the recovery process can be financially devastating and is at best only partly covered by insurance.
The months immediately following a transplant are incredibly fragile for the recipient. As such, a recipient’s medical team will require they relocate to within a very short drive from their transplant hospital. This is of no consequence to those sufficiently fortunate to live within this radius. However, for the majority that do not, the cost of this relocation can cause immense financial distress. This distress is compounded by the fact that many of the nation’s top transplant facilities are located in some of the highest cost-of-living regions and medical teams are rarely able to provide transplant patients with adequate advance notice of both discharge and length of stay to secure ideal rates.
Transplants are not awarded to those sufficiently healthy to live on without it. When a medical team decides a transplant is necessary, core to their decision is the unfortunate fact that their patient will die in the very near future without one. Patients that are unable to afford the expense of nearby housing risk having this life-saving procedure delayed until they somehow find the necessary funds. For those that can just barely meet the expense, the total costs of such housing can cause financial ruin for themselves and their family. This both exemplifies how critical such housing is to the recovery process and introduces the mission we aim to serve.
Heartfelt Help Foundation was founded in 2019 based on my personal struggles to locate, afford, and retain housing during my heart transplant recovery and hearing that others were having their life-saving transplant surgeries delayed due to an inability to afford nearby housing and other recovery-related expenses.
Today, Heartfelt Help Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit which aims to assist transplant recipients afford the full scope of recovery expenses, including housing, transportation, and home health which are not covered by insurance. We believe the transplant recovery process is a crucial time that should be spent focused on recovery, rehabilitation, and achieving additional years with family and friends.
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Denise Redeker
Founder and Heart Transplant Recipient
If you’d like to support Heartfelt Help, please consider making a donation. 100% of all donations directly support transplant recipients’ organ eligibility and post-transplant housing expenses.
Are you a transplant candidate or recipient we can assist? Looking to get involved with Heartfelt Help? Want to learn more? Feel free to contact us!