The simple task of walking from room to room causes Yvette Taylor to catch her breath and stop her in her tracks.
Everyday household chores that shouldn’t be too difficult for a woman her age are a struggle.
Taylor suffers from sarcoidosis, a disease that limits her lung capacity and keeps her on an oxygen tank 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“And unfortunately I have it in my lungs and I’ve had it for almost 48 years and I’m running out of time, so I need a double lung transplant,” Taylor said.
She has been approved for surgery in Toronto, but the process cannot begin until her family finds affordable accommodation and a caregiver to nurse her back to health.
Your recovery in Ontario could take up to two years.
“I’m not crazy about it, but I have the will to live and I’ll do whatever it takes,” Taylor said.
His daughter Julie Laforge has started a GoFundMe Fundraiser locating her in Toronto and paying a caregiver, both huge costs.
NB lungThe province’s pulmonary association can cover some expenses, but Laforge said it is not enough.
“Without this, we risk losing her at a young age. She has a lot of life to live. This month she turns 68 and in my entire life I have only met my mother in and out of the hospital,” Laforge said.
“Watching her suffer in a breathing tank and watching her put medications into her body and not being able to help her is hard on the heart. “It’s hard on the head.”
NB Lung already helped by funding a trip to Toronto last fall for his tests and evaluations, a huge relief for the family.
Going forward, they know there are programs that will help them, but they only scratch the surface of what they really need.
“It would be wonderful to see her thrive when she’s in her 60s and 70s, like most people do,” Laforge said.
Carole Ritchie, her friend of 15 years, said Taylor is the sweetest person and wants to see her live a long life.
“She would do anything for anyone else and if anyone deserves this opportunity, she deserves it,” Ritchie said. “She has a window and she’s not long, so she just has to go up and do it. She never complains, but still she is left breathless.”
Yvette Taylor (right) sits on a couch at her home in Riverview, NB, with her friend Carol Ritchie (left) and her daughter Julie Laforge (center).
Taylor’s health has deteriorated since her husband Vernon died of cancer a year and a half ago.
She cared for her husband for 32 years until his death.
She admits that living alone is difficult, but social workers come to her home in Riverview, NB, several times a week, and her family and friends provide her with a strong support system.
“That helps me a lot. Just knowing that I have friends and that my kids are out there supporting me. That means a lot. It just lifts my spirits. Otherwise, I would be crying all the time,” Taylor said.
Taylor hasn’t ruled out returning to work one day and said she would do so in a heartbeat.
More than anything, he wants to see his grandchildren grow up.
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