Have you ever had to face a life threatening illness? Have you ever become overwhelmed by the restrictive cost to cure your illness? Have you ever had to rely on your family and friends to make a life-saving difference on your behalf? Sandy Olson is facing all of these conditions at once. We need your help to help Sandy.

Sandy will need a heart transplant this year and is now faced with enormous annual costs in order to pay for post-transplant treatments. Our fundraising committee, Mend A Broken Heart, is working to help Sandy raise at least $10,000 to cover some of these costs. The great news is that we are working with the Georgia Transplant Foundation's Access to Care matching funds program that will match—dollar for dollar—every dollar we raise, up to a maximum of $10,000.

Sandy is a 39-year-old mother of four, who is raising her children alone. Angel is 18-years old and will be starting college in the spring. Kayla is 17-years old and will be starting North Georgia College this fall. Christian is 11-years old and in the 6th grade this year. Sabrina is 9-years old and will be in the 4th grade. Sandy was diagnosed with Peripartum Cardiomyopathy during her last pregnancy almost 10 years ago. She also has Ventricular Tachycardia which required her to have a defibrillator/pacemaker implanted. She has been fighting Congestive Heart Failure for over 9 years due to the heart conditions. Her EF is now about 10% and she desperately needs a heart transplant. Her strongest desire is to get strong enough to do things with her children again.

We need your help! The Georgia Transplant Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides financial, educational, and emotional assistance to Georgia's transplant community, is assisting us in our fundraising efforts.

Please consider making a donation to help Sandy reach her fundraising goals and maintain her transplant. If you have questions or need further verification, please contact the Georgia Transplant Foundation at (770)457-3796 or Sandy Olson at (706)378-3352.

Checks should be made out to Georgia Transplant Foundation with Sandy Olson’s name in the “to” or “memo” section of the check and mailed to 250 Painter Road, Rome, GA 30165. For more information about making a donation or volunteering on behalf of these efforts, please call Suzy Pittman at (706)237-6424. Donations can be made online at www.gatransplant.org/Client/solson.

Thank you for helping DawsonTimes support this life-saving campaign!

Submitted by Angela Hall