The family of a UCF student has turned to GoFundMe to ask for help in efforts to raise money for her mother, who is in need of a heart transplant.
Julie Zebrauskas first started her uphill medical battle in 1992 at the age of 24 years old when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin’s Disease and was given a 40% chance to live.
After being given heavy radiation therapy and going into remission, Zebrauskas experienced a reoccurrence of Hodgkin’s and was admitted into an aggressive chemotherapy drug trial.
Despite being in and out of the hospital constantly, God gave the Zebrauskas family a blessing with their daughter Kimberly in 1994, according to the GoFundMe.
Kimberly is a 21 year old college student at UCF majoring in Event Management and Public Relations. She is also a sister of the Kappa Delta sorority on campus.
Today, Julie is 47 years young and lives here in Orlando, Florida. The family moved to Orlando 3 years ago because it was Julie’s dream to visit Walt Disney World often. She worked there part time so she could spread her love of Disney to all who visited, according to the GoFundMe.
Just yesterday, Julie had surgery to get a defibrillator implant after staying in the hospital for 30 days.
Medical bills for Julie amount to nearly $100,000 for just the past 3 years. The heart transplantation is a $1.2 million surgery. The anti-rejection medications will be approximately $5,000 per month and are only paid at 80%.
Julie is listed as a 1A(b) transplant. The family has stressed that every dollar helps towards their goal of $100,000.
“If I can touch 100,000 people with $1, we can do this for Julie! She has a lot more life to give this world, and I am not ready to say goodbye,” said Gregory Zebrauskas, Julie’s husband.
