Benefit to help with medical bills for ailing Upper Sandusky native

Jeff Chance (left) returned home from Afghanistan this February when his wife Nicole became very ill and was forced to have several surgeries. Nicole has been to Mercy Tiffin and Blanchard Valley hospitals over the past couple months and has had her spleen and 12 feet of her intestines removed, along with being on a ventilator and recently receiving daily dialysis.

One should cherish their life and that of others as any one of our’s could change in the blink of an eye.
Over the past three months, Nicole Chance’s has taken a turn for the worse.
Originally from Upper Sandusky, and currently of Tiffin, Chance was living the life of wife, mother and grandmother before a simple splenectomy went wrong.
“On Feb. 7, she went in (to Mercy Tiffin Hospital) to have her spleen removed because it was killing her platelets,” said Kerry Stewart, Chance’s older sister. “She had done several different attempts to not remove her spleen, but they were unable to get her count up high enough. The platelet transfusion didn’t work and it kept going down. They took some bone marrow, but were unable to take enough to test.”
After what seemed like a successful surgery, Nicole felt better and was even walking around the next day and was released a few days later.
However, after a few days, she began having migraines, stomach pains and was vomiting for a few days after.
During this time, her husband Jeff was in Afghanistan serving for the National Guard.
“She was talking to her (Jeff) on Skype and he told his son and her father to take her to the Tiffin emergency room,” Stewart said. “After a few tests, her white blood cell count was up in the 70,000 range. She was in a lot of pain and she was then transported to Findlay.”
According to the National Library of Medicine and National Institute’s of Health’s online edition, the normal white blood cell count per microliter is between 4,500-10,000.
When Nicole had talked to Jeff on a Sunday, he was able to make arrangements to return home by Thursday.
He has been granted to work from a base in Marion, so he does not have to return overseas and may be close to Nicole.
Nicole soon was transferred to Blanchard Valley Hospital in Findlay, where she went unconscious and left the doctors searching for a heart beat. On Feb. 19, she was hooked to a ventilator.
“During all this, (the doctors) were saying she had a blood clot and then they were saying they weren’t sure,” Stewart said. “They couldn’t tell when they took her off the ventilator because she couldn’t hold her breath for 15 seconds; therefore, we couldn’t give her the dye for the CT (scan) and her kidneys went into failure. We had to wait and she began to become critical.
“They eventually were able to give her a special dye and that was when they found the blood clot and the air pockets in her abdomen and intestines,” she added. “She was taken into emergency surgery, where they removed 12 feet of her small intestines. That’s when we had to work her back off the ventilator for the second time.”
She remained in Findlay for seven weeks before being transported to Elmwood Communities at The Springs in Green Springs.
After five days, Nicole was able to return home April 8, which was Easter as well as her birthday.
“At that point, we had to put her back on the ventilator for the third time,” Stewart said.
Since then, Nicole has returned to Blanchard Valley, put on 20 pounds of fluid and has been on dialysis daily.
To aid the family, Nicole’s neighbor Mary Snyder was talking with some friends at The Eagles Club in Upper Sandusky when someone mentioned the situation to a board member.
The idea soon spread to where a benefit in Nicole’s honor will be held from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday at The Eagles Club, located at 220 S. Sandusky Ave., featuring a poker run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“They’re going to have some games for the children, comedians, country and rock bands, along with a variety of food,” Stewart said. “Pretty much everything has been donated for the raffle and some food items. We’ve had a lot of businesses from all over be generous and donate.”
A $3 donation is asked for those adults who attend, while kids are free.
“There’s been a lot of prayers out for Nikky and God has really been there with her to keep her going,” Stewart said. “She’s been doing good each time and we know she’s going to make it through one step at a time.”

By PATRICK MASSARA
Staff writer

Posted by Daily Chief on April 24, 2012. Filed under Featured,Local News,Recent Headlines,Recent Pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry