A Secret Santa brings relief to woman battling life-threatening lung condition
Published at | Updated at
A local Secret Santa is giving $1 million to deserving people in eastern Idaho this holiday season. Every day, from now until the end of the year, the East Idaho News elves will be delivering gifts from Secret Santa and we’ll be sharing the surprise videos here.
Ambrosia has fought medical challenges since the day she was born at just 24 weeks and weighing only 1 pound 11 ounces. She survived a collapsed lung, underwent open-heart surgery at one day old, and spent her first year in the hospital. She didn’t walk until age 2, after finally being taken off oxygen, and relied on daily breathing treatments until she was 5.
Despite those hardships, she went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and spent four years serving the Idaho Falls community in the mental health and crisis field. She now works with foster youth in a group home.
But in 2021, her health began to deteriorate again. After months of breathing problems and hospitalizations during the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors diagnosed her in January with Bronchiolitis Obliterans — a rare, progressive disease that hardens the tiny air sacs in the lungs and will ultimately lead to respiratory failure. She will need a double lung transplant.
Her condition has worsened in recent months. Doctors recently discovered her heart was under strain and diagnosed her with Intermittent Ectopic Atrial Rhythm. She and her husband have struggled financially as Ambrosia’s health issues have limited her ability to work, making it difficult to keep up with rent, car payments, medical bills, and the cost of essential oxygen equipment.
Specialists who once treated her in Pocatello have closed their Idaho office, forcing the couple to travel to Ogden, Utah. Once she qualifies for the transplant program, they will have to relocate to Salt Lake City for the life-saving surgery at the University of Utah — a move that will bring additional costs even with insurance.
This week, as the couple faced another month of financial uncertainty, a Secret Santa asked us to deliver a surprise gift to help ease the burden. Check out the surprise in the video player above!
