A mother who lost her son and then found out her daughter was suffering from a life-threatening heart defect is asking for the public’s help.
Elisse Jensen looks and sounds like a healthy and happy 16-month-old little girl, but needs open heart surgery in Boston.
“I don’t know what I would do if something happened to her,” said Omarlynn Jensen, Elisse’s mom.
Jensen has been through this before. Her 3-year-old son Eli passed away eight months ago because of complications from a rare lung disease.
“I don’t want to lose another child," she said. "It was hard enough to see him pass away, and not be able to actually grow together and play and do things together, and they never got that opportunity."
Eli never had a chance. The family didn’t have insurance because his dad lost his job, and the little boy died before getting a double lung transplant.
The family’s desperately trying to find more than a $100,000 to pay for Elisse's surgery.
“It’s really nothing I can do, I just need as much help as I can get,” added Jensen.
So Jensen is making a desperate plea for help.
“It is something that we need done now, so I can make sure that she is here with us and I can see her grow up,” said Jensen.
The family has hardly raised any money up to this point. Elisse's surgery is scheduled for mid-September.