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Imagine waking up a prisoner in your own bodyâ¦unable to walk, talk or even hug the people you love most. This is the story of Heidi Ann McFarlane.
Ask anyone who knew her and they would tell you that Heidi McFarlane was one of the kindest and most giving women they had ever known. Heidiâs zest for life and heart-warming smile were contagious and it seemed that her best days were yet to com. The middle of three daughters, Heidi was raised in Minneapolis, MN before moving to West Bloomington where she spent her adolescence and eventually graduated from Bloomington Jefferson High School in 1994. After two years of community college, Heidi found her calling and transferred to the University of Minnesota where she completed her degree to become a Dental Hygienist.
After a rather subdued start to her adult life, Heidi began to sow her oats enjoying life the way you would expect from a beautiful, successful 24 year old single woman. As you would expect, it didnât take long before Heidi met her guy. On February 18, 2000, Rick Lindquist entered Heidiâs life and swept her off her feet. Having spent their first 31 straight days together, Heidi and Rick were inseparable and soon began living together. After a rather lengthy courtship, Rick finally proposed marriage to Heidi on March 21st, 2005 while vacationing in Pattaya Beach, Thailand. Heidi said yes.
Everything was going her way, and Heidi could finally start planning for the day that she had dreamt about since she was a little girl. The date had been set for June 24th, 2006 and plans were well underway when suddenly everything changed. Just two short months in to their engagement, Heidi began experiencing double vision, slurred speech and increased clumsiness. Soon thereafter, tremors began to build in her arms, legs and head and eventually rendering her unable to walk on her own. A single lesion was found at the top of Heidiâs brainstem and although initially diagnosed as Multiple Sclerosis, MS drugs to slow the progression of her deteriorating condition where ineffective. Terrified about what the future held for her and desperate for answers, Heidi, Rick and her family sought a second opinion at the famed Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN followed by a third opinion at the University of Minnesota Medical Center. After months of analysis, tests and failed treatments, Heidiâs condition continued to worsen. Doctors at Mayo and the U of Minnesota had officially ruled out the MS diagnosis but where unable to determine exactly what was causing Heidiâs failing condition. âNon-specific Inflammatory Conditionâ was all they could say. This seemingly technical sounding diagnosis was simply âdoctor-speakâ for âwe see something there, but we have no idea what it is or how it got thereâ.
In August of 2005, Heidi had been forced to quit her beloved job as a dental hygienist and by December she found herself confined to a wheelchair. Helpless against her worsening condition and fearing the worst, Heidi and Rick celebrated their 6 year anniversary by calling off their wedding. Unable to provide the level of care that she required, Heidi moved home to her parents house where her mother Luann became her full-time caregiver. Having already attempted dozens of traditional and non-traditional treatments, Heidiâs desperation for answers continued while her condition worsened. In March 2006, Heidiâs tremors began to dissipate as her motor function slowed impacting her ability to communicate. On June 2, 2006, Heidi celebrated her 30th birthday. Struggling to swallow and beginning to lose weight rapidly, Heidi soon lost her ability to speak.
As the saying goes, âDesperate times, call for desperate measures.â In August of 2006, approximately one year after her initial diagnosis, Heidi, Rick and her family traveled to Baltimore, MD where with the help of the Morgan Stanley Childrenâs Hospital of New York-Presbyterian, Heidi was seen by two of the worldâs foremost neurology experts who successfully completed a brainstem biopsy. Unfortunately, this delicate procedure yielded no significant findings. Heidi, Rick and her family returned to Minnesota dejected, and faced with the realization that a full year had been spent attempting to reverse or even slow the dramatic decline of Heidiâs condition but to no avail.
In late 2006, Heidiâs biological condition began to falter as her physical condition had done some 16 months earlier. Heidi was rushed to the hospital during the early morning hours of December 8th, 2006 with a fever of 105F. Heidi spent the 2006 holidays at Methodist Hospital before being transferred to Texas Terrace Care Center, a nursing home in St. Louis Park, MN. Heidi spent much of 2007 bouncing back and forth between the nursing home and lengthy hospital stays for life-threatening bouts of pneumonia, blood infections and a strangulated bowel. Heidiâs will to survive had never been tested more so than it did in late 2007 when some 16 feet of her small intestines were removed. Throughout her illness, Heidi has never given up her will to survive. The strength she has shown has been nothing short of spectacular and she continues to inspire those whose lives she touches.
Today, Heidi lives comfortably at Welcome Place, an adult foster home in Crystal, MN.