Barbecued meatballs, cheesy potatoes, green beans, rolls and desserts will be sold Tuesday at a fund raiser for Phoebe Hensley at the Messiah Lutheran Church, 1101 Neosho St.
Food will be served from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. The cost is $5 for adults and $4 for children under 12 years of age. Tea, water, or coffee is included with the meal.
In-town delivery is available by calling the church, 342-8181, to make arrangements.
Advance tickets may be purchased at the church, Schumann Electric, Meenen Transmission and Bad Ol’ Bern’s BBQ & Ice Cream.
Money raised by the benefit will be matched by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a benevolent association operated by the denomination. The Hensley family does not have health insurance.
Hensley, 36, spent more than three weeks in Stormont-Vail hospital after a viral infection settled in her heart and caused cardiomyopathy, which resulted in extensive damage to her heart. She had spent months seeking a diagnosis and treatment to end her constant exhaustion and steady weight gain.
The diagnosis explained the constant exhaustion and subsequent weight gain from water retention. Hensley had lost 130 pounds of fluid during her hospitalization and, by Tuesday, the loss had risen to 155 pounds. She continues to have water-retention problems and low blood pressure — provoked by overdoing — recently sent her to the emergency room.
Hensley said on Tuesday that progress has been slow.
She spent time with family members over the holiday and visited the grave of her sister, former Emporian Brenna (Freeman) Lacer, who died this January at the age of 43 from brain injuries suffered in a vehicle accident.
“I did too much yesterday, so I’m laying here with my feet up,” she said Tuesday.
While Hensley continues to recuperate, she is learning to knit and reading more about her condition. She said she was excited about an article on her condition that was brought in by her mother-in-law, who received it in a mailing from the Mayo Clinic.
“It explained every bit of it,” Hensley said. “I learned more from that little mailer than I did from anybody.”
She remains hopeful that she will regain some of the heart capacity that she lost because of the infection.
“I think mine is more like a long-term thing,” she said.
She will go to Stormont-Vail again in August for another checkup and a cardiogram to measure her heart’s pumping capacity.
Her year-old business, “Phoebe’s Cafe and Cakes,” remains for sale. With her heart functioning at about 10 percent of its former capacity, doctors to not expect the damaged muscles do recover sufficiently to allow her to work.
For now, she will try not to overdo it and to concentrate on getting better and not rushing her recovery. That can mean riding for a while, instead of trying to walk.
“I took my first buggy ride at Wal-Mart,” Hensley said.