Hi Everyone, I know I'm not as active in this community as I used to be, but this is a personal appeal for help.
My sixteen year old niece is just coming off a twenty day stay in the Pediatric ICU at Yale - New Haven Hospital and is currently being cared for in their Neurosurgery Unit.
A few weeks back she was complaining of a headeache. No big deal right? Well, this one was. I don't know the technical terms but fluid was building up in her brain and causing such pressure that she ended up going into cardiac arrest. Her father administered CPR while her fourteen year old brother called 911 and then their mother.
Dorothy is doing better now after three brain surgeries and a few other procedures but still has a long road ahead of her. After she is released from the hospital she will require weekly visits from three different types of therapists, insurance will cover the first six visits. There is no definite time frame for when there will no longer be a need for the home visits, they could possibly go on for months.
Her Mom has taken a leave of absence from work and will only be receiving half of her paycheck for the time being. Her Dad just returned to work after using all his vacation time to be at the hospital. They recently completed a bathroom renovation to make everything more accessible for Dorothy as well. They are burning through their savings on hospital parking, meals, and various other costs associated with this.
Dorothy was born with severe Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus. She has been confined to a wheelchair her entire life and there isn't much hope of that ever changing. This young lady has been through countless medical procedure over her short time here with us. I've known her since she was two and I have personally seen her come through all of them with her spirit intact. This time around it is a bit different. This hospital stay and surgeries were not planned; as all the others have been. This was bad.
Before I rattle on any more, here's the link to what we are doing: http://www.giveforwa...b22/teamdorothy
The Give Forward link allows you to contribute any amount of money, and even keep it anonymous if you'd like. This isn't a cheap ploy for money, I guess you'll just need to trust me on that from one head to another, this is big time. Any help you can provide is much appreciated. If you can't make a monetary donation, even a share of the link is appreciated. I'm sure we have all benefited from the kindness of strangers somewhere along the road in our individual and collective trips and I'd like to try and tap in to some of that magic, however forced it may be.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for any of your thought that you can put into this. That's all I have to give in return. We are in the beginning stages of planning for a few other fundraisers local to the Ansonia, CT area and I will update this thread when I have more info on them.
"Without love in the dream it'll never come true.."
Peace!
(If, for some reason, this violates the Boardie Bill of Rights or TOS, feel free to edit as needed.)
