Dawn. A 56 year young mom, wife, sister and grand 'dog' mother. She loves her dogs Baxter and Bently and loves spoiling her granddogs Bo, Frodo and Doc. Dawn is very hard working, head strong, determined and easy to get along with. She absolutely loves to camp. She works for Plexus and is also an EMR, emergency medical responder. On Monday October 26th, her life was forever changed.Monday, October 26th Dawn suffered a major stroke while driving home causing an accident and hitting parked cars. Dawn was rushed to Theda Clark hospital where she underwent a CT scan. The scan showed a major stroke to the right side of her brain. The stroke affected the left side of her body. She cannot feel or move her entire left side. This includes her arm, leg, hand, face and lost vision in the left eye. She was unable to open her eyes but was able to communicate with short answers and give us the "thumbs up" or the "bird" with her right hand. She is very sleepy and slurs her words.Tuesday, another CT scan was completed to compare the amount of swelling. That scan showed more swelling and more loss of the right side of the brain. The neurologist informed the us that this is very serious. Swelling usually is the worst on days 3 to 5. For only being on day 2, the swelling was more than they expected. Infact, 1 hour after the stroke, the swelling was comparable to what they would expect on day 3. We were told we by the Neurologist that she would begint to administer IV medication to reduce the swelling. However, if that were to not work and swelling were to get worse, they need to know what to do. They could either let the swelling go on its own and possibly swell into the brain stem and be fatal, or we could do a crainiotomy where they would remove a portion of her skull to allow room for swelling. We asked Dawn what she would want and she said crainiotomy. When we told her she would be unable to move her left side again, she said "I will move my left side again!" She continued to communicate occasionaly and really sleep. Afterall, brain damage is very hard and cause severe drowsiness, she seemed to be doing well with the medication. Wednesday morning Dawn seemed to be doing about the same. Communicating with slurred words with her eyes closed and sleeping on and off. Another CT scan was done. The neurologist said there was more swelling despite the medication, and that the brain was pushing 5mm into the brain stem. She would need the crainiotomy to save her life. The neurologist stepped out to make some calls and plans. Within 45 minutes, Dawn began to show signs of rapid decline. More sleepiness, she stopped communicating and her oxygen levels dropped. What was to be a scheduled crainiotomy, was now an emergency life saving surgery. Nurses and doctors rushed into to get her ready to be wheeled for surgery. She was in surgery for roughly 2 hours when Dr. Alexander Hawkins came out and told us surgery went well, she would be recovering in ICU for a few days and then into a regular hospital room for atleast another month. It was almost 6 hours from the time surgery started that we were able to see her in ICU. She was sedated, on a ventilator and seemed to be resting peacfully. Thursday, October 29th, Dawn was still in the ICU sedated, on a ventilator and many other machines. The right side of her head is shaved and the right side of her face is extremely swollen. Unrecognizable. ICU wants no visitors other than family and only minimal touch and talking to her. She is able to give the staff a slight "thumbs up" when needed, otherwise remains sedated and on pain meds. Dawn is in for a long haul, and is not out of the woods at this point. We are very optimistic that she can over come this obstical that she was given. Now, if suffering a life altering and stroke isn't enough for Dawn and family, her husband Gene is needing surgery. He has degenrative disc disease affecting his neck. He is scheduled to undergo surgery to have areas in his neck fused in the next week or two. This surgery will cause Gene to rely on someone else to help with acitivies of daily living such as, bathing, cooking and driving for atleast 6 weeks. He will also be getting an umbilical hernia repaired at the same time. Dawn's daughter is going make her therapy/rehabilitation intense to push her to recover as fully as possible. The only way we can do that is to afford the type we need. Her family is as determined to get her better. Dawn has been a caretaker her entire life, it is time we come together to help both her and Gene at this time when they need it the most. Any little bit helps. The family thanks you from the bottom of their hearts. We will update as often as we can. Please keep Dawn and her family in your thoughts and prayers and she needs it more than ever. Thank You!
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