Hi Everybody! We are Chris and Krystal, and we are raising money for our friend Melanie to help her as she recovers from injuries she sustained while she was driving to work. From an early age, Melanie has always put others first. She was drawn to emergency medicine and with loads of hard work, Melanie recently graduated with honours in the Advanced Care Paramedic program and was the 2024 Valedictorian at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (S.A.I.T). Melanie was excited to begin her career as an ACP and help people in the community. On Friday June 30th, in the early hours of the morning, Melanie was driving from her home in Calgary to work her shift in rural Alberta when she, unfortunately, struck a deer at highway speeds. Her car was totalled, and when the airbags deployed, her wrist was immediately and severely mangled. She was urgently transported by EMS to a rural hospital. The doctors there determined Melanie’s injuries were far more advanced for their capabilities. She needed to be treated in a Calgary hospital with operating room capabilities, urgently as she also suffered from loss of feeling and motor mobility in her right, dominant hand. Melanie had multiple fractures along her wrist and displaced bones. The doctors there performed a reduction before she left that was unsuccessful. Upon arrival at the Calgary ER, they tried to perform another reduction that again, was unsuccessful. Surgery was now considered emergent as Melanie now had lost complete feeling in her dominant hand and was suffering from severe never damage from her injuries. Her first emergency surgery was on July 1st, which required her to have a plate installed with 8+ screws placed to try and secure all the places her bones had broken in her wrist. She also underwent nerve surgery during this time to help repair the damage. Unfortunately, Melanie suffered from a very rare, and very serious complication called compartment syndrome, and was rushed back into emergency surgery on July 2nd, so she could have an emergency fasciotomy performed in order to save her arm. If this was not treated immediately, Melanie would have had her arm amputated as a result. After surgery, Melanie’s arm was left open to release the pressure for four days. On the fourth day, Melanie underwent another surgery to perform further nerve repair and closure surgery. Melanie was finally discharged on July 7th. However, Melanie was not at home long when she was placed back into the ER, because she again, lost all feeling and movement in her dominant hand. Doctors could not find the cause for her loss of sensation and Melanie underwent her 4th emergent surgery, this time in her elbow, to de-stress the nerves in hopes this would help her arm and hand. Unfortunately, this surgery remains unsuccessful, and this time, the only hope and cure left is time itself. Hopefully, time will repair her nerves so she can once again regain feeling and movement in her hand. Melanie currently is in a cast for the rest of the summer and has over 40 stitches from her multiple surgeries. Melanie has a long and hard road of recovery ahead of her and was placed off work for 6 months, possibly longer, as they repair and heal her multiple fractures and extremely damaged nerves. We are asking for donations that will help with Melanie's day-to-day expenses for her and her son, as she is also a solo, single mother. She will require extensive physiotherapy for months to help her try and regain her feeling, strength, and mobility. Unfortunately, since Melanie is a casual employee within her company, she does not qualify for any insurance or short-term disability, so every penny of your donation will greatly help her and her son during these extremely hard financial times. With your generous support, Melanie can focus on her recovery with a little less stress and work towards getting back to her career she so passionately loves when medically cleared by her surgeons. That means, we'll have one more paramedic working in Alberta helping others in their time of need! Thank you!
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