My name is Ahyeong, and I'm raising funds for my friend Kristi Brown who is currently hospitalized at Strong. On the evening of July 24th, Kristi experienced unusual, confusing and frightening symptoms so asked her roommate to take her to the emergency room. Her blood pressure was dangerously high. They ran labs and did a CT scan which revealed early the next morning that Kristi had a brain bleed; she was admitted and told that she would be transferred to Strong to try to stop the bleed. The doctor was saying things like brain lesion rupture may be the cause but nothing conclusive. Kristi was experiencing stroke-like physical symptoms and was not fully alert or coherent. She couldn't remember events from the day before. By mid-morning on July 25th, Kristi was in the critical care unit at Strong waiting for the results of more scans. There was talk of emergency surgery but still no concrete plan. An MRI revealed that Kristi has a cavernoma (irregular blood vessel cluster from birth) which makes her more susceptible to bleeding. Unfortunately the cavernoma is located at her brainstem which makes things more complicated. Kristi felt in a "drunken state" and was told there was potential for her brain to heal back to normal but that it wasn't guaranteed. Also that this could happen again. Late on the 25th, Kristi was transferred to neurology where more tests were run. On July 26th, Kristi continued to experience symptoms including cognitive and speech impairment, numbness and weakness, nausea and exhaustion. She met with a speech pathologist and learned that she will need to undergo speech therapy and OT indefinitely after she is released. She will also be attending a cognitive rehabilitation program. Kristi had an angiogram to rule out other conditions such as arteriovenous malformation (AVM) and to try to pinpoint what may have caused the bleed aside from the existence of the cavernoma. Kristi learned that this kind of bleed is considered a hemorrhagic stroke. As of right now, Kristi doesn't know for sure when she will go home. She doesn't know if or when she can start receiving any benefits such as short-term SSD. If she does eventually get SSD, it will be only a fraction of what she makes at work. It's hard for her to even be awake for long, speak, think or focus on looking up information. She doesn't know if or when she will be able to drive or return to work. Kristi cherishes nothing more than her independence so this is not easy. Everything is unknown as she takes it one day at a time. What is known is that she and her teenage son need to eat; rent and other bills will need to be paid and so on. I really want Kristi to be able to focus on her recovery without the added worry of making ends meet which was already challenging as a single mom. If you know Kristi you know she has a huge heart. She is there for her kids, her friends, her community much more than she is there for herself. She participates actively in mutual aid and street outreach whenever she can. She never says no to a friend or stranger in need. She gives everything she has to the patients she sees at work: she is a nurse working with refugee families. Whatever you can do to help Kristi and her family through this extremely difficult and scary time will mean the world to her (and to me) and is sure to make a huge difference in her healing process. Thank you so much for being part of Kristi's village: we love and appreciate you from the bottom of our hearts. <3
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