Help for Aubrey
Donation protected
20 years ago I met a wonderful woman with one adorable little boy who's smile could, and did, light up the room. It was very apparent that this little boy was her world, and she was his too.
Heather, as a single mom had a lot on her plate. While balancing the demands of a full time job and having a child can be overwhelming its own right, this momma certainly had a tougher road to hoe. Aubrey was diagnosed at an early age with Tuberous Sclerosis. This is when tumors grow in ventricles blocking fluids from flowing properly. Children with this diagnosis are usually said to have a short life span, motor function restrictions, inability to move limbs, seizures, as well as a barrage of other problems.
While Aubrey does have developmental delays, and seizures he has surpassed the adolescent life span expectancy! At the age of 21, he as graduated high school, competed and medaled in the special olympics (Gold in track- GO AUB!), is a talented artist, loves Pokemon and has a heart of gold that makes everyone around him want to be a better person!
Over the years they have had countless MRI's and CT's to monitor these normally benign tumors.
Well, that's where this "go fund" begins.......
2 weeks ago Aubrey was having severe headaches, worse than normal. 2 of his tumors are in his brain and the pressure was more intense and he was feeling nauseous and was having blurred vision. Heather took him to the ER only to have the tests reveal that he needed to have an emergency craniotomy for tumor removal. These tumors has doubled in size and were blocking spinal fluid from properly flowing causing cranial pressure and hydrocephalus. The tumors had progressed from benign to SEGA (subpendymal giant cell astrocytoma). This meaning they have changed cell structure to benign to a cancer cluster- this being problematic and needing removal ASAP.
Last week they went in for a routine surgery and came out with a lot more than they bargained for. Once in surgery, they found 2 blood clots (non related), the tumors themselves were bleeding (not typical) and were mixing with the spinal fluid causing fever and elevated blood pressure. The shunt they placed during surgery to stop the bleeding was not doing its job so they went back in to place another one. Both are failing.
He is resting in a medically induced coma to allow his intracranial pressure to decreases. He is trached, and has a feeding tube, but his fever and elevated BP seem to hold steady at an increased rate. This is not good for his recovery. He has partial paralysis on the left side of his body due to the amount of pressure one of the tumors had placed on his brain. They tried to slowly wake him today to check his brain function but it was too stressful for him so after about 5 mins, he was returned to medication.
What should have been routine, was far from it due to some unforeseen obsticles. When Aubrey does go home, thats when a whole new up hill journey will begin. Thus the start of physical therapy and rehab.....
Heather is without a doubt one of the most generous and positive people I know. Aubrey needs his mom to be strong and if he were awake I know he'd be telling her he's fine and not to worry. But as a mom you can't help but do so.
Heather has been able to get FMLA from her job which is great but unfortunately was not able to secure short term disability. As of now, she doesn't know when Aubrey will be going home or how long he will be in rehab. Her "vacation time" from work only has a short time left allowing her 1 more paycheck before she is without income.
Her friends would like her not to worry about this too. She certainly has enough to think about.
We are asking for anyone who is able to help this momma out, please do so. We all fall on hard times and while difficult to ask for help we can't do it all alone, all the time.
If monetary donations are not something you can do, I ask that you keep Heather and Aubrey in your prayers. They are just as valuable and needed!
Thank you all for reading and helping!
Heather, as a single mom had a lot on her plate. While balancing the demands of a full time job and having a child can be overwhelming its own right, this momma certainly had a tougher road to hoe. Aubrey was diagnosed at an early age with Tuberous Sclerosis. This is when tumors grow in ventricles blocking fluids from flowing properly. Children with this diagnosis are usually said to have a short life span, motor function restrictions, inability to move limbs, seizures, as well as a barrage of other problems.
While Aubrey does have developmental delays, and seizures he has surpassed the adolescent life span expectancy! At the age of 21, he as graduated high school, competed and medaled in the special olympics (Gold in track- GO AUB!), is a talented artist, loves Pokemon and has a heart of gold that makes everyone around him want to be a better person!
Over the years they have had countless MRI's and CT's to monitor these normally benign tumors.
Well, that's where this "go fund" begins.......
2 weeks ago Aubrey was having severe headaches, worse than normal. 2 of his tumors are in his brain and the pressure was more intense and he was feeling nauseous and was having blurred vision. Heather took him to the ER only to have the tests reveal that he needed to have an emergency craniotomy for tumor removal. These tumors has doubled in size and were blocking spinal fluid from properly flowing causing cranial pressure and hydrocephalus. The tumors had progressed from benign to SEGA (subpendymal giant cell astrocytoma). This meaning they have changed cell structure to benign to a cancer cluster- this being problematic and needing removal ASAP.
Last week they went in for a routine surgery and came out with a lot more than they bargained for. Once in surgery, they found 2 blood clots (non related), the tumors themselves were bleeding (not typical) and were mixing with the spinal fluid causing fever and elevated blood pressure. The shunt they placed during surgery to stop the bleeding was not doing its job so they went back in to place another one. Both are failing.
He is resting in a medically induced coma to allow his intracranial pressure to decreases. He is trached, and has a feeding tube, but his fever and elevated BP seem to hold steady at an increased rate. This is not good for his recovery. He has partial paralysis on the left side of his body due to the amount of pressure one of the tumors had placed on his brain. They tried to slowly wake him today to check his brain function but it was too stressful for him so after about 5 mins, he was returned to medication.
What should have been routine, was far from it due to some unforeseen obsticles. When Aubrey does go home, thats when a whole new up hill journey will begin. Thus the start of physical therapy and rehab.....
Heather is without a doubt one of the most generous and positive people I know. Aubrey needs his mom to be strong and if he were awake I know he'd be telling her he's fine and not to worry. But as a mom you can't help but do so.
Heather has been able to get FMLA from her job which is great but unfortunately was not able to secure short term disability. As of now, she doesn't know when Aubrey will be going home or how long he will be in rehab. Her "vacation time" from work only has a short time left allowing her 1 more paycheck before she is without income.
Her friends would like her not to worry about this too. She certainly has enough to think about.
We are asking for anyone who is able to help this momma out, please do so. We all fall on hard times and while difficult to ask for help we can't do it all alone, all the time.
If monetary donations are not something you can do, I ask that you keep Heather and Aubrey in your prayers. They are just as valuable and needed!
Thank you all for reading and helping!
Organizer and beneficiary
Jill Brancamp Moorman
Organizer
Mt. Dora, FL
Heather Kurtz
Beneficiary