Support Susan Timm During Stroke Recovery

Please support Susan & Chuck Timm during Susan's recovery journey from a stroke; the stroke that changed the life of someone who was always going going going, and was quickly brought to a stop. Susan is a loving wife, mother/stepmother, sister, aunt, cousin, friend, professor, advocate and supporter, among many other things to those that know her. You can always count on Susan to go above and beyond in any venture she undertakes, and she rarely says no to requests from others for help. Susan had a hard time asking for or receiving help from others, but at this time she and Chuck could use your help. There are rising medical costs associated with her recovery and care. Although Susan is fortunate to have good insurance coverage through her work, there are limits to what insurance will cover. In addition, insurance will not cover all treatments or medications that doctors might recommend for her to have the best recovery possible. We would love to provide Susan with every opportunity to make the best recovery, and to do this, it will require help from others. Help give Susan the opportunity to continue to help others, as we all know she will continue to do the moment she is able.

Any help that is received will go directly to Chuck Timm, her husband, to be used to cover medical costs, treatments and prescriptions, required equipment to safely bring her home, supportive care, and any other associated costs. If preferred a different way of helping, please reach out to her husband Chuck Timm or daughter Kristin Lane directly, and we can provide alternatives to the Go Fund Me.

Background:

As many of you might already know, Susan Timm suffered a hemorrhagic stroke at the end of February 2023. Fortunately, her family was able to notice the signs and seek medical attention for her immediately. However, due to the anti-platelet medication, she was on, Brilenta (there are currently no known reversal drugs), they were not able to take immediate corrective action. Miraculously, she stopped bleeding on her own, and the neurosurgeon was willing to install the drain; to drain the blood and excess fluid from the brain. Susan spent 3 weeks in the ICU fighting for her life. Doctors did not see much hope for any considerable recovery, and said in their opinion she more than likely would never improve beyond a semi-vegetative state. Susan had expressed her choice of wanting to be given all opportunities to improve should she be faced with this decision, and so we decided to give her the opportunity to improve that she had asked for. She was transferred to a long-term acute care hospital, RML in Hinsdale, after 3 weeks in the ICU, while she was still in a coma.

After arriving at RML, we tried a few different methods to try to entice her out of her coma. We luckily came across a study out of Northwestern that found that coma patients are much more likely to come out of a coma after hearing stories from their past (that include them), and told by those they experienced the memories with. We also modified that to include playing music that we knew would be associated with her long-term memory. Within a few days of using these techniques, and 1.5 weeks being at RML, she woke from her coma. She continued to improve slowly, but surely, and after 3-3.5 weeks at RML she qualified to go to Shirley Ryan, an Acute inpatient rehab hospital.

She arrived at Shirley Ryan end of last week, and they already have her working her butt off to get better. She is seeing speech, physical, occupational, and cognitive therapists every day for at least 3.5 hours a day. Once they have a good baseline on her, she will begin to be evaluated by their specialists (vision, hearing, etc.), and we will be able to see what experimental or trial options she might qualify for.

In typical Susan fashion, she defied the odds that she was given for recovery and awoke from her coma. Not only that, but she continues to improve, way beyond multiple doctors' expectations. We are encouraging her to remember her thought processes and experiences so that she might be able to help others in her situation in the future.