Reaching Hope~Maureen Gallagher
Donation protected
In the early morning hours of May 7th, I came out into the living room to say good morning to my mom, Maureen. When she didn’t respond I thought she’d dozed off in the chair, but when I looked at her I noticed that wasn’t the case. I called my brother, Michael, into the room and we immediately called 911. Waiting in agony, confusion and panic, we held her until the paramedics came, having absolutely no clue what had happened to her while we’d been sleeping. The paramedics said that, judging by her presentation, it’d looked as if she’d had a stroke and that they would be taking her to West Hills Medical Center.
Hours later, Michael and I learned that our mom had suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm that caused a subsequent stroke. More specifically, she was diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage. They told us that we should come to the hospital before they took her to surgery due to the potential of this being an end-of-life circumstance. We held her again until she went to surgery and left the hospital feeling helpless. Later that night, a nurse in the Intensive Care Unit told us that the phenomenal doctors at West Hills were able to clip the aneurysm and remove the entire hematoma from our mom’s brain. He told us that she was stable in the ICU.
Since then, our mom has made progress in various ways and scans remain clear, but due to the complexity and severity of this injury, the road to recovery will be a long one.
Right now, Michael and I are back to work and doing what we can to sustain ourselves on solely our incomes and this will be the case for the forseeable future. Typically with injuries of this kind, it takes time to understand the full extent of their impact and, therefore, we are still unsure of what the future holds for our mom. What we can control in this situation is how we maintain our health and strength in order to do whatever we can to provide for her like she has done for us our whole lives. Therefore, we are seeking financial help to be able to do so, and to potentially eliminate some of the burden that lies ahead.
*Anything helps. Though we are seeking financial assistance, we graciously accept prayers and well wishes, as this helps us feel support while being so far away from home. We are also asking for cards from anyone and everyone so that, when our mom is able to, she can see those who supported her and our family during this time. While this was a devastating tragedy, our mom has continued to persevere, even at her most vulnerable. She continues to be our inspiration!
Thank you all in advance for sharing and caring!
Hours later, Michael and I learned that our mom had suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm that caused a subsequent stroke. More specifically, she was diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage. They told us that we should come to the hospital before they took her to surgery due to the potential of this being an end-of-life circumstance. We held her again until she went to surgery and left the hospital feeling helpless. Later that night, a nurse in the Intensive Care Unit told us that the phenomenal doctors at West Hills were able to clip the aneurysm and remove the entire hematoma from our mom’s brain. He told us that she was stable in the ICU.
Since then, our mom has made progress in various ways and scans remain clear, but due to the complexity and severity of this injury, the road to recovery will be a long one.
Right now, Michael and I are back to work and doing what we can to sustain ourselves on solely our incomes and this will be the case for the forseeable future. Typically with injuries of this kind, it takes time to understand the full extent of their impact and, therefore, we are still unsure of what the future holds for our mom. What we can control in this situation is how we maintain our health and strength in order to do whatever we can to provide for her like she has done for us our whole lives. Therefore, we are seeking financial help to be able to do so, and to potentially eliminate some of the burden that lies ahead.
*Anything helps. Though we are seeking financial assistance, we graciously accept prayers and well wishes, as this helps us feel support while being so far away from home. We are also asking for cards from anyone and everyone so that, when our mom is able to, she can see those who supported her and our family during this time. While this was a devastating tragedy, our mom has continued to persevere, even at her most vulnerable. She continues to be our inspiration!
Thank you all in advance for sharing and caring!
Organizer
Elizabeth Fey
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA