Chelsea’s Stroke Rehab

On Remembrance Day my beautiful, vibrant , sassy 17 year old niece Chelsea suffered a very serious stroke caused by a blood clot in her brain. Thankfully it was a day off school for her & my sister was home from work. Wendy was down stairs & heard an odd noise above her. Shortly afterwards she heard a strange crying sound. She went upstairs & found Chelsea laying on the floor contorted, looking like she was having a seizure. The ambulance came & within a short time Chelsea was in the Vernon hospital where they realized it was a life threatening stroke & not a seizure. Her condition was so serious there was not enough time to airlift her to Vancouver so she was transferred to Kelowna. She was unresponsive when she arrived & was immediately whisked into surgery. The Neurosurgeon was unable to get all of the clot but Heparin did its job & stopped its growth so her body could dissolve it.
Miraculously Chelsea is almost back to perfect health physically but has a long road to go to reach full mental healing. Cognitively she ranges from toddler to teenager & thus it is not safe to her leave her alone. Wendy is having to stay at the hospital with her & due to the Covid shut down is wary of leaving in case they don’t let her back in.
Chelsea is struggling with finding the right words for things but is improving with determination & the help of 2 speech therapists. She is also suffering from CPSP - Central Post Stroke Pain - in her right forearm and hand. It is very hard to manage and is a huge concern as it can be detrimental to her recovery. She is starting medication but it will be a number of days before we know if it is helping.
Because of her age Chelsea isn't eligible for any of the adult stroke programs and there are no paediatric ones for her to access. So there will likely be a lot of out of pocket expenses to make sure she gets the best rehab possible. Wendy will be doing most of that work with her, following whatever program the Kelowna rehab centre sets out. She will also be helping her with online schooling because Chelsea is determined to graduate on time even though she can’t go back to school yet. These changes will be very hard on what has always been a 2 income household.
I am asking anyone who can to please donate to help with extra expenses as Chelsea goes through these various stages of therapy and as my sister & her fiancé make the needed adjustments to their home to make it safe for her. They will need help to cover the rehab as well as regular life expenses & potentially may need to hire some help so Wendy & Josh can take a break to help maintain their sanity.
If you can’t give money positive thoughts & prayers for this family of 5 are greatly appreciated. We also appreciate you sharing this with your friends.
Chelsea is extremely precious to us, she is our original “summer horse girl” & owns a huge part of my heart! She is full of hopes & dreams for the future & they include a lot of talking so she is determined to improve!
Any help you can give will help this motivated, stubborn & talented teenager move towards her goals of graduation & independence will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.