Dean's recovery from a stroke

Hi, my name is Hillary and I am fundraising for my husband, Dean. We have been married for 22 years. We met as kids in the same neighborhood and were friends for years before we eventually fell in love and got married. We’ve lived in several states and have settled in Colorado. Through thick and thin, we’ve supported one another even when our careers took us to states far from home in New Jersey where we first met.

On December 30th, 2022, Dean felt weird, vomited, and was weak. He went to bed early to try to sleep off what was bothering him. I discovered the next morning he was unresponsive and I called the paramedics. It was determined he suffered a hemorrhagic stroke. These are uncommon and makeup only 13-14% of strokes in adults. Dean has a lot of healing left to do and has a long road to recovery; we were very lucky he survived.

The paramedics took Dean to the closest ER where he had a CT scan and it was determined that he had a brain bleed (hemorrhagic stroke). He had a breathing tube placed and was transferred via Flight for Life to a larger hospital in Denver where he was admitted to the Neuro Trauma ICU and had a drain placed into his skull. He was in ICU for 2 weeks and during that time he had multiple X-rays, CT scans, an MRI, as well as fluoroscopy. He was later transferred to a regular hospital room where he had to have one on one monitoring due to delirium and his wanting to pull out IVs, urinary catheters, and feeding tubes.

At the time, Dean was not aware of what happened and kept wanting to get out of bed. Because he had to be monitored he also had to be secured to his bed and wasn’t able to walk or use the restroom normally. He had surgery to place a gastrotomy tube because he was unable to properly swallow food and drinks. He had to go through regular speech therapy as well as small physical tests to determine where he was with simple motor skills and whether or not he was able to swallow regularly to allow him to have his feeding tube removed.

About 2 weeks after leaving ICU, Dean was transferred to an in-patient rehabilitation facility for more physical, occupational, and speech therapies. He has been discharged home but requires ongoing therapy and home care that is not covered by insurance. After all of these things and his long hospital stays, Dean was denied SSDI.

Before his stroke, Dean was an avid motorcycle rider. Most recently, he took a solo motorcycle trip from Denver, CO to Anchorage, AK. He had hopes of riding to Cabo or possibly South America but we don’t know if he’ll ever get to do that now. He loves camping, animals, and most of all his friends and family. When asked what his goal was while in therapy, Dean replied, “ I need to get out of here so I can be a good husband for Hillary”.

All of the medical costs are staggering. Multiple facilities, different therapists, daily feedings, being monitored around the clock, as well as the ongoing cost of treatment and regular check-ups,

will keep adding up.

Please help if you are able in any way. If you would like to donate, share the link, or post to your social media, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Hillary