Fundraising for Sue Lavin

On July 17, 2022, Sue was at home when she started showing symptoms of a stroke so she was air-lifted to Essentia Health-St. Mary's in Duluth, MN where she was admitted to the ICU. While in the ICU, Sue suffered an acute ischemic left-sided MCA stroke and underwent a thrombectomy to remove a blood clot and restore the blood flow to her brain. The doctors were only able to retrieve part of the clot, but the surgery was otherwise successful. Sue then spent several days in the ICU until being moved to a step-down room for recovery, and then finally to Miller-Dwan for rehabilitation on Tuesday, July 26th. As a result of the stroke, Sue is having difficulty with movement on the right side of her body and her speech is severely impaired so she will spend several weeks at Miller-Dwan working with rehabilitation therapists to hopefully regain her speech and movement. As of August 5, 2022, Sue is making huge progress with her mobility and is walking up to 250 feet at a time. Her right arm is regaining some movement and her therapy sessions with the speech therapist are helping with her ability to speak and swallow, though speech recovery will likely take much longer to come back. Sue has a clear long-term memory but struggles with short-term memory and is unable to verbally communicate her thoughts well. She will remain at Miller-Dwan for 21-28 more days and will be assessed weekly by her nursing staff. Once she is released, Sue will likely need 24/7 care from her loving husband Dennis who has been by her side almost every day these past few weeks.

Sue and Dennis just celebrated their 44-year wedding anniversary and is a loving mother to her three daughters (Michelle, Lynsey and Amanda), her grandchildren (Mylii, Denon, Liam, Rayden, and Harlan), and their three dogs (Macy, Zona and Abby). She loves spending time with her family, and misses playing cards and singing songs several days a week with her mother, Florence. She is looking forward to returning to her own home and can't wait to go on camping trips with Dennis and their dogs, tending to her beautiful flowers, and cheering for her Green Bay Packers. Sue has private health insurance, but her extended hospital/rehab stay and necessary home care equipment expenses will likely cause a strain on their finances. As Dennis is the main financial contributor to the family and retired a few years ago, we are hoping to fundraise on their behalf to help cover some of the pending hospital bills which will likely be substantial.

We also wanted to thank you all for your continued support and the many phone calls, messages, and home-cooked meals/desserts we've received from friends, family and neighbors. Sue will have a long recovery, but she is a very strong and independent woman who will stop at nothing to get home and fully recover.