Help Jessie recover from a traumatic eye injury

Hi, my name is Robert Kittilson and I am Jessie’s husband of 14 years.

Jessie Kwak is a self-made freelance writer and author. 

UPDATED: 7/25/23

Full Synopsis after the note from Jessie.

From Jessie-

On Saturday, July 15th, I was selling books at a local street fair with another author friend. As we were leaving, someone in the car ahead of us started firing their gun into the street nearby. A bullet ricocheted into our windshield, and glass and bullet fragments hit my face and entered my left eye. I was rushed to the hospital immediately, but it was clear that the bullet had done severe damage to the eye.

On Sunday, July 16th, I went under for a 5-hour surgery to reconstruct my left eye. Doctors said it was in pieces and had to be put back together like a puzzle. The CT scan revealed that bullet fragments were embedded deep in my eye and had damaged the retina. Another surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, July 19th to remove the bullet fragments and if possible repair the retina.

On Thursday, July 20th, I had a 3.5-hour surgery to remove the "foreign body" from my eye. The Doctor said they had to make a 12mm incision on my eye to get it out. They also cleaned up scar tissue from the front of the eye and repaired the damage to the retina where it was damaged by the bullet fragment. The next day, I had my eye examined and could see more light than before.

It will take time to learn to live with one eye, and as a freelancer, I won't be able to work as I recover. And no work means no income.

This fundraiser is to help pay for medical treatment, lost income and clients, and for future legal expenses.

I have been watching as gun violence has been increasing in our country, and in retrospect, I know that I am very very lucky. Many families don't get a second chance to hug their loved ones tight.

I want to take this opportunity to show you the real person behind the statistic, and that this was not a freak accident, but the result of a systemic issue we are facing here in the United States.

Thank you for your support.

Jessie

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Full Synopsis below:

Saturday night July 15th Jessie was tabling at a booth at the Mississippi street fair in Portland Oregon, selling books with her friend and colleague Mark Teppo. They worked the booth from 10am until 8pm. At 8pm a couple friends helped them carry supplies back to Mark’s car and they loaded up all the booth equipment and books. From there they began to drive back to our house to drop off Jessie and the equipment. After only traveling one block to the intersection of North Kirby Street and North Failing street gunfire broke out around them. A gang member in a car in front of them started shooting a handgun into the street, and the car Jessie was in was struck by a stray bullet/s. One bullet, that may have ricocheted off the pavement, traveled through the windshield, broke into pieces, and imbedded in Jessie’s face and left eye. This happened at about 8:20pm. Mark was not injured, and quickly drove Jessie to the nearest hospital, Legacy Emanuel. Mark is a real hero. Legacy Emanuel is one of the trauma hospitals in Portland where gunshot wound victims are taken, so it was serendipitous that they were close by. Jessie remarked later that she immediately knew her eye was badly damaged, and that she would never see out of it again. Mark gave her some paper towels to cover her eye, but she was also bleeding heavily from a wound in her forehead which ended up covering her entire face, body, clothes, and passenger side of the car in her blood.

-I was later told by police that there are active gangs in the area that go by the names; The Kirby Block Crips, and the Failing Street Gang, and they are well known by police and have been operating out of that neighborhood since the 90’s.

Jessie was quickly admitted to the Legacy Emanual Emergency Room, and the good doctors and nurses there stabilized her and did a CT scan to determine the condition of her face and left eye. Then they removed some of the bullet fragments embedded in her face requiring about 5-6 stitches. The CT scan showed a large bullet fragment lodged in the back of her left eye, and at the time she was able to see some light with her injured eye. I arrived shortly after the CT scan to find Jessie covered in blood from head to toe, but coherent and talking to hospital staff and able to converse with me. One of the larger lacerations was on her forehead just above her left eye that had severed a small blood vessel and was still pumping blood when I arrived, and I watched as Dr. Brown tied off the vessel and then stitched up the laceration. Jessie was still bleeding from her left eye when I arrived. Both Mark, Jessie and I spoke with police detectives about the details of the shooting and the Police explained that the intersection and neighborhood had been shut down and surrounded by 30+ Police cars. Detectives were already on the scene and a CSI detective was being rerouted from a car accident in another part of the city. Mark’s passenger seat and floor mats were covered in Jessie’s blood. I stayed with Jessie, and spoke with Police, Social Workers, Nurses, and the Chaplain on and off as they worked to prep Jessie for transfer to Legacy Good Samaritan in Downtown Portland where she would eventually undergo surgery to reconstruct her eye.

At around 10:30pm, Jessie was transported to Legacy Good Samaritan in downtown Portland in preparation for an operation then next morning to reconstruct her left eye. I went home at that time to get clothes and other items for Myself and Jessie. Jessie was admitted to Legacy Good Sam around 10:45 and I arrived at around 11pm. Dr. Wilson was the Ophthalmologist on call and was there at 11pm to talk to Jessie and me about the reconstruction surgery that would take place on Sunday the 16th at 8am. He tested to see if Jessie could see light, she could see very little, and he explained that He and Dr. Kinast would perform the surgery on Sunday to reconstruct the eye, then later there would be another surgery to remove the bullet fragments. After the talk with Dr Wilson, Jessie was given her own room #484, cleaned up, and we began the long night of waiting and trying to sleep.

The next morning, Sunday July 16th Jessie’s Mom Kathy and Dad Harry arrived around 7am, and we all talked casually until around 8:15 when the nurses came to prep Jessie for surgery. Both Dr. Wilson and Dr. Kinast operated for 5 hours. I spoke briefly with Dr. Wilson after the surgery and he said that it was successful, but that Jessie’s eye was very badly damaged. The bullet fragment was so deeply imbedded in the back of the eye/retina, that if they tried to remove it at the time, it would have taken the retina with it and destroyed any possibility of restored vision. The hope was that the eye would hold pressure and shape and heal a bit before the next surgery was performed to remove the bullet fragment and repair the damaged retina. Jessie was doing well after the first surgery, a bit loopy, but took ice chips and a nap before we got to take her home around 5pm Sunday the 16th.

The next day, Monday the 17th of July, we had an appointment with the Dr. Nguyen the resident eye doctor at the Devers Eye Institute. They are associated with Legacy Good Samaritan and are located just across the street from the Good Sam hospital. Before the appointment, we were contact by Detective Sara Clark, who will be handling our case. She told us that they had sent out a press release about the incident asking witnesses to come forward. She said she would follow up with more information in the next couple of days. While at the appointment, we were able to speak with Dr. Kinast, the other doctor that helped Dr. Wilson perform the reconstruction surgery. Dr Kinast inspected Jessie’s eye and explained how badly the eye was damaged and showed us the areas that were sutured. He said the eye was in pieces and it was like putting a puzzle back together. Based on his initial exam, he had little hope that Jessie would ever see out of that eye again, but that is not his specialty. That was for the Retina specialist, Dr. Thanos. We were also informed of a very very rare auto immune disorder that could affect her right eye based on damage to her left eye called Sympathetic Ophthalmia. In these rare cases the damaged eye releases an antigen that the body reacts to, but it only knows that it is the eyes that are the problem, and not a specific eye. Look it up. We then made an appointment for the next day to see the retina doctor and talk about a second surgery to remove the bullet fragments. We received prescriptions for 3 different drops and one cream for her injured eye and the Pharmacist said to be careful because if used incorrectly the drops could damage vision in her eye…

On Tuesday the 18th of July, we visited Dr. Thanos, yes Thanos, the Retina specialist. Jessie could not see any better than the day before, but Dr. Nguyen said that the eye looked better than yesterday. Dr. Thanos showed us the CT scan images and said that the prognosis was poor for Jessie’s future vision, but there is hope that after removing the bullet fragments and repairing the retina that some vision could return provided the retina was not completely ruined. He said he has seen worse cases, and more damaged eyes recover some sight, but not to expect more than light and motion. This gave us more hope that the eye could be saved, and Dr. Thanos thought it was worth fighting for, as opposed to just having it removed, or what they call Enucleation. You can look that up as well. Dr. Thanos wanted to schedule the procedure for the next afternoon, so we set it up for 1:30pm. We went home after the appointment, and I got some rest before a planned interview about the ordeal with local NBC affiliate KGW channel 8 News. We agreed to do the interview because we thought it was important to put a name and face to a crime that has become so commonplace in our communities and in the news, and we wanted to amplify the Police ask to have people come forward if they know any information or have video footage of the shooting. Katherine Cook was the reporter and Corey was the cameraman, and they interviewed us for about an hour. They were both professional and respectful, and we appreciated the experience. I gave them photos that I had taken of Jessie throughout the ordeal to be used in the broadcast and the article. After they left, we went out for Pho noodle soup. It was delicious, and we found our new Pho place.

On Wednesday the 19th of July we were informed that Dr. Thanos was feeling ill and would have to reschedule the surgery to remove the bullet fragment from Jessie’s eye. The surgery to remove the bullet fragment has been tentatively rescheduled for Thursday July 20th in the afternoon. I spoke to Detective Clark more about the case and this is when I learned of the Kirby Block and Failing Street gangs that have been operating in the area for over 30 years. I learned that the two incidents listed in the Police Press Release were linked and that officers were familiar with some of the people involved. I asked for Jessie’s wedding ring and sunglasses to be returned as soon as possible from the evidence locker. Detective Clark notified me that the District Attorney (DA) would be in touch soon. The DA advocate, Emma Kane, called me moments later to inform me that they had opened a case, and that Eric Palmer would be the assigned DA. Jessie was considered a bystander to a criminal incident.

On Thursday July 20th, 2023, we woke early to find out what time the surgery would be today. I called at 8am and left a message for the scheduler, then again at 9:15 to see if we were still on for today with Dr. Thanos to remove the foreign body from Jessie’s eye. When I finally reached someone, I was told to check her into Legacy Good Samaritan at 3:15 for an anticipated Two and a half our surgery starting at 5:30pm. Jessie was told previously not to eat after midnight, a Gremlin thing I think, so we knew it was going to be a long day without food. We noticed a red patch above her right(healthy) eye and were worried for a minute before we realized it was just bruise from all the blood draining down from the cut above that eye. Just a good ole shiner.

We arrived at the hospital on time Thursday and the check-in went smoothly. Our prep nurse told us that Dr. Thanos is brilliant and does corneal transplants, a retina repair called Vitrectomy https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/vitrectomy, and other very complicated procedures. We learned the recovery room closes before the surgery would be finished, and that Jessie would be taken to a room likely on the 4th floor again for to recover before her discharge. They took her away from me and into surgery at 5:15, so I quickly jetted to Alchemy Jeweler https://alchemyjeweler.com/ to pick up a bracelet for Jessie as a surgery gift. My last surgery was to remove my wisdom teeth many many years ago and my parents got me a Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card. I was the happiest boy on earth that day. It stuck with me. The bracelet was a simple strand of Amazonite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazonite beads with a little flourish at the end. That color is one of her favorites and is featured in a few pieces of art we have in the house. I had a nice sushi dinner because raw fish is amazing and made my way back to the hospital. I made camp on the same floor and in the same waiting room that had seen me shed many tears just four days prior. Surgery finished up at around 8:45ish, and Dr. Thanos came looking for me at around 9:15 to talk about the procedure. Turns out, he had a stomach bug the day before and only wanted to work on Jessie if he was 100%, so he could give 1000%. He told me that he had removed the foreign body and that there was significant damage to the retina. He was able to repair and reattach the retina, and he was happy about how the procedure turned out and confident that she could keep the eye with some sort of vision restored. “How much vision?” you ask… That will remain to be seen, but likely no more than light and some motion. He put silicone oil in her eye to help maintain pressure and she was told to sleep on her side, and preferably her left side with the damaged eye toward the pillow. The silicone oil is lighter than water and floats to the top, so if she laid on her back, the oil would float to the front of her eye and be of no help to the retina in the back. He also removed the lens of her eye and said that we may replace it later if her vision improves. He informed me that she will have a lot of pain and soreness for the next 24-48 hours. I thanked him profusely and he said to keep the bandage on and to make an appointment to see him tomorrow where he would remove the bandage and do an examination of her eye. He shook my hand and left for the evening.

A nurse came to see me a few minutes later and said that Jessie was recovering well and should be put into room 467 shortly. At 9:52 pm they rolled her into her room. She was cognizant and able to make small talk while keeping her good eye closed. She was given a Oxycontin pill for pain and an injection of Dilaudid also for pain, and this first hour after recovery was the hardest as Jessie was in great pain and having to suffer through it before the pain meds took effect. It was difficult for me to watch so I focused on reading her well wishes from Instagram comments and words of support from GoFundMe donators. I snuck in some photos and videos as well. Fifteen minutes after the first injection of Dilaudid, she was given another because the pain was not easing, and after about an hour her pain levels fell from 8/9 out of 10, to about a 6/7 and she was able to take a few cat naps while we readied her for transport back home. As we waited for discharge papers, Jessie took another 20-minute nap and we started getting her dressed and ready to go. She went from groggy to LETS FUCKING GO real quick, and we wheeled her down to the lobby. I grabbed my car and whisked her off to the comfort of our own bed. Jessie told me on the way home that she asked Dr. Thanos if he was going to use an ice cream scoop to pull her eye out like her father had suggested, but he only laughed and then in a very nonchalant tone said that he uses forceps.

On Friday July 21st we had a follow up visit with Dr. Thanos at 1pm. Dr. Thanos did an eye exam, and Jessie was able to see more light than before the surgery to remove the foreign body. Before, she was only able to see a low rim of red light, but after the second surgery it was easier to see whether the light was on or off, and the light she saw was brighter and higher in her vision showing itself as a large splotch of blue light. The foreign body went through the cornea, through the lens, and ended up lodged in the back just below the Macula but didn’t seem to have injured the Optic verve. If it had injured the optic nerve, it is likely she would not be able to see any light at all. Immediately after it was taken out of her eye the foreign body was delivered to the hospital security department and will make its way to the Police. The Pathology dept may have a photo of the object. A 12mm incision was made to get the foreign body out, and the eye is about 24mm from front to back. Initially, the foreign body ruptured the eye wall and cornea, which was repaired during the first surgery. In the second surgery, Dr. Thanos removed some fibering and scar tissue from the front part of the eye, removed the remaining fragments of the lens, then saw that scar tissue was forming under the retina, so he was able to pull back the retina and peal a lot of the scar tissue from the area. The foreign body was a deformed piece of metal and had rough edges, but Dr. Thanos did not spend a lot of time looking at it, as he was mostly focused on repairing her eye. He said that our goal was to retain the light perception or even get better vision, and that it is not uncommon for vision to be pretty bad after such a prolonged surgery. Most of the heavy lifting was done in the second surgery, where he removed all the blood and scar tissue from the eye. He injected silicone oil into her eye to add pressure and help the retina heal. The oil is lighter than water, and by laying on her side at night, not her back, the silicone oil will be in contact with the retina and help keep it from detaching. Vision and occupation rehab is available at the Devers eye clinic, but we need to have the eye recover first before considering rehab options. Jessie is to start a more aggressive eye drop regiment immediately where she is to use the steroid eye drop once every hour while she is awake. She was given lots of ointment and told to use it 4 times per day, or more if there is soreness or discomfort from the stitches in her eye. She is not to take the prescribed Hydrocodone for more than the next 24 hours, because if the pain increasing, there may be something wrong with the eye, and the Hydrocodone will mask the pain and make it more difficult to tell if there is an issue. Dr. Thanos said that it is not uncommon to require another surgery, and that if we get to the point where we are contemplating a 3rd surgery that just means we have something more to save or clean up or if the eye doesn’t maintain pressure or she loses the ability to see light. Sometimes the retina can become detached, and another surgery would be needed to reattach it, and we will know more in the next 5-6 weeks. We have made good progress since Tuesday morning when the conversation was about whether to keep the eye or remove it and he thinks there is a good chance to regain some visual function and it is worth keeping the eye. At this time, her damaged eye was red and swollen in places, and the eyelid is drooping from being closed so much, but he was optimistic that it would all heal up over time. We scheduled a follow up appointment for Thursday the 27th of July, and we look forward to seeing her progress. The pressure in her eye is currently low, but it will naturally produce its own fluid little by little. The incision must heal first for the eye to keep pressure and microleaks will happen because of the sutures. This will take some time to heal. We confirmed that Sympathetic Ophthalmia, an auto immune phenomenon where the immune system attacks the good eye, is very very rare, but they will continue to examine the good eye as well as the bad eye on all future visits to make sure nothing is amiss. Again, he assured us that the disorder is extremely extremely rare. Even in the super rare occasion that Jessie is afflicted by this, if it is caught early, there are immune suppressant medications and steroids that can mitigate the effect. Dr. Thanos has been in ophthalmology since 2012 and has only seen cases presented and not experienced one himself. In conclusion, he told us that he has seen much more severe injuries from bullets, some going all the way into the brain, and had those patients recover more vision than what Jessie currently has. He spoke about the bigger picture here is life and vision. They will be doing their best to save as much vision as possible. He said that certainly this was a life changing even, but as humans we are very resilient, and we recoil(rebound) quickly. We thanked him profusely and he left us for his many other patients.

Thank you all again for your support during this very difficult time. Jessie is recovering well and handling her fate like a champ. Expect to see her sporting her new leather eyepatch and doing her best to return to normal life, hang out with friends and plan new adventures without looking back. Thank you for all your support, we appreciate all of you and hope to see you soon.

Thank you.