Dear Friends, Family, and Community members,

My name is Samariah, and we are a family of four including my mother Kesa, and my two younger siblings, Alex and Milan.

We are reaching out during an incredibly challenging time for our family. If you are reading this, you probably know my mom and I are tied at the hip. She's my mother & my bestfriend. Recently and unexpectedly, my mom, Kesa, had a terrifying medical emergency.

She called me in the middle of the day, around 1:30pm -- terrified and barely able to speak. She told me she was having the worst headache of her life. Unfortunately, I was too far away at the time and no one else was around to physically help. She felt she had no choice but to drive herself to the ER at Mercy Hospital with my younger siblings, 8 and 13 years old (Baltimore City Ambulance is not known to be the most timely). Still, she arrived at the ER and waited 7 hours to be seen, when they finally confirmed that she had a ruptured aneurysm. Due to the gravity of her condition, she had to be transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital. There she was diagnosed with a Subarachnoid Hemorrhage and Cerebral Edema in addition to the Cerebral Aneurysm Rupture.

We waited for hours with no updates. Finally, around 2am, they told us they would have to perform brain surgery to save her life. The doctors stood in front of me, visibly shocked and confused, questioning how someone in her condition was able to drive herself to the ER, and even more so -- how she managed to still be alive so many hours later.

They took her in for surgery around 7am, and for 16 hours we waited. The surgery was successful but her surgeon informed me that she would now be a life long patient, with many medical visits to come; and it was very clear that her life, and the lives of our closest family members would all be changed forever. Over the next few weeks, doctors continued to evaluate her, run tests, and watch her closely as they drained blood and excess fluid from her brain and pumped her with fluids and medications to ensure she was stable. The doctors' shock and wonder about how she managed to survive never subsided. As for myself and my siblings, we're just glad she survived.

After weeks of rehabilitation, including extensive physical therapy, and speech pathology she has shown great progress. Slowly, she is recovering but she has a long road ahead. As you would expect, this has been very hard for her, myself, my younger siblings and our loved ones. I am now my mom’s proxy and the primary guardian for my younger siblings Alex and Milan. After taking time off to support my mom and care for my siblings, I currently don’t have a means of income to take care of all the medical or family expenses, especially with two children to care for. We are faced with mounting medical bills, future treatment costs, and the everyday costs of supporting our family. Any support you can provide during this time would mean a lot.

We have set up this GoFundMe campaign to help cover these expenses and support Kesa's recovery. Your contribution, no matter the amount, will make a significant difference in our lives. Here’s how you can help:

1. Donate: Any financial support you can provide will help us cover medical expenses and maintain our family's stability during this challenging time.

2. Share: Please share this campaign with your network. Your outreach can help us reach more people who may be able to assist.

3. Offer Support: Your prayers, words of encouragement, and acts of kindness are invaluable to us.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for considering our plea and for helping us through this difficult time.

We thank you in advance and welcome your continued prayers and well wishes.

With heartfelt gratitude,

Samariah