Help Little Emma Fight for her Life!
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There's nothing like getting a phone call that your little 11 year old niece is being life-flighted for emergency brain surgery.
Yesterday, January 28th our family received the most devastating news. Emma (11) was at swim practice when her life changed forever. As she exited the pool she collapsed onto the deck - unconscious and unresponsive. Emergency responders rushed her to the closest hospital. After evaluating her they life-flighted her to a hospital in Cincinnati where she was rushed into emergency neuro surgery due to a spontaneous brain bleed. As of this moment, we still don't know what caused her brain to bleed. The bleed is located where the brain controls the motor function skills and it paralyzed half her body. During surgery they removed half her skull to relieve the pressure, drain the blood, and insert probes to watch her brain function. The Drs were optimistic, but said if she does recover it will be a very very long road to recovery and that she'd be in the hospital for months.
This morning she was rushed back into surgery. The probes weren't working properly so they inserted some on the other side of her skull. They also tried to drain more of the blood and fluids. She does have blood clots in her brain which they are unable to remove at this point because it isn't safe enough to do so. They are at a cross roads at this point - she desperately needs an MRI to scan her brain but if they lay her body flat, her heart rate spikes dangerously high. They added a PIC line this morning due to her IV line blowing. She's currently in a medically induced coma and will remain that way until the swelling goes down. At this time, she still has half of her skull removed. And they are saying she's going to need at least 2 more surgeries in the upcoming days/weeks. At this moment she's critical.
I think one of the hardest parts is the unknown. We don't know if she will stay paralyzed. The bleed could cause her permanent damage to her motor skills and speech. There's the unknown of the blood clots and heaven forbid it breaks free. But we're trying to stay optimistic that this little lady is in that body fighting for her life!
The other hard thing is she has all her siblings (3 sisters and 2 brothers) who really need their sister to come back to them. Emma is the girl who lights up a room. She is the girl who just makes you smile when you watch her. She love swimming, running, gymnastics and SO SO much more. She's SO smart and loves school with all her heart. You don't meet many kids that like to do extra homework just for fun.
So if you can find it in your heart to help join us in Emma's fight, we would really appreciate it. And if you can't then please just send up prayers that the Drs and Surgeons will know how to best help her. Pray that her parents and siblings will be comforted at this hard time. Pray that people will show up to help with the kids at home so Dana and Andy can be there for Emma as much as possible. Pray for a miracle! Thank you so much for the bottom of all of her family's hearts!
Yesterday, January 28th our family received the most devastating news. Emma (11) was at swim practice when her life changed forever. As she exited the pool she collapsed onto the deck - unconscious and unresponsive. Emergency responders rushed her to the closest hospital. After evaluating her they life-flighted her to a hospital in Cincinnati where she was rushed into emergency neuro surgery due to a spontaneous brain bleed. As of this moment, we still don't know what caused her brain to bleed. The bleed is located where the brain controls the motor function skills and it paralyzed half her body. During surgery they removed half her skull to relieve the pressure, drain the blood, and insert probes to watch her brain function. The Drs were optimistic, but said if she does recover it will be a very very long road to recovery and that she'd be in the hospital for months.
This morning she was rushed back into surgery. The probes weren't working properly so they inserted some on the other side of her skull. They also tried to drain more of the blood and fluids. She does have blood clots in her brain which they are unable to remove at this point because it isn't safe enough to do so. They are at a cross roads at this point - she desperately needs an MRI to scan her brain but if they lay her body flat, her heart rate spikes dangerously high. They added a PIC line this morning due to her IV line blowing. She's currently in a medically induced coma and will remain that way until the swelling goes down. At this time, she still has half of her skull removed. And they are saying she's going to need at least 2 more surgeries in the upcoming days/weeks. At this moment she's critical.
I think one of the hardest parts is the unknown. We don't know if she will stay paralyzed. The bleed could cause her permanent damage to her motor skills and speech. There's the unknown of the blood clots and heaven forbid it breaks free. But we're trying to stay optimistic that this little lady is in that body fighting for her life!
The other hard thing is she has all her siblings (3 sisters and 2 brothers) who really need their sister to come back to them. Emma is the girl who lights up a room. She is the girl who just makes you smile when you watch her. She love swimming, running, gymnastics and SO SO much more. She's SO smart and loves school with all her heart. You don't meet many kids that like to do extra homework just for fun.
So if you can find it in your heart to help join us in Emma's fight, we would really appreciate it. And if you can't then please just send up prayers that the Drs and Surgeons will know how to best help her. Pray that her parents and siblings will be comforted at this hard time. Pray that people will show up to help with the kids at home so Dana and Andy can be there for Emma as much as possible. Pray for a miracle! Thank you so much for the bottom of all of her family's hearts!
Organizer and beneficiary
Ashley Croft Pugmire
Organizer
Lebanon, OH
Andrew Palmer
Beneficiary