Melanie's Medical Expenses & Recovery Fund

Around 2am on April 2, 2021, my sister Melanie woke up in what she described as the worst pain of her life. After finding out two days later she had experienced a brain hemorrhage and was in need of immediate hospitalization, I flew home to TX from Seattle to look after her son in the interim. I never imagined that my sister, given her healthy well being prior, could experience something so life threatening so suddenly. Over the course of 14 days spent in the hospital, countless blood and imaging tests, we learned the hemorrhage was caused by multiple clots in her brain, likely in response to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine she'd received ~2 weeks prior. Looking back, she experienced an immediate reaction to the vaccine after injection and was bedridden with flu-like symptoms for well over a day after, but we assumed it to be a relatively normal immune response to vaccination. In the rarest of instances, something that was supposed to offer her protection in a global pandemic could have had a hand in killing her. I'm thankful she is a survivor.

Melanie is my best friend and my moral compass, and maintains the rosiest outlook on life while running a business as a single parent. The reality of her being subjected to this awful medical lottery while wearing so many hats is maddening, but we're incredibly grateful for above everything else her resilience and self-advocacy at all stages of this experience. It certainly saved her life in the face of initial medical skepticism towards the severity of her condition, and is currently driving her recovery in the right direction. Melanie is gradually settling back to working mom life, since so many depend on her. She is taking things one day at a time with the understanding that this situation could have been so much worse.

I am setting up this fundraiser to bring some financial ease, even if temporary, to my sister's life. Proceeds from this fundraiser will immediately go to Melanie's medical expenses since her deductible ($5000) had not been met prior. She is fortunate to have health insurance and therefore is not fully responsible for the accumulated costs of ambulatory services, imaging, and two weeks of hospital stay so far totaling well over $500,000. While her recovery is trending in the best direction we can hope for, the long term physical and financial implications of this event remain unclear. Any funds raised beyond $5000 will be set aside for any unexpected out of pocket medical expenses and care as we learn more about her recovery and risk management.

I can't thank you enough for even considering supporting her in any way possible. The first half of 2021 has been relentless in ways I should have known were totally possible after 2020, but the outpouring of check-ins and well wishes has been everything to us this last month. 

-Leonard and family