Help Melissa recover from a Rare Stroke & Heart issues

15 years ago, on 2/14/2010, on Valentine’s Day, my wife suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury called Coup Contrecoup injury (basically shaken baby syndrome to her brain back then). She is a domestic abuse survivor of her prior ex-husband of many years before we met.

Almost 15 years later, on January 14, 2025, she suffered a stroke. Not just any stroke, but a very rare stroke in a place in her brain where strokes normally do not happen. They even flew in a special Neurologist, Dr. Jonathan Ji from Walter Reed National Military Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, to examine and consult on her case!

The area of the brain where the stroke occurred is called the right corpus callosum. This portion of the brain controls the right and left sides of the body, and they are no longer communicating together. The neuro pathways in her brain have been severed, causing her difficulty each and every day in every aspect of her everyday life.

The first event was an acute ischemic stroke, followed by another event called Hemorrhagic Transformation, a complication that occurs when an ischemic stroke begins to bleed into the brain.

This recovery is challenging for her as she has had to recover from a brain injury prior, and it is much more challenging as not much is known about this type of stroke.

Her left side of her body will no longer communicate with her right side. Her right hand does one thing, but her left will not respond to her right hand, same with her right and left foot.

Making her very frustrated and extremely panic-ridden all day long, full of fear and anxiety over just the simplest tasks. Multiple debilitating panic attacks all day have become debilitating to her. Even simple tasks like brushing her teeth or combing her hair, let alone putting it into a ponytail, are challenging. Showering is now a major fear for her. As is just eating a meal; she has started choking while eating, again setting off panic attacks when I'm not around to be with her. I do have to work because she is unable to work, and we have no idea when she will be able to go back to work, if ever. So she is alone when I am gone, and her uncertainty is if she is going to fall down because she is so unsteady, shaking, unbalanced, and uncoordinated. She is confused all day, saying her mind is just a bowl of eggs someone is scrambling for an omelet all day!

She is having difficulty swallowing. She is worried she will choke just eating something small or taking a drink of water. Worried I will come home to find her laying on the floor injured or passed away! The doctor said she still could die just living with this condition. One more severe migraine could trigger another stroke. One seizure could do the same, causing death.

She has to be alone when I'm gone to work. Yes, people have offered to sit with her, but it's extremely difficult for her to ask for help and to inconvenience someone else to be with her. She has her grandfather's stubbornness in her through and through, saying, "I will do it myself," like he always said. But she knows she is failing at keeping herself safe in her mind at the moment, self-safe and all together, and just not breaking down.

I do have to work as we have no income otherwise, but I am her primary caregiver now. Bills are piling up as is the cost of the medications she is on. Heck, the one hospital bill about gave me a heart attack, well over $100,000 and climbing with other hospital bills and the other procedures and medications. This is just the beginning of the bills we are receiving.

I'm running very thin and getting no sleep as I work in an assisted living facility currently, so I never get downtime from being a caregiver. But she is my wife! But I'm exhausted and need to give her the care she needs! But we are out of money. Her car broke down on her way to her therapy appointment the other day and now also needs front brakes. No money for gas either. She has 3 1/2 hours of multiple times per week therapy each on top of the doctor appointments each week leaves us both tired and exhausted.

Finding any help has been challenging, but we did find some help for the rear brakes that locked up. Now to work on getting the front ones fixed. Money for gas to her many, many appointments each week. I'm not ashamed to say I'm worn out and stressed and seeking any help anyone is offering to help with. Work is also stressful as they need me to be there for my patients, so days are long for me.

Melissa is in constant pain all day and every day in her head. She describes it as if someone stabbed her in the head with a big butcher knife right into the right side of her head and into her right eye, and as if someone put a corkscrew in her right eye and keeps twisting it, trying to pull her eye out of her eye socket.

If anybody would be willing to help, we do have Venmo, PayPal, and Cash App. God bless you if you are able to help. We have proof of her stroke with all the medical bills, med bills, etc. Gas for the car, grocery cards will help as well. Literally anything will help. Any amount will.