Help Our Stephanie Walk Again! ❤️

As some of you know, our close friend Stephanie Vanicelli experienced an extremely unexpected & life changing medical event about a month ago.

She developed an infection that entered her spinal cord requiring an emergency spinal surgery.

Spinal cord injuries and infections, as I'm sure most know, can be extremely detrimental and deadly.

As the surgeon said to Steph when she was admitted to the hospital, if she were to refuse the surgery, she would "expire" (die).

Surgery was successful, and the infection is improving, but Steph has been left without the ability the walk.

There are no words to express how grateful we are that our girl is alive! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Steph is on day 25 of her hospital stay. She'll be in the hospital for about a week longer, and then will continue her journey to recovery at home. That will include continued therapy, IV treatments at home, and continuing to restore her memory of gross motor skills and sensory motor skills so she can walk again.

We are setting up this Go Fund Me to support Steph as she continues on her journey to recovery. She won't be able to work for a while, and will also need to invest in tools, resources and treatment options such as stem cell based therapies for spinal cord injuries to continue to get better.

The funds will be for:

-Wheelchair + a wheelchair ramp at home

-Medical bills

-Ongoing physical & occupational therapy

Anything you can contribute to help our girl is appreciated!

We will share written and video updates with everyone so you can see what her journey entails. Help us cheer Steph on as she makes progress!

❤️

For reference, T5 to L3 in the diagram below is where Steph's infections was, resulting in paralysis. She still currently has an infection, but it has moved out of her spinal cord.