Help Renée Walk Again: Urgent Medical Fund

Hi everyone, my name is Pam and I am writing in the hopes of raising much-needed funds for my sister Renée’s health care. She lost her health insurance a few weeks before the following happened. She was suffering with severe back pain and got to the point where she couldn’t walk. Her son, who was here on Christmas leave from Anchorage where he is stationed in the Air Force, took her to the emergency room on 12/22/24. She had a 6-hour long surgery on Christmas Day. She had a mass pressing so hard on her spine that it actually broke two of her vertebrae. The neurosurgeon warned us that she may not live through the surgery and if she did, there was a strong possibility that she would be paralyzed from the chest down. The surgeon had to remove two and a half vertebrae along with a portion of some ribs so he could get to the mass to remove it. He was not able to remove all of it. We are grateful that the mass was not malignant, but it is a terrible infection similar to staph. She is unable to sit up, stand, or walk. The therapists in the hospital were using a Hoyer lift to move her and are now using a Sara Flex and a Sara Steady lift to lift her to a tilt-in-space wheelchair. She is not allowed to be out of bed without wearing a large brace that goes from her lower abdomen to her chin on the front and from her lower back to her upper back on the back. She has now been in the hospital for 29 days. She has a very, very long road ahead with a lot of physical and occupational therapy if we are able to raise enough money to pay for it. The rehabilitation hospital costs $1600.00 per day and if a person does not have insurance, they will only accept them if they can pay for 10 days up front which would be $16,000.00. This cost does not pay for any of the equipment she will need at home if she is able to regain the ability to walk. She is able to wiggle her toes so we know there is a connection there and that gives us hope that she will regain the ability to walk. It’s just going to take a very long time. Any donations, big or small, would be so appreciated. May God bless each of you and may good health brighten all your days.