Janeane Shanahan's Medical Expenses
Donation protected
On Saturday, November 2nd, Janeane Shanahan, our beloved wife, mother, daughter, grammy, sister, aunt, and friend suffered a life-altering stroke. She was immediately life-flighted to UPMC Hamot in Erie, PA where she underwent an emergency craniotomy to relieve the pressure and stop the bleeding on her brain. The pressure was so much that her brain had been pushed all the way over to the right hemisphere, causing damage to the left side of her brain.
The craniotomy was successful and slowly, over the next week, Janeane started making progress. The ventilator was removed, she was breathing on her own, she started to regain some feeling on her right side, and she began trying to talk again.
Unfortunately, during an angiogram that week, the doctors found a large, abnormal cluster of aneurysms at the base of her brain. They needed to wait a few days until she was a bit stronger before they could do the necessary surgery on the aneurysms. That Friday morning right before her surgery, she was strong enough to tell her daughter and son, “I am fine.”
When the doctor came out to tell us that the surgery went exactly as planned, we all breathed a sigh of relief and cried tears of joy. At that point Janeane was already off of the ventilator and they were waking her up.
The next thing we knew, the doctor came back - there was a complication and Janeane had some internal bleeding at the entry point in her femoral artery. It was hours before we knew just how bad the situation was.
Janeane lost 1/3 of her body’s blood and her blood pressure dropped to 40. Luckily, she had an amazing team that day that saved her.
Unfortunately, she was put back on the ventilator and again heavily sedated at that point. A couple of days later, tests showed that she also had pneumonia, amongst a host of other issues, including vasospasm, that her doctors and nurses had to treat.
Janeane is a fighter, but with the complications after surgery, she had quite a setback. Because Janeane wasn’t able to sufficiently breathe, swallow, or cough on her own, her doctors performed a tracheotomy in order to remove the ventilator that was in place for several weeks to help her breathe. Doctors also relocated her feeding tube from her nose to her abdomen, which allowed her to try to talk and to begin some physical therapy.
Janeane was in the Trauma Neuro ICU at Hamot for 4 weeks.
Next she was moved to an in-patient rehab facility that focused on respiratory therapy. They successfully got her to the point where she is now breathing and eating on her own and her tracheotomy is nearly healed.
The day after Christmas, Janeane was moved to another in-patient rehab facility that is attached to Hamot and is focused on physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.
Their goal is to get Janeane home but, even though we have seen positive progress, it is a long, slow process and she will likely be there for 1-2 months.
Right now, we are just taking things day-by-day.
As you can imagine, the financial burden associated with this terrifying situation is unthinkable. Not to mention the physical and emotional stress.
Not only are medical bills a concern, but the additional expenses associated with the nearly daily travel to and from Erie, meals for Paul, and likely having to renovate their house to accommodate her needs when she returns home are things that we don’t typically think about in these types of situations.
On behalf of Paul and Janeane, we have started this GoFundMe campaign to help alleviate some of the financial burden that they are facing and to provide them with as much support as possible. Paul has been by Janeane’s side day in and day out and our hope is that by lessening the financial burden, they can focus more on Janeane’s care and, more importantly, we can show them that they are not alone!
Although we can’t change the past, we can help them get through it and look forward to the future.
Please continue to keep Janeane and her family in your prayers, and send good thoughts whenever you can. She truly has a heart of gold and we know that she will get through this. If you are able to make a donation, it is greatly appreciated! Thank you so much for your support!
The craniotomy was successful and slowly, over the next week, Janeane started making progress. The ventilator was removed, she was breathing on her own, she started to regain some feeling on her right side, and she began trying to talk again.
Unfortunately, during an angiogram that week, the doctors found a large, abnormal cluster of aneurysms at the base of her brain. They needed to wait a few days until she was a bit stronger before they could do the necessary surgery on the aneurysms. That Friday morning right before her surgery, she was strong enough to tell her daughter and son, “I am fine.”
When the doctor came out to tell us that the surgery went exactly as planned, we all breathed a sigh of relief and cried tears of joy. At that point Janeane was already off of the ventilator and they were waking her up.
The next thing we knew, the doctor came back - there was a complication and Janeane had some internal bleeding at the entry point in her femoral artery. It was hours before we knew just how bad the situation was.
Janeane lost 1/3 of her body’s blood and her blood pressure dropped to 40. Luckily, she had an amazing team that day that saved her.
Unfortunately, she was put back on the ventilator and again heavily sedated at that point. A couple of days later, tests showed that she also had pneumonia, amongst a host of other issues, including vasospasm, that her doctors and nurses had to treat.
Janeane is a fighter, but with the complications after surgery, she had quite a setback. Because Janeane wasn’t able to sufficiently breathe, swallow, or cough on her own, her doctors performed a tracheotomy in order to remove the ventilator that was in place for several weeks to help her breathe. Doctors also relocated her feeding tube from her nose to her abdomen, which allowed her to try to talk and to begin some physical therapy.
Janeane was in the Trauma Neuro ICU at Hamot for 4 weeks.
Next she was moved to an in-patient rehab facility that focused on respiratory therapy. They successfully got her to the point where she is now breathing and eating on her own and her tracheotomy is nearly healed.
The day after Christmas, Janeane was moved to another in-patient rehab facility that is attached to Hamot and is focused on physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.
Their goal is to get Janeane home but, even though we have seen positive progress, it is a long, slow process and she will likely be there for 1-2 months.
Right now, we are just taking things day-by-day.
As you can imagine, the financial burden associated with this terrifying situation is unthinkable. Not to mention the physical and emotional stress.
Not only are medical bills a concern, but the additional expenses associated with the nearly daily travel to and from Erie, meals for Paul, and likely having to renovate their house to accommodate her needs when she returns home are things that we don’t typically think about in these types of situations.
On behalf of Paul and Janeane, we have started this GoFundMe campaign to help alleviate some of the financial burden that they are facing and to provide them with as much support as possible. Paul has been by Janeane’s side day in and day out and our hope is that by lessening the financial burden, they can focus more on Janeane’s care and, more importantly, we can show them that they are not alone!
Although we can’t change the past, we can help them get through it and look forward to the future.
Please continue to keep Janeane and her family in your prayers, and send good thoughts whenever you can. She truly has a heart of gold and we know that she will get through this. If you are able to make a donation, it is greatly appreciated! Thank you so much for your support!
Organizer and beneficiary
Tracey Shanahan Tobias
Organizer
Jamestown, NY
Paul Shanahan
Beneficiary