Yolanda's ongoing recovery from a stroke.

My name is Janey Herrera Rodriguez, the mother of Yolanda Vasquez. I am asking for any help for my daughter, Yolanda, during her recovery after she suffered a left-side brain stroke at the age of 48 years, which left her paralyzed on her dominant right side, with speech and cognitive impediments.

Yolanda was at St. Luke’s Hospital on Thursday, May 19, 2022, she had a stroke that same night.

It was discovered that she had a heart condition, Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO), that caused her to have a brain stroke, Thrombosis of Middle Cerebral Artery (MCA).

*Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) is a hole between the left and right atria (upper chambers) of the heart. This hole exists in everyone before birth, but most often closes shortly after being born; 1 in 4 people’s PFO fails to close naturally after a baby is born.

So, since the damage was already done, the doctors recommended that she goes through therapy first and then have the PFO repaired afterward.

On Thursday, June 9, 2022, Yolanda was transferred to Encompass Rehabilitation Center in Pearland as an in-patient, where she underwent intensive therapy to regain her voice and movement in her arm and leg. And on top of it, now she has a shoulder subluxation, which occurred when her shoulder joint was partially dislocated. She went through Speech, Occupational, and Physical Therapy to retrain her right-side everything that she had forgotten and had to learn how to use her left hand now as her dominant. She was totally confined to her wheelchair, but she could feed and dress herself, though she needed some help with other tasks because her right-side arm and hand were still not working.

On Tuesday, July 26, 2022, Yolanda went to Select Physical Therapy as an Outpatient to go through Occupational and Physical Therapy.

After that Yolanda was accepted into Memorial Hermann TIRR Challenge Program an outpatient for 4 months (the best place for stroke patients); she went through Speech, Occupational, Physical, Neurological, and Group Therapy. She was diagnosed with Aphasia and anxiety. Now she can walk short distances with supervision (she uses a leg brace for support) and is not totally confined to her wheelchair. Her shoulder subluxation has still not healed, and she needs to wear a shoulder brace for support.

On Friday, January 27, 2023, Yolanda went back to Select Physical Therapy as an Outpatient to go through Occupational and Physical Therapy.

On Wednesday, March 22, 2023, Yolanda went back to St. Luke’s Hospital to have a procedure to repair her heart condition, Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO).

From Thursday, May 4, 2023, to the present, we are still doing At-Home Exercises for therapy to follow up with her ongoing recovery; she has come a long way and still has a long way to go.

St. Luke’s Hospital, Encompass Rehabilitation Center, Select Physical Therapy, Memorial Hermann TIRR Challenge Program, and Kelsey-Seybold Clinics were there to help her take baby steps throughout the process and beyond.

Until the end of December 2022, my daughter had paid Vacation Leave and Sick Leave from her job with the City of Houston for 30 years, and she had savings to keep a roof over our heads and her bills paid on time. Now more than a year later, her money from her employer has run out and her savings are gone. I took up childcare work to help and my SS Benefits were lowered, family, her friends, and her co-workers help when they can too. My daughter did not qualify for SS Disability from her job because they think her condition is not permanent or terminal. In the meantime, we still have rent, utilities, food, and other expenses including medical insurance and co-pays for continuing outpatient therapy, prescriptions, and doctor’s appointments.

My daughter went from being totally independent, despite her previous medical conditions, they did not impede her from taking care of herself and/or others. Now after the stroke, she went to being dependent on others or not being able to communicate totally on her own, she feels trapped in her own body. But she is still very motivated and incredibly resilient, she will continue to improve over time, working on her right side arm and leg, and also her speech and cognitive impediments.

Yolanda has had a detour in her life and has taken a new journey now, but her recovery has not stopped her yet. We are barely keeping afloat, and her recovery has become a huge financial burden. In the meantime, at least until HR gives her the green light to return to work, probably in some capacity, we are reaching out to anyone for any donations to help us reach our goal will be greatly appreciated.