Sarah’s Medical Mishaps & Mayhem

Hi, my name is Sarah Jo Brenner, and asking for financial assistance is definitely not an easy thing to do. That being said, desperate times call for the fall of pride. A few weeks ago I almost died. That sounds dramatic but it’s a solid fact. We were preparing for the worst, transfers to Barnes, Rush or Northwestern, skin grafts, limb loss and more. My white blood cell count was over 24,000 and I had to be resuscitated during the emergency surgery. 

I’ve always struggled with severe and odd medical issues, but this gnarly internal infection almost took my life before we really knew it was there.

I initially went to the ER for severe back, pelvis and hip pain. I had an abscess on my inner left thigh that they checked out too. But unfortunately I was in Diabetic Keto Acidosis and that was the only focus for my first 5-day hospital stay. I left the hospital in even more pain and with less mobility than I went in. I then saw my primary doctor the following Monday as I thankfully had an appointment already scheduled. We agreed to change some meds and continue on antibiotics and check in. A few days later it was too much to take and I sent in photos of my now softball sized abscess requesting a referral to general surgery.

With Dr. Gokarn, things moved quickly and after an assessment Thursday, a CT scan with contrast Friday morning - I received a call that I needed emergency surgery immediately. I was septic, infected throughout my thighs, across my pelvis, up behind my abdominal wall and a couple smaller pockets. They removed 2 liters of pus along with necrotic tissue, and put in sponges to work with a wound vac.

During my second stay, I had three more surgeries and lots of antibiotics, tests and all that fun stuff. Mom was with me the whole time, helping advocate and generally keep me from freaking out. The road to recovery is going to be quite long, 4-5 more months long.

To complicate everything my work contract abruptly ended the same day I first went to the ER. Thus, the reason for this GoFundMe effort.

I’ve been out of work for almost two months already and don’t envision huge changes in the next two-three months since I have a large open stomach wound and about a third of my internal body to heal. Plus, I still need to deal with my worsening chronic back issues but not until my stomach is all healed.

So, I’m asking for help from those who can help. The funds will go to pay bills, medical, and expenses incurred along the way. The great news is I do have decent, private insurance so I don’t have that added worry. Any remaining funds will be used to support something fun for my mom and me, I think we’ve earned it through this crazy ordeal.