Support Ivonne's Journey After Stroke

For those of you that know my sister...

Where do I even begin… I love my sister, Ivonne, with all my heart. She’s the kind of person who lights up every room she enters—smart, full of energy, athletic, and with a heart of gold. She’s always put others before herself, selflessly dedicating her time to causes like food banks and homeless support. Fearless and adventurous, Ivonne is always diving headfirst into new passions and learning new things. Whether it’s playing the ukulele, tap dancing, drumming, or singing in the chorus, there’s no limit to what she’ll try and master. She does it all with enthusiasm and joy.

But everything changed on November 7th, 2024. Ivonne woke up that morning with a drooping face and trouble using her right arm. Without hesitation, she went to urgent care, where the staff quickly recognized her symptoms and called 911, rushing her to the emergency room of a trauma hospital.

The doctors acted quickly, diagnosing her with stroke symptoms and beginning treatment. Sadly, the medication meant to help her caused an unexpected reaction, leading to a larger stroke. The result was devastating: plaque broke off her carotid artery and traveled to her brain, temporarily paralyzing the right side of her body, robbing her of her ability to speak, and causing severe vision loss. The damage to her brain was catastrophic, and her brain began swelling dangerously, threatening the right side. She underwent a craniotomy, a life-saving surgery to remove part of her skull and relieve the pressure.

While that saved her right brain from further damage, the destruction to the left side of her brain is permanent. Since then, Ivonne’s recovery has been a slow and difficult journey.

On December 26th, the insurance company made the decision that Ivonne had to leave the hospital. Despite her ongoing need for intensive care and therapy, she was transferred to a skilled nursing facility. Now, the insurance is pushing for her discharge from there too. While she’s slowly regaining some speech, she faces an uphill battle with apraxia and aphasia. Her right side remains paralyzed, and her vision is severely impaired, with large blind spots that hinder her daily life.

As you can imagine, Ivonne has been unable to work, and her income has stopped. The mounting medical bills are overwhelming, and there’s no clear end in sight. She will need years of therapy to continue on her path to recovery.

Ivonne is surrounded by an incredible network of friends who have been unwavering in their support. We are so grateful for every single one of them, as this has been a challenging time for all of us. But despite our best efforts, navigating government assistance programs is slow—everything takes months, sometimes up to a year, just to be considered.

After much thought and reflection, we’ve come to the point where we need to ask for help. If you are able, even the smallest donation would mean the world to Ivonne and to our family. Your generosity will go directly toward her care and will make an enormous difference in her journey toward healing. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for considering a way to support my sister during this incredibly difficult time.