Support The Hill Family & Shauna's Health

The Hill family needs our help! After a period of stable health and growing a new, amazing professional venture Shauna Hill has been experiencing a serious and debilitating new set of symptoms. Following extensive workup and outpatient therapies in the UVM and Dartmouth systems, Shauna’s team has referred her for specialty care in Boston with a complex neurology stabilization and assessment program. Shauna is currently waiting for admission to their inpatient program, and may be required to do extended outpatient/consult care in Boston and possibly New York, where she can access the small number of oncologists and neurologists with experience treating her rare cancer and neurologic injury profile. Shauna has applied for federal disability and other stabilizing support and resources to ensure she and the kids can remain independent and rooted in their lives and community in Burlington, but these processes are very long and complicated. At this time, Shauna has closed her private clinical practice and will not be returning to significant income based work for the foreseeable future.

Positive News:

Following 5 months of challenging symptoms, including issues with vision, balance, motor skills, cognition, and cardiac health, Shauna is in excellent physical shape with no active cancer or new disease present.

Challenges:

On a less positive note, there are significant and intricate neurological complications likely stemming from her previous cancer and brain injury. Unfortunately, these conditions have proved to be beyond the current capacities of both UVM and Dartmouth hospitals to stabilize.

In Shauna’s own words:

“For the past 6 months, I have been dealing with driving, reading, and screen restrictions as my condition worsened. I now require assistance with daily living tasks, managing bills, transportation, and other basic activities that necessitate visual acuity, stamina, and moderate physical function.

Last year, I made the difficult decision to step down from my position as and my business partners and I are developing a plan for StateChange to continue without my active leadership. While the organization will continue without me, it will take a considerable amount of time before it can generate income or value again.

As a result of these health challenges, returning to work in the same capacity is no longer feasible. I am looking at a long road of rehabilitation ahead, including speech therapy, cardiopulmonary rehabilitation, vision training, mobility exercises, and more. I have been referred to a specialized team in Boston and am currently awaiting admission to their complex inpatient neurology assessment and stabilization unit.

Currently, I am in the process of applying for disability benefits and other forms of support. However, the system works slowly, and it is unclear when I will start receiving this assistance or how much will be provided.

Appeal for Support:

Although this is very uncomfortable for me, it’s clear this health crisis and adjusting to vision, mobility and functionality nervous systems impairments as a new normal IS my work for the next several years, outside of parenting. I’m reaching out for support because I can see the uncertainty & long haul ahead and am urgently focused on ensuring that C, B and I can remain in our housing, school district and village/community while this reconfiguration and health episode unfold, and we’ve exhausted our personal and close family resources over the past 8 months. Additionally, my care teams urgently recommend I have more practical support for managing household tasks, errands and transportation as well as uncovered healthcare like acupuncture, cranial sacral work, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. My hope is that my community can help us bridge this phase of things while my care team and family work to identify long-term needs and plan for that over time.”

If you have time to give and the ability to help in other ways please sign up for Lotsa Helping Hands at: Lotsa Helping Hands Hill Family Support

Please consider giving and sharing. Any contribution, whether big or small, will make a significant difference in their lives as they navigate this difficult journey, together, as a family. Your kindness and generosity will help alleviate the burden of monthly bills and help facilitate necessary travel as Shauna focuses on ongoing medical treatment and rehabilitation. A heartfelt thank you goes out to all the supporters.