Therapy for Jess

In the blink of an eye, everything can change. We hear this quote so often and sometimes we even state it as an expression to others in moments of witnessing hardship or tragedy. We have also had moments in which we refer to another as "the strongest person I have ever known" or "the kindest person I have ever known". However, to combine the quote and reference together to say: "Everything changed in the blink of an eye to the kindest person I have ever known", is not what we wish to ever experience or relay.

I wish to introduce you to Jessica. Actually, Jess that is, as she prefers to be called. Those who meet Jess for the first time are taken aback by her innate ability to make you feel welcome and cared about. She takes genuine interest in everyone she crosses paths with. She remembers conversations she shares with you because she truly cares to get to know you. She loves music, basketball, singing along with contestants on The Voice, lip gloss, cheeseburgers, and most of all her family and friends. SHE is the strongest and kindest person I have ever known. She is only 21.

In mid August when the late night calls came in that Jess suffered a massive stroke, our surroundings froze. How could this be true? How does this even happen? TO JESS?

In the immediate hours we learned of her AVM (Arteriovenous Malformation) that caused the massive hemorrhage in her brain. Something she had been born with that could not be predicted. A ticking time bomb many would say. She underwent two surgeries and thankfully within 24 hours the bleeding was stopped. Jess is alive. While on life support, her village rallied, hoped, prayed, wished and begged for her survival. Since then Jess has regained independent breathing, has overcome the challenges to swallow in order to have her feeding tube removed, and remains the strongest and kindest person even the medical staff have ever known.

What is missing is long term therapy. As we all know, therapy is what proves most successful for the recovery of stroke patients. Medical also dictates who can receive therapy. In this case, being 21, medical assumes you can recover just fine without, because you are young. Jess is paralyzed on her left side, her motor skills impaired, and she relies on full assist for her basic needs. I find this medical determination wrong, very wrong. I am sharing about Jess and asking for your monetary support in this campaign in hopes that you also find this very wrong. That you will help me create a fund for long term speech, physical, and occupational therapies for Jess. I ask that you, also, be her village.