Christine Ulbright Benefit Fund

On Tuesday, December 6, 2016, my 30 year old daughter, Christine, suffered a stroke while at home with her husband and two young children. She was rushed to the hospital, completely paralyzed on her right side. She received treatment in the ER and was admitted to the intensive care unit. She remained in the hospital until Saturday when she was discharged to inpatient rehabilitation. While in the hospital the only risk factor or potential cause of the stroke was a hole in her heart (patent foramen ovale) found on echocardiogram that we did not know she had. She regained most of her function on her right side and was able to return home to her family on Thursday, December 15. Christine still has a long road of healing ahead with outpatient therapies weekly as well as follow up appointments with the physiatrist, cardiologist, and neurologist. She may need a procedure to fix the patent foramen ovale after recovering from the stroke. She was previously a full time working mom who both volunteered and worked on Saturdays to help her family. They survive on a dual income which will be cut in half while Christine is out of work and regaining the strength and skills she needs to return to her prior level of function. As a pediatric physical therapist, Christine needs to be able to lift, get on and off the floor, write, type, and drive which are all things she struggles with as residual deficits. She has medical insurance but will need to pay her deductible and 20% coinsurance on her hefty medical bills. Since this event happened in December the family will be faced with paying deductibles and out of pocket maximum amounts twice as insurance re-sets for the New Year and her medical needs are expected to continue in the coming months. Christine’s wonderful co-workers set up a benefit account at STCU (Christine Ulbright Benefit Fund) where anyone local can make a donation to assist with medical bills. All go fund me donations will be deposited into that account which is reserved for medical bills and cost of living while Christine is out of work.