Conrad's Stroke Recovery Fund
Donation protected
I am reaching out to you because I've finally started a GoFundMe page for my best friend and collegue Samantha Conrad. A dedicated & hard working member of the Campagnola family, loving wife and mother, has unfortunately fallen on hard times as her husband has suffered a massive stroke.
This family is going to need our help!!! Along with your thoughts and prayers I am asking for any financial help to help alleviate this burden- ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED ....
I'd like to share with you the diary that Sam has kept of what John Conrad has gone through. Our love has kept the light for the fight of this family....
February 7th changed our lives forever. The day started out as any normal Thursday. Conrad left early in the morning for work while Ashton and I were still sleeping. We woke up and went about our normal school day morning routine. I dropped her off at school and headed home to deal with some housework.
Around 9:30 am, completely unexpected, Conrad came walking in the front door. I was beyond confused. I asked what was wrong, why was he home, what’s going on? He kept looking at me helpless while saying “I can’t” over and over again. In my frustration I finally said, “You can’t what? Talk?” He nodded yes vigorously.
We immediately walked to the emergency room at Lennox hill hospital. They shortly there after performed a cat scan which showed that Conrad was having a stroke. My mind was blown. How could my 36 year old husband be having a stroke? They told us that they needed to transfer us immediately to Cornell. There they would perform a mechanical thrombectomy to open up the clotted artery. They put us in an ambulance and sent us on our way.
On the ride over Conrad was cracking jokes and was his usual self aside from his affected speech. Immediately after exiting the ambulance they wheeled him right into the procedure room. I was outside the room signing consent when I begged them to let me in to talk to him before they started. He told me he was fine, and to stop crying. As if.
On a side note, god bless the two EMT’S that were so amazing to me. They found me a deserted waiting room and went and found my sister who had just arrived to show her where I was.
Hours went by before the doctor came in. He let us know that the procedure was not successful and that his artery clotted right back up again. He now needed to put Conrad under to perform the same procedure again, but this time to put a stent in to keep the artery open.
Hours and many boxes of tissues passed again. The next time he came back our life got exponentially more grim. Not only had the procedure not worked, but the artery was so damaged that it tore while trying to put the stent in. He now also had a brain bleed. He let us know that at this point the only thing they could do to potentially save his life was to remove a part of his skull to allow for swelling.
My entire world changed with that one conversation. Not only would he now have a massive stroke that they had no way of stopping, but his additional complications could severely threaten his immediate life. Alysha and I sat in the waiting room for again, more hours, and just cried.
Conrad made it through the surgery and was sent to the neuro icu. After the first couple of days it was necessary to explain to Ashton what was happening. I’ve never been more petrified to have a conversation in my life. Our little warrior handled it, and continues to handle it, like a champ.
He spent the next 5 weeks in the neuro ICU. The first few weeks were very medically scary. Neuro checks every hour, countless procedures to address blood clots and other issues that come with laying in a hospital bed, endless testing to figure out what caused his stroke to in the future prevent a repeat, and to in the end have them label it a cryptogenic stroke. As in they don’t know what caused it.
After 5 long weeks and lots of jumping through paperwork hoops, he was finally transferred to an acute traumatic brain injury rehab at mount Sinai. He suffered an ischemic stroke on the left side of his brain. This is commonly said to be the worst part of your brain to experience a stroke. It has paralyzed the right side of his body and has taken away his speech.
Conrad has an extremely long road ahead of him. The good news is that he is ready to fight. He is given more hours of treatment then usually assigned to a patient every day because he shows up and does the work, even if he isn’t exactly happy about it. Anyone that knows Conrad knows that this is personal hell for him, but quit is not in his vocabulary.
Please pray for him to notice his improvements and to keep fighting the good fight. Please pray for Ashton’s continued strength and courage. This little five year old has been with her daddy every day and bosses him around during his rehab. She is gaining way too much knowledge that her young little mind should not have to comprehend.
Thank you for listening to our story. Love each other and let the little stuff go. Life can completely change on one normal Thursday morning.
This is a long road to recovery with full time attention from both Sam & Ashton. Again with both Sam and Conrad unable to work every donation you can spare will go a long way. Thank you again for your love and support. I'll keep this post up to date as much as possible but if you need to contact me (my number is [phone redacted]). As Sam would say, Love each other. God Bless.
This family is going to need our help!!! Along with your thoughts and prayers I am asking for any financial help to help alleviate this burden- ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED ....
I'd like to share with you the diary that Sam has kept of what John Conrad has gone through. Our love has kept the light for the fight of this family....
February 7th changed our lives forever. The day started out as any normal Thursday. Conrad left early in the morning for work while Ashton and I were still sleeping. We woke up and went about our normal school day morning routine. I dropped her off at school and headed home to deal with some housework.
Around 9:30 am, completely unexpected, Conrad came walking in the front door. I was beyond confused. I asked what was wrong, why was he home, what’s going on? He kept looking at me helpless while saying “I can’t” over and over again. In my frustration I finally said, “You can’t what? Talk?” He nodded yes vigorously.
We immediately walked to the emergency room at Lennox hill hospital. They shortly there after performed a cat scan which showed that Conrad was having a stroke. My mind was blown. How could my 36 year old husband be having a stroke? They told us that they needed to transfer us immediately to Cornell. There they would perform a mechanical thrombectomy to open up the clotted artery. They put us in an ambulance and sent us on our way.
On the ride over Conrad was cracking jokes and was his usual self aside from his affected speech. Immediately after exiting the ambulance they wheeled him right into the procedure room. I was outside the room signing consent when I begged them to let me in to talk to him before they started. He told me he was fine, and to stop crying. As if.
On a side note, god bless the two EMT’S that were so amazing to me. They found me a deserted waiting room and went and found my sister who had just arrived to show her where I was.
Hours went by before the doctor came in. He let us know that the procedure was not successful and that his artery clotted right back up again. He now needed to put Conrad under to perform the same procedure again, but this time to put a stent in to keep the artery open.
Hours and many boxes of tissues passed again. The next time he came back our life got exponentially more grim. Not only had the procedure not worked, but the artery was so damaged that it tore while trying to put the stent in. He now also had a brain bleed. He let us know that at this point the only thing they could do to potentially save his life was to remove a part of his skull to allow for swelling.
My entire world changed with that one conversation. Not only would he now have a massive stroke that they had no way of stopping, but his additional complications could severely threaten his immediate life. Alysha and I sat in the waiting room for again, more hours, and just cried.
Conrad made it through the surgery and was sent to the neuro icu. After the first couple of days it was necessary to explain to Ashton what was happening. I’ve never been more petrified to have a conversation in my life. Our little warrior handled it, and continues to handle it, like a champ.
He spent the next 5 weeks in the neuro ICU. The first few weeks were very medically scary. Neuro checks every hour, countless procedures to address blood clots and other issues that come with laying in a hospital bed, endless testing to figure out what caused his stroke to in the future prevent a repeat, and to in the end have them label it a cryptogenic stroke. As in they don’t know what caused it.
After 5 long weeks and lots of jumping through paperwork hoops, he was finally transferred to an acute traumatic brain injury rehab at mount Sinai. He suffered an ischemic stroke on the left side of his brain. This is commonly said to be the worst part of your brain to experience a stroke. It has paralyzed the right side of his body and has taken away his speech.
Conrad has an extremely long road ahead of him. The good news is that he is ready to fight. He is given more hours of treatment then usually assigned to a patient every day because he shows up and does the work, even if he isn’t exactly happy about it. Anyone that knows Conrad knows that this is personal hell for him, but quit is not in his vocabulary.
Please pray for him to notice his improvements and to keep fighting the good fight. Please pray for Ashton’s continued strength and courage. This little five year old has been with her daddy every day and bosses him around during his rehab. She is gaining way too much knowledge that her young little mind should not have to comprehend.
Thank you for listening to our story. Love each other and let the little stuff go. Life can completely change on one normal Thursday morning.
This is a long road to recovery with full time attention from both Sam & Ashton. Again with both Sam and Conrad unable to work every donation you can spare will go a long way. Thank you again for your love and support. I'll keep this post up to date as much as possible but if you need to contact me (my number is [phone redacted]). As Sam would say, Love each other. God Bless.
Organizer and beneficiary
Desiree Maranan
Organizer
New York, NY
Samantha Conrad
Beneficiary
