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As many of you know and some may not, my little sister Samantha, is going through some life changing experiences. On June 20th, 2016 she started her day just like any other day, got herself dressed and ready and headed off to work. Around 10:45am she left her place of employment with some of her clients and headed to Dunking Donuts to grab herself a coffee. It wasn’t moments later that she went to get out of her car and completely collapsed to the ground, smacking her face off the tar and knocking herself unconscious.
She was immediately rushed into Maine Medical Center, where she remained unconscious for the next several hours, all while having 15-18 seizures. Doctors and specialist worked miraculously over the course of the next 4-5 hours, running every possible test to see what could have caused any of this to happen. Unfortunately they came up short, and we were left with little to none answers. Without hesitation, Sam was admitted to Maine Medical center for 24 hour surveillance monitoring, in hopes to catch any strange brain activity, but once again it gave us no answers. As Tuesday night came around, we started to see a little movement in Sam, which brought a lot of positivity to us as family. She had gone all day without having a seizure, or any odd behaviors, most of her testing had come back fine and we assumed we’d be heading home within the next day or so.
Unfortunately later that night, things took another turn for the worse. Sam started seizing again. After several doses of seizure medication which her body rejected, she continued to experienced “mini seizures” for the next 24 hours. With little to none options left, they scheduled her for a MRI. It wasn’t more than two minutes into her testing, that she experienced a full seizure, making it impossible for them to finishing the testing, and once again we were left with no answers.
Thursday morning, Sam was seen by a Physical Therapist, and Occupational Therapist for an evaluation. What we were hoping to be good news, was actually worse than we could have imagined. Due to the Thirty plus seizures she had encountered over the last 72 hours, her body had become badly broken. She damaged several nerves in the back of her neck and upper spine, which left her with very limited control of her fine gross motor skills. She was unable to get out of bed, had no control over her right arm, both legs and posture. This had now become the doctor’s number one concern, and there main focus was to get a plan in motion in hopes to get her moving again.
On Friday June 24th, she was transported to New England Rehabilitation Center, where she would begin her inpatient therapy. We were unsure of how long she would be hospitalized there, but with no surprise she was able to go home just one week later.
Sam is just getting started on her road to recovery, and still has a long road ahead of her. She has outpatient therapy three to four times a week, with both her Physical therapist and Occupational Therapist. She continues to work towards regaining her strength in both her legs, and right arm and with the help of therapy they expect her to make a full recovery.
Anyone that knows Sammie, knows that this is a struggle for her. We are talking about a young 25 year old woman, who has spent all her life playing sports, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and enjoying every moment she can. She needs our help during this difficult time, and I can only imagine the financial burden this has put on her. As most of you know, she just moved back home in January and started her new job not long after that. Unfortunately she fell short a month of being eligible to receive “short term disability leave” and can only receive “unpaid medical leave”. Even with having the best insurance out there, she is left with little to none help from there end and having to pay for a majority of her recovery, out of pocket. Just between multiple ambulance rides, all of her adaptive equipment that she needs to get around with, Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy, medication, her two weeks stay in the hospital and so forth, she is left fighting not only for her recovery, but even being able to afford it. On August 3rd she will see a seizure specialist, as well as the neurologist on September 30th in hopes that she can be cleared to return to work, and hopefully drive again.
Let’s help her get there, even if it’s just by sharing this page! I love my little sister and it kills me to see her struggle like this. If you know Sammie, or anyone in my family, you know this is has been a life changing moment for us. I want to see my little sister walk again without any assistance. Thank you all so much for even just taking the time to read this, or even sharing it! My family and I appreciate any and all help!!
Also, Sammie has expressed that if any donations are left over, she will be donating the remaining funds to a local charity in efforts to help someone else struggling like herself.
Love,
The Levine Family!
She was immediately rushed into Maine Medical Center, where she remained unconscious for the next several hours, all while having 15-18 seizures. Doctors and specialist worked miraculously over the course of the next 4-5 hours, running every possible test to see what could have caused any of this to happen. Unfortunately they came up short, and we were left with little to none answers. Without hesitation, Sam was admitted to Maine Medical center for 24 hour surveillance monitoring, in hopes to catch any strange brain activity, but once again it gave us no answers. As Tuesday night came around, we started to see a little movement in Sam, which brought a lot of positivity to us as family. She had gone all day without having a seizure, or any odd behaviors, most of her testing had come back fine and we assumed we’d be heading home within the next day or so.
Unfortunately later that night, things took another turn for the worse. Sam started seizing again. After several doses of seizure medication which her body rejected, she continued to experienced “mini seizures” for the next 24 hours. With little to none options left, they scheduled her for a MRI. It wasn’t more than two minutes into her testing, that she experienced a full seizure, making it impossible for them to finishing the testing, and once again we were left with no answers.
Thursday morning, Sam was seen by a Physical Therapist, and Occupational Therapist for an evaluation. What we were hoping to be good news, was actually worse than we could have imagined. Due to the Thirty plus seizures she had encountered over the last 72 hours, her body had become badly broken. She damaged several nerves in the back of her neck and upper spine, which left her with very limited control of her fine gross motor skills. She was unable to get out of bed, had no control over her right arm, both legs and posture. This had now become the doctor’s number one concern, and there main focus was to get a plan in motion in hopes to get her moving again.
On Friday June 24th, she was transported to New England Rehabilitation Center, where she would begin her inpatient therapy. We were unsure of how long she would be hospitalized there, but with no surprise she was able to go home just one week later.
Sam is just getting started on her road to recovery, and still has a long road ahead of her. She has outpatient therapy three to four times a week, with both her Physical therapist and Occupational Therapist. She continues to work towards regaining her strength in both her legs, and right arm and with the help of therapy they expect her to make a full recovery.
Anyone that knows Sammie, knows that this is a struggle for her. We are talking about a young 25 year old woman, who has spent all her life playing sports, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and enjoying every moment she can. She needs our help during this difficult time, and I can only imagine the financial burden this has put on her. As most of you know, she just moved back home in January and started her new job not long after that. Unfortunately she fell short a month of being eligible to receive “short term disability leave” and can only receive “unpaid medical leave”. Even with having the best insurance out there, she is left with little to none help from there end and having to pay for a majority of her recovery, out of pocket. Just between multiple ambulance rides, all of her adaptive equipment that she needs to get around with, Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy, medication, her two weeks stay in the hospital and so forth, she is left fighting not only for her recovery, but even being able to afford it. On August 3rd she will see a seizure specialist, as well as the neurologist on September 30th in hopes that she can be cleared to return to work, and hopefully drive again.
Let’s help her get there, even if it’s just by sharing this page! I love my little sister and it kills me to see her struggle like this. If you know Sammie, or anyone in my family, you know this is has been a life changing moment for us. I want to see my little sister walk again without any assistance. Thank you all so much for even just taking the time to read this, or even sharing it! My family and I appreciate any and all help!!
Also, Sammie has expressed that if any donations are left over, she will be donating the remaining funds to a local charity in efforts to help someone else struggling like herself.
Love,
The Levine Family!
Organizer and beneficiary
Samantha Tambone
Beneficiary