Chris' Fight Against Moyamoya
Donation protected
On August 18, 2015 a member of our family and one of our very closest friends, Chris McElroy, at the age 39 had a massive stroke in Tioga, ND. She was airlifted to Minot for treatment and then sent home to Bozeman, MT.
The day after Christmas, Chris suffered another stroke and was airlifted to the University of Utah Health Care. After extensive testing, the Neuro team determined that Chris had suffered more than a dozen strokes since August, and she needed immediate brain surgery. Chris was diagnosed with a rare disorder called Moyamoya, which causes vessels in a specific part of the brain to narrow resulting in reduced blood flow.
The surgery successfully provided a “patch” to help direct blood flow around the damaged vessels. Now, Chris had to recover from an invasive 8-hour brain surgery and begin to deal with the long-term management of Moyamoya. She spent almost the entire month of January in ICU recovering but also working daily with Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapists. Luckily, Chris is a determined, strong-willed lady. She was motivated in speech therapy because she wanted to tell jokes and say new swear words. (That’s what we love about Chris!)
Since her release on January 21, Chris has been working with physical and speech therapists weekly. Although the “patch” fixed a piece of the problems caused by the Moyamoya, Chris is on a very aggressive anticoagulation and antiplatelet therapy in an effort to reduce the chance of further strokes. Because this is such an aggressive therapy, Chris is required to have routine blood tests to ensure everything is in balance.
As you can imagine, the medical bills from the life flights (3) have been significant. (The cost for one life flight is nearly $50,000.) Luckily, the first life flight was covered by insurance, but unfortunately the two that followed were not. In addition to the emergency life flights, there is a mountain of out-of-pocket expenses (not completely covered by insurance) for the ICU and hospital, extensive therapies, trips for follow-up appointments and on-going tests, and increased childcare!
Chris is the wife of Jake McElroy and mother of Shyli (age 4). This family is one of the most independent families we know. And for those of you that know them personally, especially Chris, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Getting permission to create an avenue to help financially was not an easy task, but while doing so, we knew they would do the same for their family and friends in an instant. We hope that by providing a way to ease some of the financial burden, Chris and Jake can focus on recovery, not bills.
Please consider making a donation, no matter what size, to help this amazing family. All they need is some additional support right now to keep things on track. Chris is currently unable to work, but she’s a fighter and we know she can beat this. Again, if you know Chris well, you know she was ready to get back to work yesterday. Thank you so much in advance for your help.
We will continue to provide updates on Chris’ progress.
The day after Christmas, Chris suffered another stroke and was airlifted to the University of Utah Health Care. After extensive testing, the Neuro team determined that Chris had suffered more than a dozen strokes since August, and she needed immediate brain surgery. Chris was diagnosed with a rare disorder called Moyamoya, which causes vessels in a specific part of the brain to narrow resulting in reduced blood flow.
The surgery successfully provided a “patch” to help direct blood flow around the damaged vessels. Now, Chris had to recover from an invasive 8-hour brain surgery and begin to deal with the long-term management of Moyamoya. She spent almost the entire month of January in ICU recovering but also working daily with Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapists. Luckily, Chris is a determined, strong-willed lady. She was motivated in speech therapy because she wanted to tell jokes and say new swear words. (That’s what we love about Chris!)
Since her release on January 21, Chris has been working with physical and speech therapists weekly. Although the “patch” fixed a piece of the problems caused by the Moyamoya, Chris is on a very aggressive anticoagulation and antiplatelet therapy in an effort to reduce the chance of further strokes. Because this is such an aggressive therapy, Chris is required to have routine blood tests to ensure everything is in balance.
As you can imagine, the medical bills from the life flights (3) have been significant. (The cost for one life flight is nearly $50,000.) Luckily, the first life flight was covered by insurance, but unfortunately the two that followed were not. In addition to the emergency life flights, there is a mountain of out-of-pocket expenses (not completely covered by insurance) for the ICU and hospital, extensive therapies, trips for follow-up appointments and on-going tests, and increased childcare!
Chris is the wife of Jake McElroy and mother of Shyli (age 4). This family is one of the most independent families we know. And for those of you that know them personally, especially Chris, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Getting permission to create an avenue to help financially was not an easy task, but while doing so, we knew they would do the same for their family and friends in an instant. We hope that by providing a way to ease some of the financial burden, Chris and Jake can focus on recovery, not bills.
Please consider making a donation, no matter what size, to help this amazing family. All they need is some additional support right now to keep things on track. Chris is currently unable to work, but she’s a fighter and we know she can beat this. Again, if you know Chris well, you know she was ready to get back to work yesterday. Thank you so much in advance for your help.
We will continue to provide updates on Chris’ progress.
Organizer and beneficiary
Gwen Butler Hubbard
Organizer
Bozeman, MT
Chris McElroy
Beneficiary