Support for Andrea & family

As some of you may know, Andrea Wildman was in a terrible freak accident on November 20th, 2019. She was found without a pulse at the bottom of a set of stairs at her place, by her friend who performed CPR until paramedics arrived. Miraculously, Andrea was revived 45 minutes later at the FSJ hospital, but she remained unconscious and in critical condition. A few hours later she was flown to Vancouver General Hospital where it was discovered that she had fractured her C1 vertebrae, which resulted in a severed spine. As a result of these severe injuries, she is paralyzed from the upper neck down and on full life support unable to breathe on her own, eat, or speak. She regained some degree of consciousness and can occasionally communicate by blinking. In addition to her severed spine, doctors are also worried about possible brain damage since she went so long without oxygen after her fall. At this point it is difficult to tell what kind of cognitive function may remain. Andrea’s four children (Natasha, Sarah, Drake and Cache) found themselves in the impossible decision of having to decide whether to let their mom go peacefully, or proceed with surgery to stabilize her neck, and perform a tracheostomy to get the tubes out of her mouth. Incredibly, doctors were able to establish enough communication with Andrea to ask her whether she would like the potentially life-saving surgery, or if she would like to just focus on comfort. Andrea indicated that she wanted to fight, and chose the aggressive treatment— surgery. While her children and other loved ones are relieved to have more time with Andrea, they now face more uncertainty with respect to the surgical outcome and potential surgical complications after the fact. And, while this is everyone’s priority, her children are also faced with another unexpected and unfortunate challenge: finances. None of her family lives anywhere near Vancouver, so her children have been staying in a hotel in order to be close with their mom and able to meet daily with Andrea’s medical team. Lost wages, accommodations, meals, and other incidental expenses are adding up and with the new uncertainty of the surgery, nobody knows for how long they will have to remain in Vancouver. If the surgery is successful, Andrea’s cognitive function remains intact, and she stabilizes, Andrea will need to live in a long term, specialized care facility which will bring additional expenses. On the other hand, due to Andrea’s serious condition, death is still a very real possibility which would result in additional expenses for her children to deal with. Natasha, Sarah, Drake and Cache have been experiencing constant stress and heartbreak since their mom’s accident, and financial stress is starting to take a toll on the family. I would love to be able to give at least a little peace of mind and comfort to Andrea’s children while they face the pain of this horrible situation. In the meantime, they are taking everything hour by hour and trying to stay strong and positive for their mom!