Olivia's Get Well Fund

This GoFundMe account is being set up to help out the family of Olivia Woodrum (my great niece).  Olivia is 10 years old and recently faced some serious medical issues.   She's pictured here wth her dad & mom, Steve & Melissa, her great grandma Rozanne Karr, and her grandma Loretta VanHouten (Karr/Woodrum).

She's okay now (thank God) and on the road to recovery, however, we are hoping to raise funds to help cover the cost of her family's expenses during her extended hospital stay and home care for the next 6 weeks.

On April 11, Olivia fell and broke her arm and hit her head pretty hard.  The arm was set and has healed, however four weeks after the fall her mom noticed she still had a big bump on her head.  Her family doctor said it was just a contusion and should go down. 

Eight weeks passed and the bump was still there and another began to form on her temple.  On June 10, she was taken to the Emergency Room and a CT scan was done.  It showed a crack in her skull requiring her to be transferred to the Peoria hospital to see a child neurologist.

They discovered that Olivia had an infection or virus in her sinuses that caused erosion of the skull.  It was not the result of the fall.  The doctors say she has cronic sinus infections and believe it has been there untreated for several months.  She had never been diagnosed or treated for a sinus infection. 

On June 11, they did two surgeries.  One was to remove the fluids and clear out her sinuses.  The right side was full of polyps and those were removed.  The second surgery was to clean the infection out of the bump on her head and off of her brain.  They had to remove a part of her skull to clean under it.  It was a long day of waiting - she went in at 10:30 am and back in ICU at 4:30 pm.   They sent the fluids to be tested and identified.

The hole in her skull was patched and they are hopeful that it will heal itself eventually.  She was put on several antibiotics, a port was placed in her arm and expected to be there for about 6 weeks for treatment.  Since her fall, Olivia has lost about 17 pounds and hasn't had much of an appetite.  We are hoping she will begin eating again!

On June 16 she got to go home with 2 antibiotics for six weeks.  A nurse visits once a week at her house to take labs, but the rest of the time Olivia's mom, Melissa, is giving her the medicine through her IV port daily.  

A portion of Olivia's medical expenses were covered, however, her family has to pay co-payments to insurance and her mom has to take unpaid time off for the next 6 weeks to administer her IV medication.  It will also offset the cost of their travel back and forth to the hospital, meals and extra expenses.  

We all want to help or to send well wishes and this is the perfect way to do it.  Please consider donating to help out Olivia and her mom & dad.  Thank you!