Aid Lia Marie's Journey to Healing

Lia Marie Johnson, beloved preschool teacher at Little Tree Huggers (LTH) https://www.littletreehuggers.org was in a terrible accident while visiting family in Argentina. On June 2nd, she was run over by a motor vehicle while returning to her airBnb. It was the first night of a dream vacation she had planned for a year, and she suffered a traumatic brain injury (specifically a Diffuse Axonal Injury), multiple fractures and a perforated lung, as she was struck and the launched over 50ft from the point of impact. She remained unconscious and in critical condition for close to a month and finally started breathing and making involuntary movements in early July. Throughout her hospitalization in Argentina, she had a total of four different bouts of hospital acquired pneumonia and a second lung perforation because of a feeding tube insertion.

Her family’s need during her initial fight for recovery was support with medical, travel, and lodging expenses while going to and from Argentina to be with Lia Marie. Neither the US Embassy, nor Blue Cross offered any repatriation assistance and initial estimates ranged from $145-250k.

As important as donations and prayers were at that juncture, the family was adamant that as many people as possible take the time to listen to and share Lia Marie’s music. Her first album “A Power in Love,” was with the Loudoun County, Virginia band Alaska & Aurora https://stereostickman.com/music/alaska-aurora-a-power-in-love/ and her most recent single “You Are Whole” by Lia Marie Flora was published two weeks after her accident and you can hear it on Spotify, iTunes or YouTube https://stereostickman.com/music/lia-marie-flora-johnson-you-are-whole/. Please continue to help get her voice out into the Universe!

With Lia Marie making steady progress, yet no financing alternatives materializing to breach the gap between donations and the air ambulance, Lia Marie’s music producer, Todd Wright, from Half King Music in Hamilton, VA https://www.halfking.net put the family in touch with a close friend, Juan Lagos, the son of famed Argentine reporter and radio announcer, Julio Lagos. Julio Lagos took an immediate interest in Lia Marie’s story and invited her father, George, to be on his radio program “La Radio Sos Vos” (The Radio is You) https://rivadavia.com.ar/programas/la-radio-sos-vos?start=0. Within a week a local air ambulance company, Aero Care, recommended by Viviana Rebossio, a close family friend, was able to come up with a complex transport protocol that allowed Lia Marie to be transported back to the United States, in the care of a specialized doctor and nurse on a commercial aircraft at a third of the cost of the Air Ambulance!

In addition to the LTH family community, the Johnson family would like to offer a special shout out to Hospital Ramos Mejia https://www.hospitalramosmejia.com.ar and their incredible Intensive Care Specialists as well as to Aero Care https://aerocare.com.ar for their compassion and brilliance in getting Lia Marie back to Northern Virginia by August 1st!

Lia Marie’s first two weeks at INOVA Fairfax Hospital represented exponential progress, so much so that by the end of her first week she had been accepted to be admitted to the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab – the nation’s leading neurological rehabilitation center in Chicago. https://www.sralab.org We are now just waiting on insurance approval and it’s heartbreaking to see her hungry to do more, while at the same time confined to a hospital bed.

Another special shout out to Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, Lia Marie’s spiritual mentor. Dr Jill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Bolte_Taylor is a world-renowned neuroanatomist, author and public speaker and Lia Marie happened to have Dr. Jill’s best-selling book, Whole Brain Living: The Anatomy of Choice and the Four Characters That Drive our Life, with her on her trip to Buenos Aires. Upon our return to the United States, Lia Marie’s mother, Lia, reached out to Dr. Jill to let her know what happened to Lia Marie and to ask for her advice on what would help optimize her success. The family has been in contact with Dr. Jill daily since her return and thanks to Dr. Jill, Lia Marie has also started being treated by Carla Oswald Reed, https://movementtowholeness.com/about/ a world-renowned physical therapist and neuromovement rehabilitation specialist with 55 years of experience recommended to the family by Dr. Jill!

Lia Marie shows clear signs that she understands everything that’s going on. She opens her left eye, moves her left and right leg and has started to make sounds. She shows a full range of facial expressions and emotions and she’s moving around like a wiggle worm on her bed. She is clearly impatient to move on the next stage of recovery but armed with the neuromovement strategies Dr. Jill and Aunt Carla have exposed us to, we are sure we will be able to make her initial phase of rehabilitation go smoothly. We have also told Lia Marie that the transfer to Shirley Ryan will require yet another air transport and she seems ok with that.

Lia Marie is simply one of the most sparkly and magical beings. Her love of nature and all living things shines through her work at LTH, teaching the children how to love Mother Earth and care for our planet. She teaches through song, dance and art, inspiring the children to explore their personalities, creativity and the world around them. Her positivity and genuine love for the children is reflected in how happy they are to see her every day.

Please consider supporting Lia Marie and her family during this difficult time. The LTH family continues going above and beyond to support Lia Marie, the school, and the Johnson family and now we turn to the larger community for additional help. The air ambulance to Chicago will run $30,000 and the family will likely need to spend 30-60 days with her during her initial phase of rehabilitation.

We will post updates about Lia Marie as the family allows.

Thank you all for your help.