Amirah Hope Strong

On Thursday, December 26, 2024, our beautiful Amirah was sitting in a booster seat on the floor of her living room laughing and playing like any normal 7 ½ month old until the back of the booster chair gave out unexpectedly and she fell back hitting her head on the floor. She was rushed to the ER, where a CT scan revealed a hairline fracture in the back of her head (occipital bone), she was then transferred to Children’s Hospital ER where she was examined closely by both their trauma team and the neurosurgery team. It was the decision of both teams that there were no major concerns at that time. She was discharged from the ER and the family was told to expect some concussion symptoms, otherwise everything would heal on its own in 6-8 weeks.

Amirah was recovering great until day five when she suddenly became lethargic, so her mom immediately took her back to the ER where she was given a repeat CT that showed a small bleed next to her cerebellum. Children’s Hospital was contacted immediately and their flight team was dispatched to transport her. When she arrived at Children’s she was given another (3rd) CT that showed the bleed had stopped and it looked as though it would resolve itself. She was placed in the ICU and monitored carefully by multiple doctors from different teams. Thursday morning, a week from the original accident, she began having trouble breathing and was intubated to protect her airway. She was then taken for a stat CT that showed the bleeding had started again and was blocking her CSF and putting pressure on her cerebellum. She was then rushed into emergency surgery to have a shunt placed in her head and a piece of her skull removed all to relieve the pressure that had built up in her little brain. The neurosurgeons then advised the family that the bleed was most likely an aneurysm that could not be seen on any imaging and that an angiogram would be the best way to confirm and possibly treat it. The angiogram showed that she did in fact have a very rare one called a PICA.

Her parents then had to make the difficult decision of letting the doctors try to seal off the weak spot of the artery so it would never bleed again, or to watch it and hope that it didn’t burst which would have meant instant death for this sweet baby. The opinion of all the doctors at that time was to attempt to seal off the weak spot, but that it would cause Amirah to have a stroke because the artery affected supplies blood and oxygen directly to the brain stem.

The aneurysm was successfully sealed off and she remains in ICU recovering. The doctors have said that best case scenario she will be in ICU for a month but remain inpatient for 2-3 months after which she will continue extensive therapy for most likely a year. She has a long road ahead and all we can do is keep praying that God will continue to look over her and guide her care teams as they continue to carry out the best possible plan of care for her.

We are asking for help for the family to offset the cost of traveling to and from the hospital, along with other necessities that they might need. Right now her parents and grandparents are taking turns sitting with her in the ICU. Amirah’s mom, Morgan is unable to work at this time due to health issues and her grandmother, who can only work part-time due to her own health issues, is currently carrying all the financial burden for travel expenses, groceries, and the bills for maintaining Morgan & Amirah’s home. If you cannot donate at this time, we would just ask that you share Amirah’s story and keep her in your prayers while she battles the fight of her life!

Thank you to Everyone for the continued prayers, love, and support... I truly believe that God has heard all of our prayers and feels our heartache watching our angel in the fight of her life!... YOU are keeping us strong so we can be strong for her and for that we thank you all more than words can ever convey! ❤️