Amy Eagle's Brain Surgery Rehabilitation Fund

As many of Amy's family and friends already know, in 2014 Amy suffered from an ischemic stroke. She was immediately rushed to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY where she received her first life saving brain surgery. She spent the next few months recovering at Strong Memorial, and then the next few years attending speech, physical and occupational therapies in order to learn to function normally without the part of her brain that she lost to the stroke. Although her dominant arm lost function, throughout the past four years Amy has made tremendous progress in speaking, walking, and writing with her non-dominant side.   After several months, her hard work began to show benefits.  Even though permanently disabled, she was able to resume daily activities like menu planning, grocery shopping, etc. Before long, she even became comfortable enough to make larger strides such as: participating with her local church and traveling, both with her sisters for a girls weekend, and to Seattle to spend time with her children.

At the end of 2018, an unexpected trip to the hospital due to kidney stones, turned into Amy's worst nightmare of reoccurring problems in her head. What began as a small clot, turned into yet another surgery to remove a portion of Amy's skull to allow her brain room for swelling and healing. During this time, the doctors at Albany Medical Center decided it would be best to place a shunt in Amy's head to help permanently with draining the excess fluid that was continually causing pressure and pain. This setback devastatingly meant that Amy and Mark had to cancel their trip to spend the holidays in Seattle with their children. 



Finally,  5 months after being admitted to the hospital, Amy was dressing herself to finally return back home from Sunnyview Rehabilitation Center when we noticed fluid leaking out of the stitches on top of her head. It saddened our hearts to have to re-admit her back to Albany Med where it has been a roller coaster of tests, x-rays and CT scans to determine where the infection is coming from. Because Amy has a permanent shunt in her head that drains directly to her chest cavity, she is at high risk for infection in multiple different parts of her body. Most recently, they have placed a chest tube in the right side of Amy's rib cage to drain the excess fluid that is accumulating near her lungs. 

The unexpected and extended stays that Amy and her family have had at Strong, Albany Med and Sunnyview have begun to put a financial strain on the family. It is incredibly important to us that Amy continues to receive the best care possible, and never has to face this battle alone. Amy is the most brave woman I have ever met (and I am not just saying that because she is my mom!) She has faced every one of her medical issues with strength and courage and has not once complained to any of the doctors! This is not an easy path for anyone to be on, no less for the third time around, but Amy is a fighter! The money acquired from this campaign will be used for the expenses incurred continuing to advocate for Amy; including: rehabilitation, skilled nursing care, transportation costs traveling from Oneonta to Albany/Schenectady, renovations to our home so Amy may return safely (the two largest being a wheelchair ramp and a stair lift,) and support of her family.

Thank you to all of those that have continued to reach out to Amy and our family during this difficult journey and please continue to keep her road to recovery in your thoughts and prayers. We are blessed to have the opportunity to continue to share Amy's story with everyone, and have set up a separate e-mail account to communicate/answer questions with those that would like to reach out: [email redacted] 

Love, 
The Eagle Family
Mark, Amy, Carlie and Connor

Summer 2017