ORIGINAL DETAILS:
On Thursday, May 7, 2020, Ashley experienced a massive brain bleed caused by the rupturing of an AVM. For those who do not know, arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is basically a tangle of arteries and/or blood vessels in the brain and weakens them, making this tangle susceptible to rupturing.
Less than 1% of the population is born with an AVM and the majority never experiencing rupture.
Ashley was rushed to a hospital via helicopter and underwent emergency brain surgery.
The damage from the rupture in the cerebellum centered on Ashley's motor cortex and fine motor structures. After surgery, Ashley lost all ability to voluntarily move any muscles and to speak. Initial communication was through eye blinks only. Due to the brain injury, Ashley's brain is having to relearn how to perform every function that relates to vision, speech, movement and balance. After 60 days, Ashley started speaking and gaining some voluntary body movements. After 120 days, Ashley's vision started stabilizing. After almost 5 months and a lot of therapy, Ashley is speaking and has gained more muscle strength. However, due to the brain damage that occurred Ashley currently suffers from ataxia, which is a lack of coordination of her hands, arms and legs, along with the lack of ability to balance. To overcome the ataxia disorder, Ashley will require many more months of intense therapy in a day neuro therapy program for 5hours a day. Ashley will be coming home in a wheelchair, but she is looking forward to overcoming the challenges of ataxia and is motivated to put in the therapy hours to achieve her goals of walking again and returning to Texas A&M to finish her degree in engineering.
Upon discharge, Ashley will have been inpatient in 3 different hospital facilities for 154 days.
Personal Information:
Ashley is a 21 year old Texas A&M student from Texas. She has been studying engineering at the Texas A&M College Station campus and just completed her junior year in May of 2020 and was a member of the Texas A&M crew team during the Spring 2020 semester. Ashley has a passion for helping others and majored in Biological and Agricultural Engineering so she can work on environmental matters and food modifications to help improve the future for others. Ashley proudly gives the "gig'em" sign daily to the hospital staff and other fellow Aggies that work at the rehabilitation hospital. Ashley loves all of the traditions that come with being an Aggie and Ashley will be celebrating another tradition this week when her parents present her with her Aggie ring.
During Ashley's 5 month hospital stay she has not been able to have any visitors, due to Covid restrictions, except for her mother and father. Ashley has not seen her sister Lauren in over 7 months or her dog Randall in 5 months (except for one covert operation where her mom showed up with the dog for a few minutes) and they are all looking forward to being reunited. Ashley's sister will be moving home for a while to join the family once Ashley returns home. Once the family is reunited under one roof, they will be joined by all of four of their dogs and all four of their cats. Ashley has a passion for animals and being at home with her animals will be great therapy.
Ashley's mom and dad, Vicky and Steve, have been fortunate enough to see her but they have very strict schedules and are unable to be there at the same time. They have to rotate every 24 hours (no sooner) and they are not allowed to leave the facility during their shift.
This means Vicky and Steve haven't seen each other during this time either.
There have been many wins in Ashley's recovery, an abundance of incredible humans, doctors and nurses, but there has been a lot of complications, set backs, and a ton of things to research and purchase for her to return home to recover and for her long-term care.
WHY THIS FUNDRAISER WAS CREATED:
There are many expenses that are not covered insurance and many things have to be in place before Ashley can be released from the rehab facility to go home. The out of pocket expenses are currently over $100,000 and increasing.
Some of these expenses include, but are not limited to:
- $40,000 out of network care flight, ambulances and transportation
- $20,000 chair lift for stairs to get Ashley upstairs to bedrooms and showers
- $40,000 used wheelchair accessible van (medically necessary)
- $10,000 medical deductibles and cost of various equipment for the home
- Unknown future expenditures for therapy sessions that exceed annual therapy visits covered under insurance.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
We know that many people want to help during this time, but they just don't know HOW.
Right now, any donation can help get the things into place for Ashley to come home.
If you feel called to donate, all the funds will go directly to The Lindsey Family Living Trust to help with these expenses.
UPDATED DETAILS AS OF 9/16/20:
Ashley has a love for all animals and they brighten her day. Yesterday was a great day in rehab because Orbit, the rehabilitation service dog, was able to return to work at the rehab facility and he visited Ashley. Ashley is looking forward to spending time with him daily. Orbit is a beautiful golden retriever and I’m certain Ashley and Orbit are going to become great friends. Covid rules have prevented Orbit from visiting since early April and everyone is happy to see Orbit return.
The rehab team calls Ashley their "Rockstar" because of how hard she pushes herself everyday. Her rehab team have set Ashley’s discharge date as October 7th, 5 months to the date after her AVM rupture. If there are no setbacks and Ashley continues to improve at the rate she’s improving now, the rehab team believes we may be able to take Ashley home instead of transferring her to a transitional facility.
On Thursday, May 7, 2020, Ashley experienced a massive brain bleed caused by the rupturing of an AVM. For those who do not know, arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is basically a tangle of arteries and/or blood vessels in the brain and weakens them, making this tangle susceptible to rupturing.
Less than 1% of the population is born with an AVM and the majority never experiencing rupture.
Ashley was rushed to a hospital via helicopter and underwent emergency brain surgery.
The damage from the rupture in the cerebellum centered on Ashley's motor cortex and fine motor structures. After surgery, Ashley lost all ability to voluntarily move any muscles and to speak. Initial communication was through eye blinks only. Due to the brain injury, Ashley's brain is having to relearn how to perform every function that relates to vision, speech, movement and balance. After 60 days, Ashley started speaking and gaining some voluntary body movements. After 120 days, Ashley's vision started stabilizing. After almost 5 months and a lot of therapy, Ashley is speaking and has gained more muscle strength. However, due to the brain damage that occurred Ashley currently suffers from ataxia, which is a lack of coordination of her hands, arms and legs, along with the lack of ability to balance. To overcome the ataxia disorder, Ashley will require many more months of intense therapy in a day neuro therapy program for 5hours a day. Ashley will be coming home in a wheelchair, but she is looking forward to overcoming the challenges of ataxia and is motivated to put in the therapy hours to achieve her goals of walking again and returning to Texas A&M to finish her degree in engineering.
Upon discharge, Ashley will have been inpatient in 3 different hospital facilities for 154 days.
Personal Information:
Ashley is a 21 year old Texas A&M student from Texas. She has been studying engineering at the Texas A&M College Station campus and just completed her junior year in May of 2020 and was a member of the Texas A&M crew team during the Spring 2020 semester. Ashley has a passion for helping others and majored in Biological and Agricultural Engineering so she can work on environmental matters and food modifications to help improve the future for others. Ashley proudly gives the "gig'em" sign daily to the hospital staff and other fellow Aggies that work at the rehabilitation hospital. Ashley loves all of the traditions that come with being an Aggie and Ashley will be celebrating another tradition this week when her parents present her with her Aggie ring.
During Ashley's 5 month hospital stay she has not been able to have any visitors, due to Covid restrictions, except for her mother and father. Ashley has not seen her sister Lauren in over 7 months or her dog Randall in 5 months (except for one covert operation where her mom showed up with the dog for a few minutes) and they are all looking forward to being reunited. Ashley's sister will be moving home for a while to join the family once Ashley returns home. Once the family is reunited under one roof, they will be joined by all of four of their dogs and all four of their cats. Ashley has a passion for animals and being at home with her animals will be great therapy.
Ashley's mom and dad, Vicky and Steve, have been fortunate enough to see her but they have very strict schedules and are unable to be there at the same time. They have to rotate every 24 hours (no sooner) and they are not allowed to leave the facility during their shift.
This means Vicky and Steve haven't seen each other during this time either.
There have been many wins in Ashley's recovery, an abundance of incredible humans, doctors and nurses, but there has been a lot of complications, set backs, and a ton of things to research and purchase for her to return home to recover and for her long-term care.
WHY THIS FUNDRAISER WAS CREATED:
There are many expenses that are not covered insurance and many things have to be in place before Ashley can be released from the rehab facility to go home. The out of pocket expenses are currently over $100,000 and increasing.
Some of these expenses include, but are not limited to:
- $40,000 out of network care flight, ambulances and transportation
- $20,000 chair lift for stairs to get Ashley upstairs to bedrooms and showers
- $40,000 used wheelchair accessible van (medically necessary)
- $10,000 medical deductibles and cost of various equipment for the home
- Unknown future expenditures for therapy sessions that exceed annual therapy visits covered under insurance.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
We know that many people want to help during this time, but they just don't know HOW.
Right now, any donation can help get the things into place for Ashley to come home.
If you feel called to donate, all the funds will go directly to The Lindsey Family Living Trust to help with these expenses.
UPDATED DETAILS AS OF 9/16/20:
Ashley has a love for all animals and they brighten her day. Yesterday was a great day in rehab because Orbit, the rehabilitation service dog, was able to return to work at the rehab facility and he visited Ashley. Ashley is looking forward to spending time with him daily. Orbit is a beautiful golden retriever and I’m certain Ashley and Orbit are going to become great friends. Covid rules have prevented Orbit from visiting since early April and everyone is happy to see Orbit return.
The rehab team calls Ashley their "Rockstar" because of how hard she pushes herself everyday. Her rehab team have set Ashley’s discharge date as October 7th, 5 months to the date after her AVM rupture. If there are no setbacks and Ashley continues to improve at the rate she’s improving now, the rehab team believes we may be able to take Ashley home instead of transferring her to a transitional facility.