Ashlyn Smith's Continued Rehab
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You never realize how quickly your life can change.
The summer of 2015 started out to be very similar to the year before for 16-year-old Ashlyn Smith: a mission trip to Jamaica with her church to help those less fortunate, weekly volunteering at a local children’s charity, a memorable family vacation to the mountains of North Carolina and then final preparations for the beginning of her junior year at Lyman High School. It all seemed as though things were falling into place to start out the school year right. Then, out of the blue, life as she knew it came to a screeching halt.
Ashlyn was in Arnold Palmer Hospital for a routine medication check for a non-life-threatening condition. She responded well to her meds and was being discharged from the hospital the next morning. However, that evening, she developed a bad headache. Then, just an hour later, she began seizing unexpectedly. The doctors thought Ashlyn had a massive stroke, which led to multiple brain lesions and severe brain swelling. The once vibrant young girl with the future in her hands was placed in a drug-induced coma. Doctors were unsure of her prognosis, and her parents were told to prepare for the worst. Eventually, tests ruled out stroke but opened up a world of other possibilities — amoebas, virus, parasites, bacterial infection, genetic abnormalities. Over 11 pages of tests were run — every single one came back negative. However, a strong dose of antibiotics led to her condition stabilizing, providing possible insight that she had developed a yet-unidentified bacterial infection that caused the sudden seizure and brain swelling.
Her mother, Christy, father Steve and sister Elyssa stayed with her day and night, hoping, praying and begging for a miracle. After nearly 3 weeks, the doctors were able to reduce the sedation medication, and Ashlyn finally began to slowly reenter the world. She endured multiple surgeries, was too weak to breath on her own, and fought other infections. But slowly she began to show everyone that she was a fighter. Initially she was unable to communicate, due to facial paralysis and the large ventilator tube in her mouth that helped her breathe. So she turned to another form of communication — sign language, which she had learned in school. Soon Ashlyn revealed she was there in mind, with her humor and “Ashlynisms,” even if her body unfortunately wasn’t. Between the lesions in her brain, including a particularly dangerous one on her brain stem, and the massive drugs used to treat the brain swelling, every muscle in her body was weakened to the point of near paralysis.
After a total of two months in the hospital, Ashlyn was stable enough to be transported via air ambulance to a rehab facility in Atlanta, GA — the Shepherd Center, the closest rehab facility that would accept Ashlyn on a ventilator. Both mom and dad traveled back and forth for over two months to ensure Ashlyn was never alone, yet still trying to maintain their full-time jobs and their much-needed insurance.
After nine weeks in Atlanta, Ashlyn has returned home by the grace of God, and her family and friends couldn’t be happier. But the reality is she still has a long road to recovery. She is wheelchair bound but with continued therapy she has been able to stand and walk assisted for very short periods. Recently, she even made it up the stairs in her home to see her bedroom for the first time in 6 months. She still has some major milestones to get to like walking unassisted, strengthening her eye muscles, swallowing, talking and eating real food, but every day she gets closer to getting back to herself. All of the strides she has made can be attributed to the continued therapy sessions she receives at home. She receives three therapies — speech, occupational, and physical — three times a week. Her insurance only covers short-term rehab, which equals about sixty sessions per year. This equates to a little over 6 weeks of therapy, which is quickly running out.
Between co-pays for each therapy and doctor visit, lost income, medical equipment, the purchase of a wheelchair-accessible van, hiring a full-time caregiver and everything else that goes with taking care of their daughter at this point, the reality of the financial toll has set in. Christy and Steve are not the type of people who would ask for a thing, but as a friend and co-worker of Christy’s, I felt that something needed to be done to help them with the continued treatment for Ashlyn. As a parent, it is hard to fathom potentially not being able to provide the therapy needed to continue helping your child on their road to recovery. At some point the money will run out and then what can you do?
My hope is that this thought does not have to be a reality. With the generosity and compassion of others, I believe we can make certain that Ashlyn can continue therapy even after insurance stops paying for it and that she will get well enough to get back to herself, her school, church and enjoy the rest of her high school years!
Please share this GoFundMe so we can get Ashlyn’s story into hearts and homes everywhere. If you can give anything at all, please do so, every dollar counts. All proceeds will go directly to the family to help with the expenses for Ashlyn’s continued treatment.
Please like, share and donate! Be one of Ashlyn's Angels, you know you want to!
Thank you so much! #ashlynsangels
The summer of 2015 started out to be very similar to the year before for 16-year-old Ashlyn Smith: a mission trip to Jamaica with her church to help those less fortunate, weekly volunteering at a local children’s charity, a memorable family vacation to the mountains of North Carolina and then final preparations for the beginning of her junior year at Lyman High School. It all seemed as though things were falling into place to start out the school year right. Then, out of the blue, life as she knew it came to a screeching halt.
Ashlyn was in Arnold Palmer Hospital for a routine medication check for a non-life-threatening condition. She responded well to her meds and was being discharged from the hospital the next morning. However, that evening, she developed a bad headache. Then, just an hour later, she began seizing unexpectedly. The doctors thought Ashlyn had a massive stroke, which led to multiple brain lesions and severe brain swelling. The once vibrant young girl with the future in her hands was placed in a drug-induced coma. Doctors were unsure of her prognosis, and her parents were told to prepare for the worst. Eventually, tests ruled out stroke but opened up a world of other possibilities — amoebas, virus, parasites, bacterial infection, genetic abnormalities. Over 11 pages of tests were run — every single one came back negative. However, a strong dose of antibiotics led to her condition stabilizing, providing possible insight that she had developed a yet-unidentified bacterial infection that caused the sudden seizure and brain swelling.
Her mother, Christy, father Steve and sister Elyssa stayed with her day and night, hoping, praying and begging for a miracle. After nearly 3 weeks, the doctors were able to reduce the sedation medication, and Ashlyn finally began to slowly reenter the world. She endured multiple surgeries, was too weak to breath on her own, and fought other infections. But slowly she began to show everyone that she was a fighter. Initially she was unable to communicate, due to facial paralysis and the large ventilator tube in her mouth that helped her breathe. So she turned to another form of communication — sign language, which she had learned in school. Soon Ashlyn revealed she was there in mind, with her humor and “Ashlynisms,” even if her body unfortunately wasn’t. Between the lesions in her brain, including a particularly dangerous one on her brain stem, and the massive drugs used to treat the brain swelling, every muscle in her body was weakened to the point of near paralysis.
After a total of two months in the hospital, Ashlyn was stable enough to be transported via air ambulance to a rehab facility in Atlanta, GA — the Shepherd Center, the closest rehab facility that would accept Ashlyn on a ventilator. Both mom and dad traveled back and forth for over two months to ensure Ashlyn was never alone, yet still trying to maintain their full-time jobs and their much-needed insurance.
After nine weeks in Atlanta, Ashlyn has returned home by the grace of God, and her family and friends couldn’t be happier. But the reality is she still has a long road to recovery. She is wheelchair bound but with continued therapy she has been able to stand and walk assisted for very short periods. Recently, she even made it up the stairs in her home to see her bedroom for the first time in 6 months. She still has some major milestones to get to like walking unassisted, strengthening her eye muscles, swallowing, talking and eating real food, but every day she gets closer to getting back to herself. All of the strides she has made can be attributed to the continued therapy sessions she receives at home. She receives three therapies — speech, occupational, and physical — three times a week. Her insurance only covers short-term rehab, which equals about sixty sessions per year. This equates to a little over 6 weeks of therapy, which is quickly running out.
Between co-pays for each therapy and doctor visit, lost income, medical equipment, the purchase of a wheelchair-accessible van, hiring a full-time caregiver and everything else that goes with taking care of their daughter at this point, the reality of the financial toll has set in. Christy and Steve are not the type of people who would ask for a thing, but as a friend and co-worker of Christy’s, I felt that something needed to be done to help them with the continued treatment for Ashlyn. As a parent, it is hard to fathom potentially not being able to provide the therapy needed to continue helping your child on their road to recovery. At some point the money will run out and then what can you do?
My hope is that this thought does not have to be a reality. With the generosity and compassion of others, I believe we can make certain that Ashlyn can continue therapy even after insurance stops paying for it and that she will get well enough to get back to herself, her school, church and enjoy the rest of her high school years!
Please share this GoFundMe so we can get Ashlyn’s story into hearts and homes everywhere. If you can give anything at all, please do so, every dollar counts. All proceeds will go directly to the family to help with the expenses for Ashlyn’s continued treatment.
Please like, share and donate! Be one of Ashlyn's Angels, you know you want to!
Thank you so much! #ashlynsangels
Organizer and beneficiary
Chrissy King Nichols
Organizer
DeBary, FL
Christy Smith
Beneficiary