Nancy and Chuck need our help, Please read update!
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PLEASE READ ALL UPDATES: A lot has changed since this first post, including Chuck's health.
Nancy needs all of our help! I am talking to you, her Friends, Family, and the countless people who have met Nancy once, but were left thinking wow what a sweet talkative lady!
On Easter Saturday Nancy suffered a severe stroke in the middle of the night. Due to her age and ongoing heart condition, as well as the location of the stroke (massive hematoma on the brain stem) surgery was not an option. She spent 3 weeks in ICU at St Joseph's in St Charles battling for her life. Nancy is a fighter, a spiritual warrior, and was moved from ICU to SSM Rehabilitation Hospital in Lake St Louis after those 3 weeks. Shortly after getting to the rehab facility however, Nancy was rushed to the connecting hospital's ICU/emergency section due to heart and blood pressure concerns. Another setback, another trauma. After 5 more days of battling for her life she was moved once again into the rehabilitation wing. Once there, and stabilized, her journey of recovery began.
Each day is crucial for people who have survived a stroke, proper nursing care and intensive therapy is vital in these cases, as you have just ONE year following the initial incident to regain strength, mobility and heal in hopes of reaching a beautiful new "normal".
After her Right Pontine stroke, Nancy was suffering from total left side paralysis and cognitive deficits including difficulty speaking, swallowing, seeing and hearing. For anyone that has ever met Nancy, you know that her favorite ability is talking and it is very important for her to regain and restore this mighty "skill". Nancy has progressed amazingly so far, we are SO PROUD and INSPIRED! We pray with help, this positive trend will continue.
She is regaining partial feeling on her left side and has some ability to use her left hand. She is slowly able to swallow better which will hopefully allow her to eat more solid foods as time goes on. It takes courage for her to eat a simple meal.
Her talking has improved drastically, from not being able to talk at all, to speaking and becoming friends with each and every person who visited her room. During her time in the rehab clinic, a service tech came into her room to fix her wheelchair. The young man was from Bosnia and was given the American name of Elvis when he came here. By the end of the 15 min of fixing the chair, Elvis was showing Nancy pictures of construction projects he was doing as a weekend job and telling Nancy if he didn't have other appointments he would stay to listen to her stories of Elvis Presley and her thoughts on Rock n’ Roll. Many nurses immediately connected with Nancy, as well as all of her incredible therapists and medical team, everyone was sad to see her go, one nurse stopped in 4 different times for goodbyes. She is described as an ideal patient, a dream candidate for recovery, and a bright light to fellow sufferers and professionals- who would all stop in to chat with Miss Nancy if they were having a bad day.
Nancy was discharged on 6/4. The original plan was to be home with some care (as her Husband Chuck works full time to support them both) and intensive physical therapy 5 days a week at the SSM Day Institute. Plan A soon became unrealistic due to inability to utilize shuttle service to the Day Institute given the lack of wheelchair accessibility of their home, insurance authorization issues, the layout of their apartment, facility availability and the overall physical condition of both Nancy and Chuck being too unstable to safely support one another.
Katie (Nancy's daughter) stayed with Nancy for 2.5 weeks acting as her physical caregiver while constantly on the phone with insurance companies, care facilities, and social workers etc. Katie had to go home and back to work on 6/14 but she will be back ASAP to help more. It is still a struggle to get Nancy approved for a facility due to insurance struggles and inability to quickly attain required doctors sign-offs given the busy scheduling of Primary care physicians. All the while Nancy has to patiently wait for follow up appointments and is giving her all to maintain her current state and not regress, the threat of decline is imminent and not to be taken lightly. We can’t let her great progress be lost during this moment of stagnation.
The hope is that she will be placed in a facility for 30-120 days until she is stronger, more functional and the apartment is retrofitted to fit her needs.
The bridge of short term Rehabilitation care at a skilled assisted living facility would be a dream come true for Nancy, Chuck, and the entire family.
After that bridge is crossed she will continue on to her Original Plan A, a peaceful life with her husband at home and traveling to the Day Institute each week to continue her path to better health.
We are asking for financial help as not everything in this process has been covered by insurance. Chuck has had to take over a month of work off and is still unable to work as we speak. We have and will need to continue buying medical equipment and products for the apartment in order to meet Nancy's current and future needs. No donation is too big or too small. Whatever you can graciously give, whatever generosity you can spare is greatly appreciated.
Please share the link of the fundraiser https://www.gofundme.com/aunt-nancy-needs-our-help with everyone that you know and also feel free to leave a positive note for Nancy with your donation. All notes will be read to her. And if you know her, you’ll realize, nothing means more to her than the love, quality time, and fun conversations offered to her by family, friends and the kindest acquaintances and strangers.
Nancy Jean Ringland Reilly is a gem, a bright light that deserves every chance she can get to continue shining. We all could use a little of Nancy’s light in our lives.
FYI when you give, you do not need to give any "Tip" for GoFundMe. Choose other and mark that space as $0.
Nancy needs all of our help! I am talking to you, her Friends, Family, and the countless people who have met Nancy once, but were left thinking wow what a sweet talkative lady!
On Easter Saturday Nancy suffered a severe stroke in the middle of the night. Due to her age and ongoing heart condition, as well as the location of the stroke (massive hematoma on the brain stem) surgery was not an option. She spent 3 weeks in ICU at St Joseph's in St Charles battling for her life. Nancy is a fighter, a spiritual warrior, and was moved from ICU to SSM Rehabilitation Hospital in Lake St Louis after those 3 weeks. Shortly after getting to the rehab facility however, Nancy was rushed to the connecting hospital's ICU/emergency section due to heart and blood pressure concerns. Another setback, another trauma. After 5 more days of battling for her life she was moved once again into the rehabilitation wing. Once there, and stabilized, her journey of recovery began.
Each day is crucial for people who have survived a stroke, proper nursing care and intensive therapy is vital in these cases, as you have just ONE year following the initial incident to regain strength, mobility and heal in hopes of reaching a beautiful new "normal".
After her Right Pontine stroke, Nancy was suffering from total left side paralysis and cognitive deficits including difficulty speaking, swallowing, seeing and hearing. For anyone that has ever met Nancy, you know that her favorite ability is talking and it is very important for her to regain and restore this mighty "skill". Nancy has progressed amazingly so far, we are SO PROUD and INSPIRED! We pray with help, this positive trend will continue.
She is regaining partial feeling on her left side and has some ability to use her left hand. She is slowly able to swallow better which will hopefully allow her to eat more solid foods as time goes on. It takes courage for her to eat a simple meal.
Her talking has improved drastically, from not being able to talk at all, to speaking and becoming friends with each and every person who visited her room. During her time in the rehab clinic, a service tech came into her room to fix her wheelchair. The young man was from Bosnia and was given the American name of Elvis when he came here. By the end of the 15 min of fixing the chair, Elvis was showing Nancy pictures of construction projects he was doing as a weekend job and telling Nancy if he didn't have other appointments he would stay to listen to her stories of Elvis Presley and her thoughts on Rock n’ Roll. Many nurses immediately connected with Nancy, as well as all of her incredible therapists and medical team, everyone was sad to see her go, one nurse stopped in 4 different times for goodbyes. She is described as an ideal patient, a dream candidate for recovery, and a bright light to fellow sufferers and professionals- who would all stop in to chat with Miss Nancy if they were having a bad day.
Nancy was discharged on 6/4. The original plan was to be home with some care (as her Husband Chuck works full time to support them both) and intensive physical therapy 5 days a week at the SSM Day Institute. Plan A soon became unrealistic due to inability to utilize shuttle service to the Day Institute given the lack of wheelchair accessibility of their home, insurance authorization issues, the layout of their apartment, facility availability and the overall physical condition of both Nancy and Chuck being too unstable to safely support one another.
Katie (Nancy's daughter) stayed with Nancy for 2.5 weeks acting as her physical caregiver while constantly on the phone with insurance companies, care facilities, and social workers etc. Katie had to go home and back to work on 6/14 but she will be back ASAP to help more. It is still a struggle to get Nancy approved for a facility due to insurance struggles and inability to quickly attain required doctors sign-offs given the busy scheduling of Primary care physicians. All the while Nancy has to patiently wait for follow up appointments and is giving her all to maintain her current state and not regress, the threat of decline is imminent and not to be taken lightly. We can’t let her great progress be lost during this moment of stagnation.
The hope is that she will be placed in a facility for 30-120 days until she is stronger, more functional and the apartment is retrofitted to fit her needs.
The bridge of short term Rehabilitation care at a skilled assisted living facility would be a dream come true for Nancy, Chuck, and the entire family.
After that bridge is crossed she will continue on to her Original Plan A, a peaceful life with her husband at home and traveling to the Day Institute each week to continue her path to better health.
We are asking for financial help as not everything in this process has been covered by insurance. Chuck has had to take over a month of work off and is still unable to work as we speak. We have and will need to continue buying medical equipment and products for the apartment in order to meet Nancy's current and future needs. No donation is too big or too small. Whatever you can graciously give, whatever generosity you can spare is greatly appreciated.
Please share the link of the fundraiser https://www.gofundme.com/aunt-nancy-needs-our-help with everyone that you know and also feel free to leave a positive note for Nancy with your donation. All notes will be read to her. And if you know her, you’ll realize, nothing means more to her than the love, quality time, and fun conversations offered to her by family, friends and the kindest acquaintances and strangers.
Nancy Jean Ringland Reilly is a gem, a bright light that deserves every chance she can get to continue shining. We all could use a little of Nancy’s light in our lives.
FYI when you give, you do not need to give any "Tip" for GoFundMe. Choose other and mark that space as $0.
Fundraising team (2)
Matthew Davidson
Organizer
Kirkwood, MO
Kathryn Reilly Cobb
Beneficiary
Cosmo Reilly Cobb
Team member
