Bethany Douwes MS fundraiser
Donation protected
Hello friends and family.
As some of you know it's been a tough couple of weeks for Bethany and I. In late May, Bethany woke up and was experiencing numbness in her left arm and left leg as if they were asleep. She just brushed it off for a couple of days but after the third day we decided to get her be seen by a Doctor. We went to a walk-in clinic where they did lots of tests for a stroke, as losing feeling in a limb is a common side effect of a stroke. All the tests came back negative so they sent her home and put in a request for scheduling of an MRI. Bethany fully recovered from the tingly feeling in her limbs about a week or so later. Then on July 17th Bethany woke up with the same tingly feeling in her left arm and leg - this time it came with some other symptoms. She experienced slight blurred vision, trouble forming sentences and was slurring her speech. This was obviously quite scary, so Bethany called me right away and told me what was going on. We were both at work so I called my mom and asked if she could go pick her up and drive her to the ER. The doctors reviewed over her past tests, saying everything was normal and it was not a stroke, but sent her home saying they would put her on priority for the MRI. The next day I went to work and Beth had the day off and just tried to relax at home. Throughout the day, Bethany's symptoms became progressively worse and the tingly feeling turned into a loss of control, I left work early that day to go see her and by the time I got home she was having a very hard time walking and lifting her left arm. Bethany’s parents were visiting that evening so when they arrived we made the decision to take her back to the ER. The doctors decided to admit her as her symptoms were getting worse even as the night continued . She spent two days on a stretcher in a hallway waiting for a bed to become available. At this point her symptoms had progressed to her not being able to move her arm or leg at all and she needed a wheelchair to move safely.
Additionally, it was extremely difficult to go see Bethany because of COVID-19 rules. Once she had a bed, I was able to schedule visits to go see her. After the MRI results were in the doctors came to the conclusion that Bethany has MS (Multiple Sclerosis). This is a disease where the immune system attacks parts of the brain that causes a loss of control of limbs, extreme fatigue, memory loss and few other symptoms. Bethany’s MS is on the right side of her brain in a few places which has affected the left side of her body. MS is different between every patient, lots of people recover from the attacks and some do not .
Bethany made lots of progress in the first 2 weeks with her physiotherapists and her prescription of medicine. She is so strong and brave so this was not a surprise at all! She regained a lot of movement and was even able to walk with a walker and some assistance with getting in and out of bed. Bethany and I spoke with a neurologist from Hamilton who deals with a lot of MS patients. He gave the Brantford doctors a clear description of what she needs and we will be meeting him in person in the next couple of weeks to go over what steps we need to take to keep Bethany healthy and active in her daily life.
Bethany came home from the hospital August 9th and we were very thankful that Bethany's mom Nancy was able to come stay the first couple of days at our home to help her adjust and I was able to keep working. Bethany has since been able to recover most of her movement in the limbs and is now walking on her own! GOD BLESS! The future is still unclear on what the day to day looks like for Bethany but we are very hopeful and we are praying that she makes a full recovery, and will have full function of her limbs. She is now at home working on mobility and staying positive!
I have had a lot of family and friends reach out to me asking how they can help, so I have come up with the idea of a go-fund-me page. The future is still very unclear on what Bethany will be able to handle work wise and there will be some other financial costs such as, medical assistance, physiotherapy equipment, new editions to our home to better support Bethany and her new needs, etc. We are so thankful for everyone who has supported us through prayer and other means, every little bit helps and if you can't give maybe just give this post a share so that someone else who has something to give gets to see this. We are confident that this is in God's plan and we will make it through this tough time. Once again I appreciate all of your support, we love you all very much! Thank you.
As some of you know it's been a tough couple of weeks for Bethany and I. In late May, Bethany woke up and was experiencing numbness in her left arm and left leg as if they were asleep. She just brushed it off for a couple of days but after the third day we decided to get her be seen by a Doctor. We went to a walk-in clinic where they did lots of tests for a stroke, as losing feeling in a limb is a common side effect of a stroke. All the tests came back negative so they sent her home and put in a request for scheduling of an MRI. Bethany fully recovered from the tingly feeling in her limbs about a week or so later. Then on July 17th Bethany woke up with the same tingly feeling in her left arm and leg - this time it came with some other symptoms. She experienced slight blurred vision, trouble forming sentences and was slurring her speech. This was obviously quite scary, so Bethany called me right away and told me what was going on. We were both at work so I called my mom and asked if she could go pick her up and drive her to the ER. The doctors reviewed over her past tests, saying everything was normal and it was not a stroke, but sent her home saying they would put her on priority for the MRI. The next day I went to work and Beth had the day off and just tried to relax at home. Throughout the day, Bethany's symptoms became progressively worse and the tingly feeling turned into a loss of control, I left work early that day to go see her and by the time I got home she was having a very hard time walking and lifting her left arm. Bethany’s parents were visiting that evening so when they arrived we made the decision to take her back to the ER. The doctors decided to admit her as her symptoms were getting worse even as the night continued . She spent two days on a stretcher in a hallway waiting for a bed to become available. At this point her symptoms had progressed to her not being able to move her arm or leg at all and she needed a wheelchair to move safely.
Additionally, it was extremely difficult to go see Bethany because of COVID-19 rules. Once she had a bed, I was able to schedule visits to go see her. After the MRI results were in the doctors came to the conclusion that Bethany has MS (Multiple Sclerosis). This is a disease where the immune system attacks parts of the brain that causes a loss of control of limbs, extreme fatigue, memory loss and few other symptoms. Bethany’s MS is on the right side of her brain in a few places which has affected the left side of her body. MS is different between every patient, lots of people recover from the attacks and some do not .
Bethany made lots of progress in the first 2 weeks with her physiotherapists and her prescription of medicine. She is so strong and brave so this was not a surprise at all! She regained a lot of movement and was even able to walk with a walker and some assistance with getting in and out of bed. Bethany and I spoke with a neurologist from Hamilton who deals with a lot of MS patients. He gave the Brantford doctors a clear description of what she needs and we will be meeting him in person in the next couple of weeks to go over what steps we need to take to keep Bethany healthy and active in her daily life.
Bethany came home from the hospital August 9th and we were very thankful that Bethany's mom Nancy was able to come stay the first couple of days at our home to help her adjust and I was able to keep working. Bethany has since been able to recover most of her movement in the limbs and is now walking on her own! GOD BLESS! The future is still unclear on what the day to day looks like for Bethany but we are very hopeful and we are praying that she makes a full recovery, and will have full function of her limbs. She is now at home working on mobility and staying positive!
I have had a lot of family and friends reach out to me asking how they can help, so I have come up with the idea of a go-fund-me page. The future is still very unclear on what Bethany will be able to handle work wise and there will be some other financial costs such as, medical assistance, physiotherapy equipment, new editions to our home to better support Bethany and her new needs, etc. We are so thankful for everyone who has supported us through prayer and other means, every little bit helps and if you can't give maybe just give this post a share so that someone else who has something to give gets to see this. We are confident that this is in God's plan and we will make it through this tough time. Once again I appreciate all of your support, we love you all very much! Thank you.
Organizer
Tyler Douwes
Organizer
Brantford, ON