Hi my name is Luz. On September 23, 2023 my daughter Abby's life was completely changed forever. Abby was playing the potato sack race at my nephews birthday party, and when she landed on her last jump at the finish line she fell to the ground and knew something was wrong with her left leg. After taking off the sack, everyone realized she might have dislocated her knee because of the way it looked. Once rushed to the hospital and in the Emergency room, Abby got X-rays done which showed no broken bones. The doctor then said they would pop her knee back in place but once they did it the knee wouldn’t stay back in place. She then got a CT scan and it showed she had severe damage to her nerves. Abby's leg started to swell up and she started losing feeling of her foot and toes. The nurses checked the pulses on her foot with a Doppler which they couldn’t find.

On Sunday September 24th, Abby was sent to the operating room around 1pm for surgery. 8 hours later the vascular surgeon let us know that Abby had severe compartment syndrome. To try and save her leg they did a fasciotomy (two deep cuts on the inner and outer side of leg), a bypass and an external fixator (4 metal rods holding her leg in place). Now it was a matter of time to see if her body would heal and for the bypass to be a success. Two days later after the first surgery her foot started to turn dark and cold. Later that same day, Abby was taken back to the operating room for surgery that lasted over 4 hours due to the fact she got a second bypass because the first one failed and they placed a small balloon on her foot to get more blood flow. Abby was in the ICU for 2 weeks and 2 weeks in the trauma department and now in the orthopedic department.

Abby has had many surgeries (11 total) that have made her surgeon remove unhealthy muscle from her leg. Abby’s orthopedic surgeon had a heart to heart talk with us after her 10th surgery because Abby was losing so much muscle and he thought it would be better if she just got her leg amputated. After many tears and hugs Abby decided that she would want to do a last wash on her wound and if the muscle didńt look good she would want to move forward with amputation.

But on November 9th Abby went back to the OR to get a leg wash, no more cutting, adding amniotic cell membranes and antibiotic beads in her leg and keeping the wound vac on for two weeks. Fast forward two weeks on November 27th, Abby went into surgery to get her external fixator removed and get a skin graft on the inner wound. Abby´s orthopedic surgeon said her wounds looked good and her culture swabs for infection came out negative. Now we are praying for another miracle so the skin graft doesn’t get infected and Abby moves on to the road to more recovery.

Abby has experienced so much pain physically and mentally. No one could ever be prepared for such a huge life change but through all the pain and suffering she continues to brighten up any room she stays in. Since day one that surgeons and doctors have told us Abby can lose her leg but we’ve stayed as positive as we can. The amount we set for Abby’s goal is to cover for the medical expenses that my insurance won't cover. Although we have seen and unforeseen medical bills coming up, anything achieved beyond our goal will be to pay the future medical bills as well as her rehabilitation stay and any special furnishings that Abby will need once she’s out of the hospital and back home and to help with financial hardship.

At the moment there is no discharge date but we want to thank everyone that has put Abby in their prayer chains and groups. Thank you to all that continue to drop off food at the hospital or at home for us. We are truly blessed with all the support!!