Chandler Plona
Donation protected
Friends and family, thanks for taking time to read this. It is difficult to ask for help when I have always tried to protect and provide for my children and grandchildren. Unfortunately, the situation has gotten more desperate than I can handle financially. I am Amanda Plona, a retired English teacher and grandmother to Chandler. Grandson Chandler Plona, now 22, has been diagnosed by Dr. Joshua Knappenberger at the Bozeman Neurosciences Center as having “Partial idiopathic epilepsy with seizures of localized onset, intractable, with status epilepticus.”
Johns Hopkins Medical discusses status epilepticus: “If you have epilepsy, you may have seizures again and again. You may have status epilepticus if you have a seizure that lasts longer than 5 minutes, or if you have more than 1 seizure within a 5-minute period, without returning to a normal level of consciousness between episodes. This is a medical emergency. It may lead to permanent brain damage or death.”
“Intractable” indicates the medications are not able to stop the seizures. Chandler is on a combination of different medications that are at the maximum allowed. He has been incapacitated with seizures for 3 ½ years and has made multiple trips to the ER in an ambulance. One grand mal seizure lasted 13 minutes. We were finally able to get to a neurologist in Bozeman after working with St. Peter’s Hospital all this time.
The good news is that Dr. Knappenberger is immediately referring Chandler to the University of Utah Medical Center for further evaluation. The testing is to prepare for probable brain surgery in an attempt to stop the seizures at the source.
I am reluctantly forced to ask for help. Medicaid hopefully will cover most of the medical bills, but travel expenses, previously unpaid bills, stays in Salt Lake City, meals, etc. are now beyond my financial capacity. Because Chandler’s health status was constantly changing and remained dangerous, his single-parent mom Sara missed so much time from her job as a Special Needs Paraprofessional with the Helena School District that she lost her job in January after 5 ½ years working with very special kids. I am trying to cover all financial needs by working as a substitute teacher to supplement my retirement funds.
I hope this message puts no pressure on anyone who is struggling too, but I am hopeful a few of you may be able to lend us a hand right now, even if it is just thoughts of love and hope. Any money that may accrue will go into a separate Trust Fund.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your time, your prayers, and good thoughts. We are hoping for the best outcome.
Amanda Plona
Johns Hopkins Medical discusses status epilepticus: “If you have epilepsy, you may have seizures again and again. You may have status epilepticus if you have a seizure that lasts longer than 5 minutes, or if you have more than 1 seizure within a 5-minute period, without returning to a normal level of consciousness between episodes. This is a medical emergency. It may lead to permanent brain damage or death.”
“Intractable” indicates the medications are not able to stop the seizures. Chandler is on a combination of different medications that are at the maximum allowed. He has been incapacitated with seizures for 3 ½ years and has made multiple trips to the ER in an ambulance. One grand mal seizure lasted 13 minutes. We were finally able to get to a neurologist in Bozeman after working with St. Peter’s Hospital all this time.
The good news is that Dr. Knappenberger is immediately referring Chandler to the University of Utah Medical Center for further evaluation. The testing is to prepare for probable brain surgery in an attempt to stop the seizures at the source.
I am reluctantly forced to ask for help. Medicaid hopefully will cover most of the medical bills, but travel expenses, previously unpaid bills, stays in Salt Lake City, meals, etc. are now beyond my financial capacity. Because Chandler’s health status was constantly changing and remained dangerous, his single-parent mom Sara missed so much time from her job as a Special Needs Paraprofessional with the Helena School District that she lost her job in January after 5 ½ years working with very special kids. I am trying to cover all financial needs by working as a substitute teacher to supplement my retirement funds.
I hope this message puts no pressure on anyone who is struggling too, but I am hopeful a few of you may be able to lend us a hand right now, even if it is just thoughts of love and hope. Any money that may accrue will go into a separate Trust Fund.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your time, your prayers, and good thoughts. We are hoping for the best outcome.
Amanda Plona
Organizer
Amanda Plona
Organizer
Helena, MT
