Courtney’s Medically-Related Expenses

Hi! My name is Nicole and Kiersten Bruster and I have been long time friends of Courtney and her family. We have launched this campaign after learning about the financial hardships Courtney’s current medical condition is placing on her and her family.

We appreciate any support you can provide, big or small. The money will be given directly to her and her husband, Mat to use for travel (Courtney is at MUSC in Charleston and Mat/Courtney’s home is in Georgia 2.5 hours away), medical bills and expenses for multiple surgeries and considerably long hospital stays, and financial support for time needed off work during this time.

A Brief Review of Courtney’s Medical Situation

As many of you know, our dear friend, Courtney recently underwent a procedure to address injuries caused by her car accident last September. The car accident induced and condition known as thoracic outlet syndrome. After 10 grueling months of chiropractor visits, physical therapy, MRIs, nerve blocks, and x-rays to combat the numbness and pain discomfort associated with this condition, her medical team decided to do a surgical procedure to remove her first rib and a tendon connecting her pec muscle on July 12. She had expected to have some recovery time with this and to be in the hospital for a few nights, but ended up staying for a week after her surgical team found what is referred to as a Chyle Leak, which is better described as a leak in her lymphatic system.

About 1 week after her initial procedure, her team felt as though they got the leak into a manageable issue that could be cared for from her own home and dismissed her with modified bed rest from her home on July 17.

What she soon learned was this experience was about to require new levels of physical, mental, emotional strength that she had not experienced before.

A short 10 days after being home on modified bed rest, she started to experience symptoms of what seemed to be the flu and low blood pressure. She reached out to her medical team for guidance. They advised her to go to the ER.

The tests and labs conducted at the ER revealed dangerously low levels of sodium, low blood pressure and symptoms of dehydration. At this time, the medical team determined her body wasn’t regulating her fluid loss and that, unfortunately, her previous procedure to address the leak hadn’t worked. She was then transported back to MUSC via ambulance and readmitted to the hospital.

Since being readmitted on July 27 (16 days and counting) Courtney had undergone multiple surgeries and procedures in attempt to remediate the leak. Many times she’s been given false hope the procedures have worked, only to find a short time later they had not. The leak has continued to present a number of challenges, such as excessive pressure on her lungs due to leak fluid, excruciating pain from chest tubes, exhaustion from the medical procedures and electrolyte imbalances, and so many more.

While the physical and mental drain is more than most could power through, she’s also battling emotional discomforts. Being hours away from her husband, children, family and friends has been equally as hard. She even had to miss her son’s first day of Pre-K. Thankfully, she has had some amazing social supports to help lift her spirit during these times with hospital visits and tele-communication so she can experience them from her hospital bed!

In addition to the extremely exhaustive physical and mental drain this medical problem has imposed on Courtney over the last month, have experienced financial stressors as well. She and her family have had to take significant time off work, pay medical bills and fees and have encountered high and unexpected expenses, such as, travel costs as a result.

This has truly been a traumatic and extremely painful experience for Courtney that has placed significant stress on not only her, but her family as well. We truly appreciate anything you can donate to help them out! We also ask that you share this and come back to this page for updates on her that we will try to provide as often as possible. (This will help reduce the high number of family and friends calls and texts to her and Mat. They both would love to answer but are both a bit overwhelmed at the moment and appreciate your understanding if they haven’t been able to respond)