Cyndi Chaw - Road to Recovery
Donation protected
Cyndi is a very generous and loving person who always wants to help whoever she can. She always looks for new ways to help others and the community. For example, she donates blood platelets, goes to the food bank, helps rebuild homes, and donates to many shelters. Her happy energy constantly brightens people's day in an instant, whether it be by dancing or cracking jokes.
On May 2, 2020, Cyndi went to donate blood platelets, which is something she loved to do every two weeks because she knows there is a high demand for it. After the three hour process of donating blood, she went grocery shopping in Japantown, San Francisco. While she was standing in line to enter the market, she began to feel dizzy so she got out of line to sit down. She decided she should go home instead and got up to start walking to her car. However, as she began walking she fainted and fell straight back, hitting her head on the concrete floor. We think her fainting was a result of donating blood platelets and difficulty breathing from wearing a mask, as required during the COVID-19 pandemic (we aren’t sure of the real cause). This fall fractured her skull, causing a severe amount of brain bleeding and swelling in her left temporal lobe, the area of the brain that controls speech, comprehension, and cognition.
That night in the emergency room, as the bleeding and swelling in her brain worsened, Cyndi had to undergo a decompressive craniectomy, which is a surgery to remove a portion of her skull to allow room for the brain to swell. After the surgery, she was still in critical condition but stable and was hooked up to two blood drains, monitors in the brain to keep track of brain swelling, a breathing tube, and a feeding tube.
She spent 5 days in the neuro-ICU in the hospital, and has shown miraculous progress in her recovery. On May 7, she was moved out of the ICU as she moved out of the critical period of her injuries and past the days of peak swelling. She has also started to breathe on her own, so her breathing tube has been removed.
Given the COVID-19 pandemic, her family has not been able to visit, so if you have any pictures or memories you would like to share with her, we can send those over to the hospital as well. The doctors say that anything to remind her of family and friends could bring back memories.
This fundraiser will help Cyndi and her family with the medical bills as well as the care she is expected to need once she is back home with her family. Because of the location of the trauma to her brain, the doctors expect there to be deficits in her speech and understanding, so therapy and rehabilitation will also play significant roles in her recovery.
Cyndi is a single mom of two sons, Jason (20) and Dylan (18). She is the oldest of five daughters and caretaker of her mother. She was not expected to progress as well as she has, but we know she's a fighter and we call her our miracle. We kindly ask you to join us in supporting her and getting her through this journey.
On May 2, 2020, Cyndi went to donate blood platelets, which is something she loved to do every two weeks because she knows there is a high demand for it. After the three hour process of donating blood, she went grocery shopping in Japantown, San Francisco. While she was standing in line to enter the market, she began to feel dizzy so she got out of line to sit down. She decided she should go home instead and got up to start walking to her car. However, as she began walking she fainted and fell straight back, hitting her head on the concrete floor. We think her fainting was a result of donating blood platelets and difficulty breathing from wearing a mask, as required during the COVID-19 pandemic (we aren’t sure of the real cause). This fall fractured her skull, causing a severe amount of brain bleeding and swelling in her left temporal lobe, the area of the brain that controls speech, comprehension, and cognition.
That night in the emergency room, as the bleeding and swelling in her brain worsened, Cyndi had to undergo a decompressive craniectomy, which is a surgery to remove a portion of her skull to allow room for the brain to swell. After the surgery, she was still in critical condition but stable and was hooked up to two blood drains, monitors in the brain to keep track of brain swelling, a breathing tube, and a feeding tube.
She spent 5 days in the neuro-ICU in the hospital, and has shown miraculous progress in her recovery. On May 7, she was moved out of the ICU as she moved out of the critical period of her injuries and past the days of peak swelling. She has also started to breathe on her own, so her breathing tube has been removed.
Given the COVID-19 pandemic, her family has not been able to visit, so if you have any pictures or memories you would like to share with her, we can send those over to the hospital as well. The doctors say that anything to remind her of family and friends could bring back memories.
This fundraiser will help Cyndi and her family with the medical bills as well as the care she is expected to need once she is back home with her family. Because of the location of the trauma to her brain, the doctors expect there to be deficits in her speech and understanding, so therapy and rehabilitation will also play significant roles in her recovery.
Cyndi is a single mom of two sons, Jason (20) and Dylan (18). She is the oldest of five daughters and caretaker of her mother. She was not expected to progress as well as she has, but we know she's a fighter and we call her our miracle. We kindly ask you to join us in supporting her and getting her through this journey.
Organizer and beneficiary
Stacy Ohmura
Organizer
San Francisco, CA
Cynthia Chaw
Beneficiary