Dani Kitten's Medical Fund

This year Christmas had a whole new meaning. It truly isn't about the presents, the food or the traditions. It's about being around the ones you love! Tragedy struck our family 12 days before Christmas. Our 2nd daughter Dani suffered a placenta abruption Dec 13 & she lost her little boy Madden Arthur Kitten at 25 wks. He was Brennon and Dani's 1st baby that they waited over 5 years for. Four days later, Brennon took Dani into the ER with upper back pain between her shoulder blades, that had worsened over the 3 days. She had numbness / tingling of the legs that started that afternoon and by the time he got her to the ER she couldn't walk. They immediately checked for a Pulmonary Embolism, which is a blood clot to the lung, with a CT scan, and it turned out negative. They also tested for a tear in the Aorta, which also turned out negative. Then they finally turned to a complete MRI of the spine which showed a pocket of fluid around the spinal cord at T3 level. A Neurosurgeon was called in & he rushed Dani to surgery at 2 am Sunday Dec 18. I had been on the phone with Brennon during most of our 7 hr drive to Fargo hoping & praying we'd make it before she got out of surgery. Ron & I have never been so scared. We arrived 30 min before the surgeon informed us that the pressure on the spinal cord has caused damage & that our daughter who just had a stillborn 4 days ago is now paralyzed from below the chest down & he cannot tell us that it's temporary. Only time will tell. He has no idea how she got this...it's a rare, freaky thing. Many of Dani's Doctors are still trying to figure out how this all happened.

Dani is such a strong willed, positive, motivated girl who was transferred to a rehab facility 5 days after her surgery. On the 24th of December she started intense physical and occupational therapy at the rehab hospital. As she grieves the loss of her baby & the use of her legs, she is working so hard & in pain from her back trying to heal. After 34 days in the rehab hospital, Dani has worked on building her upper body strength to support herself in transferring in and out of the wheelchair. She has been working hard on balancing her body when she is sitting up to retrain her stomach and back muscles. She has been able to move her left leg back and forth a little bit and is just now able to wiggle her toes in her right foot. She has fought hard everyday to try and regain her legs. She arrives early and tries to stay late for her therapies just so that she can improve that much more.

Ron & I , along with her sisters and Brennon are sooo proud of her. She has truly been such an inspiration to all of us. Now that all the bills are starting to pile up, she is frustrated and nervous on how to pay for everything that has happened. She is going through enough stress that it is hard to see her worry about anything else. With the delivery bill of her baby and the funeral bill for him, the meeting of their deductible at the end of December, then turning around and paying another full deductible because of the New Year, to the expenses of making their split-level house accessible for when she will return home, we would be greatly appreciative of any help our wonderful daughter receives. We want to thank all of our family and friends for the support, thoughts, and prayers already! Everyone has been so amazing and we could not thank you enough! If anything, please keep our precious Dani in your thoughts and prayers as she continues to fight and push herself through this difficult time. 

Thank You!

Lori Schultz