Donate for Shalini's Medical Transport and Treatment

On Friday, April 25th, while on her way to a morning yoga class during a bachelorette vacation in Sayulita, Mexico, Shalini and three of her close friends were involved in a serious golf cart accident. All four were rushed to the hospital. Thankfully, three of them were treated and returned home. Shalini, however, remained in Mexico in critical care.

Shalini required two separate emergency brain surgeries. One removed a piece of her right temporal lobe. The second removed a portion of her left frontal lobe.

On May 3rd, she was medically evacuated from the Punta Mita Hospital to Medstar Georgetown Hospital, near her home in DC, where her family was able to secure a space in one of the top neurology departments in the nation.

Her medical evacuation was generously covered by the donations to this Go Fund Me.

Shalini has now transitioned from critical care into the Medstar National Rehabilitation Hospital. We are now entering a crucial phase of recovery. The upcoming weeks of inpatient work at Georgetown will consist of not only working with Shalini to address her immediate needs, but also working with her family to prepare for caregiving at home.

The rehabilitation road ahead will be long and difficult, and Shalini and her family will need all our continued support, which is why we updated the total target from $60K (for the medical evacuation) to $300K to assist with her full recovery and help her family cover the loss of her salary.

Following the upcoming weeks of inpatient treatment, Shalini will return home to start the long road of outpatient therapy, where she will begin work on her higher-level brain function, as well as regaining her strength and mobility. Her family will continue to need all our support as they begin to navigate the new normal of shuttling Shalini to and from appointments, as well as providing care at home.

We are past the emergency stage and now into the recovery, which will be a very long road. Shalini's friends have created additional ways to help the family by providing meal or grocery delivery, via the meal train site here:

https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/83r0n1

Recovery from brain surgery is highly individual, but a general timeline looks like this:

Week 1–4 (Acute In-Patient Recovery)

Focus: Stabilization, basic functions

Expect: Improved consciousness and alertness, basic self-care (feeding, sitting, sometimes standing with help)

Language may be halting, with difficulty forming full sentences (due to frontal lobe involvement)

Confusion may persist

Month 1–3 (Early Rehabilitation)

Focus: Regaining language, strength, coordination, and attention

Speech Therapy: Intensive support for expressive aphasia or apraxia

Occupational Therapy (OT): Daily living skills, cognitive retraining

Physical Therapy (PT): Strength, balance, mobility

Expect: Progress in speech clarity and word recall

Fatigue is common and may limit therapy hours

Month 3–12 (Continued Recovery)

Focus: Higher-order thinking, independence

Expect: Ongoing improvements in language and cognition,

better emotional regulation and social interaction

Possible lingering deficits in memory, attention, or planning

We want Shaliini's two beautiful young girls and amazing husband to have access to whatever they will need to get through this together.

We ask all of you — those who know and love Shalini — to keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Whether you have only the means for prayer or want to give more, Shalini's family is so grateful for your support.

You can stay updated and more closely follow her progress here:

https://www.caringbridge.org/site/907f5f3a-22d9-11f0-82e0-9dab7d95acde

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Laura Ashley (friend of the family)