Emmali’s journey to recovery ❤️‍❤️

We are still in shock what has happened to Emmali…..

Emmali is a 16 year old young woman who is full of light, smiles, talent, laughter, unique, caring, honest, strong, determination, dedication. She is definitely her own person which is what you fall in love with about her. She has so much life and a bright future ahead of her. And this is her journey to recovery.

Emmali started having symptoms of the flu the week of December 12th. On December 16th her mom and sister (Wendy and Estee) took her into the hospital due to severe pain and she started to have a hard time being able to talk and walk. After arriving to the hospital (FMH) they took X-Rays, they did not find anything, CT scan, they did not find anything and then they did a spinal tap after these scans to start a culture. She continued to decline and starting to have small paralysis after about 10-12 hours at FMH. They decided to medivac Emmali to Anchorage to Providence. They thought at this point that it may be meningitis or something like it.

Her mom went with her. Her sister and her boyfriend (Kollin) stayed home here in Fairbanks, Alaska. After Emmali arrived in Anchorage she had a very long (4hrs) MRI done. They found that she had an abscess inside her spinal column from her neck to her tail bone. They had decided that an emergency surgery was crucial due to it being so large it could sever her spinal cord causing paralysis or even death. At this point her mom asked her sister to fly to Anchorage to be there for a few reasons. She didn’t want to be alone in case Emmali did not survive the surgery and also they did not know how her recovery was going to be like. Estee flew down right away while Emmali was undergoing her surgery. Emmali’s boyfriend stayed behind and watched the house/pets for them. She got out of surgery about 4 hrs later and she is still recovering from that, but healing well.

Emmali still could not talk, use her hands or walk at this point even after the surgery. About 4 days later Kollin flew down to anchorage to be with/help Emmali.

They are thinking that she has encephalitis due from the influenza A that she was diagnosed with or from having dental work done a week prior to getting sick, they had to do a deep cleaning. But they are not a 100% sure.

She is having daily PT/OT/SPC therapy to help her regain her strength, speech and mobility. She is making small but huge progress in her therapy.

The Drs. In Anchorage feel that she would benefit having inpatient intensive therapy in Seattle. They are leaving Tuesday (01/03/2023) morning to be Medivac/transported to Seattle children's hospital. They are saying she could be there for up to a month.

I (Shalanda, her cousin), Jeff (my boyfriend) and our kids have been watching their house/pets since December 22 2022 so they can all be with Emmali for her recovery.

If you could help donate to their family to help them with any bills medical/living expenses and helping them while they stay in Seattle for Emmali’s recovery would make a huge stress relief for their family.

Wendy is not able to work due to her own personal health and Estee is only able to work partially due to having to help her mom and Emmali. With Emmali’s recovery, not knowing how long it will take and how much attention she is going to need to be well taken care of your donation would help them be able to put their full attention towards Emmali. They will also possibly need to fly back and that can get costly.

Thank you so much for your donation, help, prayers, thoughts and support. It is tremendously appreciated by them and their family.

We love you Emmali. You got this!!