My wife Lindsey, on her 38th birthday, suffered a ruptured aneurysm in her brain. We were told it was typically a 5—7-week recovery with a 50% chance she'll leave the hospital without serious life altering deficits. Her discharge from the hospital without a single lasting effect earned her a "miraculous status" from the nurses who cared for her. After 10 days at home, however, her condition declined and she was re-admitted to the hospital.

Four long months after her first admittance, she is ready to leave again, but not to go home. Her destination is an out-of-state neuro therapy rehab facility for 4-6 months of intensive treatment. We need help with medical bills, but our most pressing need is funds for the transport to the rehab facility.

Below are the details of this journey:

This journey started September 29, 2025. I woke up before Lindsey did, wrote "Happy Birthday babe, hope you have a great day!" on her side of the bathroom mirror, and then left for work. Two hours later, my mother-in-law called to tell me she was taking Lindsey to the ER for a debilitating migraine. A CT scan revealed she was hemorrhaging in her brain. Unbeknownst to us, Lindsey had developed an aneurysm, and on her way to work that morning, it burst.

The next six weeks turned out to be the scariest roller coaster I have ever ridden. Every couple of days, she had another setback that required scans followed up by a procedure. After several weeks, her neurosurgeon put a shunt in her head to aid in the drainage of excess cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Two days later, she was moved from the Neural Trauma ICU floor up to the recovery floor, only for her to develop hydrocephalus within five hours. She was moved back down to NTICU. The next day, her neurosurgeon revised the shunt, drained the excess CSF that was causing the hydrocephalus, and sent her back up to the recovery floor the following day. Six hours later, she was back in the NTICU with hydrocephalus again. After putting an external ventricular drain (EVD) in her head, her neurosurgeon told me that in his 20+ years of experience, he had never seen someone produce as much CSF as her. A second shunt was put in, followed by a third trip to the recovery floor; this time she stayed for seven days before finally being discharged on November 8th.

Ten days later, on November 18th, she was back in the ER. Two weeks of CT scans, MRIs, blood tests, an EEG, and every other test that her neuro team could think of, could not pinpoint the issue. At this point, she was suffering from both paralysis and mutism, along with a Parkinson's-like tremor in her right arm. Finally, a spinal tap revealed encephalitis (inflammation) in her brain stem, and she was diagnosed with basal ganglia encephalitis.

After two weeks of treatment with no success, another MRI revealed the real source of the encephalitis: her brain stem had tethered to her spinal column. After a procedure to untether them, they fused together again within 24 hours. Once more, her neurosurgeon told me he has never seen that happen. He untethered them for a second time and then put something in that would prevent them from ever fusing together again. At this point though, she could no longer track with her eyes, and she could not respond to anything other than pain: pinch her toe and she would move it, but that was it—involuntary movement was all she could do.

It got to the point where she became a first for the hospital: three EVDs at one time. Another first happened when she became the only person in the history of this hospital to have ever gone through an MRI with an EVD unclamped (still draining CSF). Lindsey had three EVDs that HAD to remain unclamped. The 19th (and final) invasive brain procedure was done January 20th. After another MRI and a CT scan, her neurosurgeon told me that (miraculously) she's still in there—her brain looks pristine with no damage or inflammation—and her CSF has stabilized from the three shunts. He recommended a neuro therapy rehab facility in Texas where multiple patients of his with severe cases like Lindsey's have been able to successfully recover and go on to live normal lives. He said she will need extensive treatment over a 4—6-month period, but with her being young and healthy, he firmly believes she will make a full recovery.

I have been by her side this entire time to be a source of comfort, and to alert nurses to issues Lindsey was experiencing. Her paralysis prevents her from being able to press the call button, and her mutism prevents her from being able to convey any issues when the nurses come in for their hourly checkup. It has been a lonely four months with me bedside, watching my stricken wife slowly get worse and worse, while our children have been at home without their mom at all, and their dad coming home on Friday nights just to stay the night, and then return to the hospital Saturday afternoon.

We have been so blessed by my mother-in-law who was able to move into the house to take care of the kids while juggling her job, coming up to the hospital to see her daughter, and taking care of things in her own life. Not a lot of people can proudly say that their mother-in-law is an angel sent from heaven to help in a time of need, but I can.

All of this brings us to why we're here today. We have been fortunate to have insurance cover large portions of this four-month ICU stay. While there are various bills not covered by insurance—and I am sure there will be certain parts of Lindsey's rehab that will not be covered—the majority of this goal is to cover the medi-flight to transport Lindsey to the rehab facility. She had a tracheotomy several weeks ago, and is also being fed through a peg tube in her stomach, so she must be transported by ambulance, but due to the distance, it will be by helicopter. This is completely self-pay, since insurance does not cover these types of transports.

My mother-in-law, my children, and I are asking for help to get our daughter, mother, and wife back home and into our lives again, so we can put this nearly year-long journey (by the time it's all said and done) behind us and get back to living life as close to normal as the good Lord decides to allow.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, for your prayers, well wishes, and all the support you have already given. We love you all so much.