Help Brandy after surviving a stroke

Hello everyone,

My name is Greg, and I am Brandy's boyfriend who hopes to one day be her husband. If you have not heard, on December 22, 2022 Brandy had the worst thing to ever happen to her, happen. While cooking dinner for her daughter Isabelle and myself she had a major stroke. It was the hardest thing that any one of us had to endure. She was standing at the stove cooking away, as she loves to do. Isabelle and I were watching some tv and chatting it up. Brandy turned around and was white as a ghost. She said she did not feel well and asked me to finish cooking. As I got up to go to the kitchen, she was on her way to the couch to sit with Isabelle and try to get herself feeling better...she stopped just short of the couch and began projectile vomiting. Isabelle and I both ran to help her, and were able to get her sat down on the edge of the couch. Within seconds of sitting she didnt lose conscienceness but was totally out of it. Then her body locked up momentarilly, and the entire left side of her face just seemed to melt. Isabelle was already on the phone calling 911, and I knew Brandy was having a stroke. At that point her body wanted to curl in on itself, so I knelt in front of her on the floor and braced her upright putting my forehead on hers. Isabelle had ran outside to flag down the ambulance and I stayed bracing Brandy and just trying to keep her with us. I kept talking and asking her questions to try to keep her mentally coherent, which was almost impossible as I could hardly keep my own self together. Next thing I knew, Isabelle was coming through the door with the paramedics right behind. They quickly determined that Brandy was having a stroke and got her on the gurney and into the ambulance. They gave me two choices on where to take her, being River District hospital or McLaren macomb. I had my own reasons for not wanting her to go to River District, so I blurted out McLaren to which I would later learn has one of the best Advanced Stroke centers in the state. As the ambulance roared away Isabelle, who was my rock on that horrible day, offered to stay and clean up the food mess and take care of Brandy's fur baby Lucy until her father could pick her up. I must say that I was blown away on how strong Isabelle was. She kept both hers, and my head on during that horrible event. I had quickly jumped in the car and tried to keep up with the ambulance. Which was impossible, they raced her to the hospital and thankfully got her there within the "golden hour." When people suffer a stroke, their odds of recovery increase exponetially if the are treated within the first hour. Upon arrival the nurses and doctors were already waiting for Brandy to arrive, and began treatment right away. They administered a TPA which is a blood clot busting medicine. But it takes time to do its job so all I could do was sit with her and wait. After the first few hours the TPA had done its job, but at that point Brandy had lost all mobility in her left leg, left arm, left side of her face as well as her left vocal cord. All had become paralyzed. We then noticed her left eye was unresponsive as well. She had lost most of her vision. She could make out shapes and such still, but for the most part she had lost her vision. She was moved to the ICU. The doctors started coming through, ordering all kinds of tests and Brandy was put through the medical ringer. Her family and I could only sit with and try to make her comfortable. Because of the left vocal cord being paralyzed she could not eat or drink, hardly speak, so they had to put a PEG line into her stomach. All her medications, food and liquids had to be mixed up and given through the peg directly into her stomach. But Brandy, being the determined woman she is, stayed the course. Did what the drs and nurses told her to do. And by this point they had moved her to the 4th floor general admittance where we could spend a big part of the day with her. Then came the day when the doctors gave us the news that they were predicting an almost complete recovery could be made if she put in the work and really tried for recovery. Again, Brandy amazed everyone by doing so well so fast. She slowly regained her left leg, but the arm required much more time and therapy. She finally got moved up to the 6th floor which was inpatient therapy. They worked with her on her walking, talking and relearning her day to day things. Things we all take forgranted like brushing your hair, your teeth. Taking a shower. Being able to dress youself. All these things were extremely hard tasks for her, but again, she was determinded to overcome and in the following months, she did. So fast forward past the months with that PEG line, all the occupational, speech and physical therapy and all the hard work she put in, she is to the point where she has her vision back. Can walk with her cane, can bath and clean herself. She blew everyone away. Her drs and therapist all said they had never seen someone recover as much, or as quickly as she had! She was determined to get her life back, and worked so hard to do so. Now, it has been just over 6 months and she amazed us all with how well she is doing. But, being out of work since the end of December has taken its toll on us financially. Even with my income being substantial, it is not enough. The bills are stacking up. Creditors are starting to call. We are both doing literally all we can, and have tried to not reach out for help. We wanted to get through this on our own. But their is unfortunately, very little help out there for people that are going through this sort of thing. We have explored all options with the DHS, all the utility companies, government programs etc. We are at the point of recieving shutoff notices on things. It is killing me to write this, to embarrass us both with having to put this story out there. But we need help. We have my income, but trying to squeak by while waiting for social security disability to come is not working. Even with the remarkable recovery she has made, she is unable to work. She is still struggling with many things, most of which are things she would need to return to the work force. So we would ask for any financial help we can get. Any funds raised will be going toward utility and housing costs, as well as medical costs. I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this, and greatly appreciate any help anyone can give.

Sincerely and appreciatively,

Greg and Brandy