A very severe traumatic brain injury has led to my 24-year-old sister Christina being unable to walk. My name is Jessica Dezall, and I’m raising funds for her medical expenses, treatments, and equipment.

This past year has undoubtedly been one of the most terrifying times of my life, with multiple emergency visits to the hospital, many new and freaky symptoms with no explanation, and the rapid increasing numbness, weakness, and pain throughout her entire body.

My sister has experienced mind-numbing head pain for a decade, pushing through the agony just to participate in normal aspects of life. That’s not even counting the pain from the injuries in the rest of her body.

Christina’s life changed July 10, 2016, the day a major racing accident flung her from a moving vehicle to be slammed into the ground, head and shoulder first. Since that moment, Christina has had continuous pain in her head 24/7, and symptoms that she had from earlier wrecks only worsened. Anywhere else in her body that doesn’t just hurt, she’s experiencing numbness that often includes nerve pain and nerve itch with no relief.

Ten years and dozens of medical professionals later, things were still going downhill, and we were desperate for answers. We finally found some at a special neurological rehabilitation clinic that specializes in helping people with her specific symptoms. She received two weeks of treatment there this past summer and is continuing with the treatment plan here at home.

For the first time in 10 years, we’re actually seeing improvement. She hasn’t been able to move her right foot normally for over ten years, having to use her upper leg and hip to move the whole leg instead of just lifting the foot itself up and down like one does for using the gas or brake pedals in a vehicle. In the past several weeks, her toes wiggled for the first time and now she can actually tap the foot up and down while sitting and even due a small amount of leg lifts! For us, that’s huge. While it’s a slow and steady process that requires a lot of patience, the treatment plan is helping and things have finally stopped declining.

Being in a wheelchair full-time has taken a lot of adjusting though. We’re still working on a safe way for her to be able to leave the house without someone having to carry her back up the stairs. We finally have a ramp for the front entrance, but we’re still working on getting a chairlift for half of a flight of stairs inside and additional steps in the garage as the ramp will be quite slippery come winter.

We’re forever grateful for everyone who’s supported us thus far on our journey and who helped us pay for most of the two weeks of treatment at the clinic. As hard and stressful as it was for Christina to travel for yet another medical appointment, once she was at the clinic, she didn’t want to leave.

Funds are going towards paying for a lot of the urgent items we had to put on a credit card for adjusting to using the wheelchair in the house. Funds will also help cover the upcoming changes and expenses, including making the exit/entrance of the house safe and accessible.

Donations are specifically helping pay for:

- The TENS machine we’re using for treatments at home

- Conductive gel (for TENS machine) 

- Special cervical brace we’re using for treatments at home 

- Smaller wheelchair for in home use so I no longer almost take out the doorframes moving her from one room to another 

- Handheld shower head system 

- Chairlift for safely transporting her up and down the stairs from the entryway to the main living space 

- The ramp we already had to build from the entryway to outside of the house 

- Local medical treatment appointments (that align with her treatment plan) 

- Doctor recommended supplements, etc. to help further her recovery from Salmonella 

- Any needed return visits to the neurological rehabilitation clinic 

- Basic needs and care as she is currently unable to work due to her condition 

- Any other medical/equipment/accessibility costs that arise during the course of her treatments

This has been an incredibly difficult season to navigate as a family, but I’m forever grateful that we’ve been able to face each phase of the journey together. To all who have been supportive in many different ways, thank you so very much! You mean more to me than I could ever say. You’ve turned many a sad tear into a tear of thankfulness. Just knowing people care has helped me personally in ways I can’t even express.

I look forward to sharing updates along the journey. Thank you for hearing about my sister’s story, and I hope you have an amazing day. ❤️

Footage of the racing accident