Help for Doug and Stephanie McAllister

This is our beautiful friend, Steph.  She is a loving, vivacious wife to Doug and mother to Tate.  She is an amazing and lovely friend.  This summer, life was as normal for Steph as it could be these days. She was enjoying her family, friends, her crazy rescue cats.  She loved watching the birds come to visit the flowers and trees in her yard.  She had gotten a treadmill, and, like many of us, was trying to burn off some extra pandemic pounds and keep in good shape.  Then, completely out of the blue, on July 10th Steph had a massive stroke.  She was rushed to the hospital, where she stayed for three weeks in the ICU.  We weren't sure the extent of the damage, and the waiting was so hard for all of her family and friends.  Her family stayed constantly by her side.  Her friends couldn’t visit because of Covid. We had to keep reminding her husband, Doug, to please try to get sleep and to eat.  He did not want to ever leave her side.  Steph had a barrage of tests, over and over, to find the extent of the damage. 

Over the next days, it was determined that her brain bleed had stopped, thank goodness.  She was able to swallow, and to talk, although she gets confused and her short term memory is not good.  She has very little use of her left arm.  She has some use of her left leg and left foot.  After three weeks, she was transferred to a terrific rehab facility, where she stayed three more weeks.  They were working all day long, every day on physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy and she has made good progress!  Steph was released and came home on August 20th!  Doug has been home by her side ever since.

Here is where you come in.  Steph came home in a wheelchair, and has a walker that she has been able to use.  Therapy is daily in her home.  Their home is two stories and Steph needs 24-hour, 7-day-a -week care.  Doug hopes to return to work in a few weeks.  She will need a wheelchair ramp, handrails and grab bars, hospital bed, and maybe a chairlift.  They will need someone to clean their house, mow the lawn, make meals.  She'll need nursing care in the home and transportation to medical visits. There is some health insurance, but you know how that goes - it covers very little.  And already the bills are coming in daily and adding up. 

Please help Doug with the means to hire help to care for Steph when the FMLA period is up and Doug returns to work in November. Any amount will help and will be put to use right away on the home upgrades and payment of hospital bills.  Steph is a kind and generous person, and she has a wonderful, loving family.  Anything you feel led to give will help take away some of the burden so they can focus on what's important - getting Steph back to 100% and back to the normal life she has lost life she loves.  Thank you!