Karynna's Road to Recovery. Can You Help?

Anyone who knows Karynna May Chwok knows her beautiful soul and the immense

appreciation she has for the little things in life. Karynna was born on May 11th, 2004, at

11:59pm. She lives at home with her family: her father Steven, her mother Deonne, older sister Annalise, twin brother Lukys, and younger sister Yaleena.

In the fall of 2021, Karynna began experiencing frequent headaches, dizziness and nausea. After several visits to her family doctor, chiropractor and physiotherapist, no one could find a definitive cause of the symptoms Karynna was experiencing. Both the chiropractor and physiotherapist gave Karynna exercises to work on, in hopes of helping with the discomfort she was feeling. Karynna worked on these exercises faithfully at home. She truly wanted to fix whatever was causing her this discomfort. Regardless of how often Karynna worked on these exercises, her symptoms had not improved nor resolved.

On the morning of January 11th, 2022, Karynna was rushed to the Stollery Children’s Hospital Emergency Room when she did not wake up for school at the usual time. This came as a huge shock to Karynna’s family, as their initial thought was that she must’ve slept in. When she arrived at the emergency room, Karynna was met with a large team who immediately started running tests to pinpoint the issue. It was discovered that Karynna had a large aneurysm pressing on her brainstem. Thankfully, it had not ruptured, but they would need to act quickly.

As the brainstem is a powerhouse in the body, the aneurysm had quickly started to impact many of Karynna’s bodily functions overnight, movement being one of them. The

neurosurgeons had also never seen a brain aneurysm of this size in someone Karynna’s age; the odds of having an aneurysm of this size are one in over a million. Karynna underwent four major brain surgeries to prevent the aneurysm from rupturing. In addition to these four brain surgeries, Karynna underwent a tracheostomy, insertion of a G-tube, and the insertion of a shunt to assist one side of her brain in draining fluids effectively.

Karynna has always been a healthy, physically active individual. She spends hours every day in the summer exploring new places on her bike. Karynna enjoys packing a small backpack filled with her art supplies and occasionally her ukulele and finding a quiet, scenic spot to enjoy nature and her favourite hobbies. She has also been a competitive Ukrainian dancer for over 10 years and this year Karynna will be graduating from the Shumka School of Dance. Although she could not finish this dance season, her siblings Annalise, Lukys and Yaleena will accept a graduation certificate on Karynna’s behalf at the school’s year-end performance.

More recently, Karynna developed a new passion for music. It comes as a shock to many for an 18-year-old to enjoy the music she does, but she loves The Beatles, Prince, David Bowie, Elton John, Green Day, and Michael Jackson, to name a few. The incredible neurosurgeons, doctors and nurses at the Stollery Children’s Hospital have played Karynna’s music during all her surgeries to bring her comfort and strength. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic,

Karynna taught herself how to play the keyboard and ukulele. She has a gift and is incredibly talented. Although she is self-taught, she had recently started taking piano lessons from a family friend. On December 21st, 2021, Karynna showcased her musical talents at her school’s talent show for the first time. Her siblings watched in admiration as her angelic voice filled the gymnasium. It was evident that she was on cloud nine, and her family is so happy she was able to have this experience.

Karynna will be turning 18 on May 11th, 2022; she will also be graduating from Archbishop Jordan Catholic High School this June. Her determination and work ethic are the reason she is able to graduate with 109 credits, having not completed her last semester of high school. Karynna’s family will be holding a small celebration for her at the hospital. She was also recently accepted for the fall of 2022 at Concordia University of Edmonton. Karynna had applied to the Faculty of Arts with an English major and Music minor. She was very excited for this adventure, and her family is anxiously awaiting the day Karynna can continue pursuing this goal.

Karynna comes from a Ukrainian Catholic family and has a very strong relationship with God. Since being in the hospital, her family has noticed God reaching out to protect her through repetition in her angel number: 11. Karynna was born on May 11th, admitted to the emergency room on January 11th, and she was in room 11 for her stay in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Most recently, God has reached out in an even bigger way through the number 11. Karynna’s dad was contacted by someone he knows but does not speak with frequently. She said God had spoken to her and wanted her to tell Steven to read a story in the Bible. She did not share the Bible verse at this time but briefly explained the story and told him its name: The Death of Lazarus. The story is about Jesus raising a man from the dead and telling the man’s sisters to believe in the glory of God to see miracles. Upon looking into the story, the family discovered the verse was John 11. The family had not publicly shared anything about the number 11 and what it meant to Karynna. Ever since, Karynna has shown many positive steps in her recovery.

Karynna spent 79 days in the Stollery Children’s Hospital Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. She recently moved to a pediatric surgical unit on March 31st, 2022, still located at the Stollery Children’s Hospital. The past three months have been both an adjustment and a learning curve for Karynna’s entire family. Many things need to be learned and adapted to ensure Karynna is comfortable, as she is currently unable to communicate verbally. Karynna and her family have learned to use blinking to answer yes or no questions. Additionally, Karynna’s parents have taken a lot of training to learn how to operate the ventilator and care for the tracheotomy site. For example, in order for Karynna to leave her hospital room without a respiratory therapy technician, her parents have had to be tested on several techniques with the ventilator and tracheotomy. As you can imagine, this is very challenging for a parent.

When the time comes for Karynna to be discharged from the hospital, she will be admitted to the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. Over the past three months, Karynna has lost much of her strength since she has been unable to move her body as she usually would. As her brain continues to create new pathways and rewire itself, the family has seen that Karynna is full of many surprises. The family and hospital staff are confident in Karynna’s candidacy for a strong recovery. However, it will be a long process with many peaks and valleys.

While Karynna has proven her immense strength over the past three months, she has a long journey ahead. When it is time for Karynna to come home, many changes will need to be made to her home to accommodate her healing process. Some of the initial required modifications in Karynna’s home are new flooring, installing several lifts in different areas of the home, a wheelchair, and making the home wheelchair accessible. Her family will also need to purchase a vehicle to accommodate Karynna’s current condition. On top of all these changes, Karynna’s bedroom will most likely need to be temporarily relocated from upstairs to the main floor of the house.

To help alleviate any anxiety or loneliness, Karynna’s parents have both either taken leaves of absence from or quit their jobs. Karynna has not been left alone since she came to the hospital on January 11th, 2022. Her dad Steven stays with her at the hospital during the day, while mom Deonne sleeps at the hospital next to Karynna’s bedside every night. This has been a very challenging time for the family. Karynna comes from a tightknit family, and they understand how crucial being surrounded by loved ones is in times of need. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Karynna has been unable to see her friends or extended family for the past three months. Her siblings are also only allowed to see her one at a time, so the family has only been together a handful of times since January 11th. However, Karynna’s family understands that these restrictions are in place to ensure Karynna’s safety and health and are necessary at this time.

Any donations would be sincerely appreciated; no donation is too small. Every penny will go towards an aspect of Karynna’s care in the short-to-medium term and will help ensure Karynna is riding her bike, singing, and playing her piano again someday soon. The family would like to thank everybody in advance for their generosity during this difficult time.