Many of you may remember, and some of you may not know that my brother, Mark Stoner, suffered a major stroke and brain hemorrhage in November of 2017, right before Thanksgiving. As a result, he required two brain surgeries over a few days to remove parts of his skull to allow for brain swelling and fluid draining. (15 days in induced coma to mitigate swelling and over 17 days in the ICU.)

It was touch and go for days. We did not know if he would make it. We did not know if he would have brain function when he came out of a coma days later.  It was a miracle he survived! He had total paralysis on his left side, and he couldn’t talk. He spent weeks in the hospital, months in a care center, and he finally went to Kaiser’s Rehab Center for several weeks. 

He’s spent the last two years working very hard on his recovery with Kaiser’s therapists, along with outside pool physical therapy, plus acupuncture and daily exercises. Mark has come a long way. He can walk some now with a quad cane, but he also still relies on a wheelchair. He can get dressed, he can eat, he can shower, but he requires help with many other functions. His brain gets fatigued easily.  As a result of his brain injury, he now has severe sleep apnea requiring use of a CPAP machine. He suffered a lot of knee pain that made it hard for him to sleep and get sustained quality rest. Fortunately they found medication to help his pain and sleep so that he can function better during the day and work on his recovery. 

Kaiser has done most of what they will do. Kaiser sees him as ambulatory. In their eyes they’ve done all they can. They have basically signed him off for sustained therapy. To augment Mark's regimen of daily exercises we now take him to the pool in Roseville 3x per week where we help him with water therapy. Unfortunately this is not enough. Additional therapy is out there that could greatly help Mark to improve and get more of his freedoms and life back. 

One of his friends from his stroke support group has seen great results with her therapist. The sessions are $100 for two hours. After the therapist's evaluation of Mark, he recommends 3x/week. Mark's Kaiser insurance will not cover this. This would be out of pocket for Mark and his family, and since they are already down to one income, this is beyond their means. Our families help where they can. 

This is where you can come in to help. We are starting this GoFundMe to help cover these costs. This new therapist will work on the spasticity on Mark's left side. His left arm, shoulder, hand and leg are very stiff. He can’t use his left hand/arm, or raise his leg/ankle, at all. The therapist needs to do the tough work to help his left side function better, including his now impaired vision. This will all help lessen the fatigue on his brain. We want to have Mark see the therapist 3x/week for 6 months. The therapist is confident Mark can make lots of improvements with his help, and our help at home with specific daily exercise. Whether it’s 50% better or almost back to full function, we know Mark and his family deserve to have him as whole as he possibly can be. 

Any amount will help, be it $1, $5, $50, or even more if you can spare it. Share this fundraiser if nothing else, and please keep Mark and family in your thoughts and prayers.



Below is a link to his Instagram where you can see his total journey. 

https://www.instagram.com/Marks_recovery