Help Naomi Walk Again: Surgery and Care Needed

Hello, My name is Paul Shaffer and I am starting this fund raiser to assist with My daughters surgery costs. When my daughter (Naomi) was born she was diagnosed with one of the forms of spina bifida. Since here first week of life we have had the great fortune of being in the care off Seattle Children's Hospital. When she was one year old she had her first spinal surgery, which was very nerve racking but also successful. When she learned how to walk it was without normal sensation in her legs which caused one of her ankles to become deformed due to pressure. After several designs of orthotics things started going much better and she was able act like a normal kid running and playing. On her fifth birthday party she got a blister on the center of her right heel. After treating it like any other blister we applied first aid and a bandage and let her continue being a kid having fun. Little did we know the damage that was causing since she felt very little pain or sensation on her right leg from the knee down. Once we caught how bad the damage was becoming we started seeing the wound specialist ward at Mary Bridge Children's Hospital where once again we received excellent care. What started out as a simple blister wound that most of us would be healed up and going in a matter of days became a five year battle and the constant use of a childrens knee rover scooter. During this time she was not allowed to use her right foot until all of the muscle tissue returned and the wound stayed sealed. Finally! On the sixth year of this battle the wound was healed and she was able to go back to public school and make new friends. She had a corrective orthotic on her left foot and a boot that kept weight off of her right heel. She was happy to be mostly normal and play with other kids again. So now she is building up endurance and having sleep overs and just being a happy social butterfly. One month before the end of the school year she was practicing cartwheels on the weekend at our home and she fell on her right hip (she is 11 now) She said she was fine and kept practicing so she could show her friends at school that she could do them now as well. Monday during recess she was on a swing and jumped off of it and her right leg gave out. The school nurse called me and said she was in pain but it was on the inside of her right thigh and the assumption was a pulled groin muscle. Mind you she still has the boot on which does cause uneven footing and length difference. Her mother picked her up from school and brought her home to ice it, at this time she was not complaining of very much pain unless she tried to walk on it. Five days of staying off it and she was back walking on it and not complaining of any pain. We were scheduled for two ankle surgeries for each ankle to lengthen her Achilles tendons so we could start more corrective orthotics to straighten out her feet which was scheduled for July 23rd. The office called to schedule a meeting with the PT doctor and they asked if we wanted to meet before or after the surgery and I chose to meet before so she could have a better baseline on our daughters current limitations and I am so glad I did. During the strength test for her right leg I notice that my daughter would wince in pain sometime and brought it to the doctors attention. The doctor looked at our daughters history and saw that she hasn't had pelvic x-rays since 2021 and ordered them on the spot. 20 minutes later we were in the x-ray room and the images were underway. As a parent they have you stand behind the protective glass and the monitor is right in front of you, one the first image to came up I noticed the broken bone which was the femoral neck snapped completely. No we know how high her pain tolerance above her knee. She was walking around with her bone snapped and not complaining of any pain. So now we have an emergency surgery for her hip and a later surgery for her ankles. Since she was born we have been covered with Molina Health insurance and everything has been covered. Recently her mother was told that we needed to change providers and she followed the offices instructions and as far as we knew. A few days before surgery they ordered us a wheelchair and said because of our insurance I would have to drive an hour and a half away which I was ok with. Day of check in for hip surgery we are getting checked in and they ask the normal questions and if our insurance info is the same. I said yes from what was on Mychart. Right after I get a message that the insurance info is wrong for the wheelchair and the staff said not to worry about it there must be an error and it will be fixed. Well still not fixed and after financial assistance there is still a hefty balance. I am starting this GoFundMe to help with this struggle on top of needing to do some minor home alterations to make wheelchair access easier. The photo I chose for the cover is my father with my daughter because he has gone above and beyond to be there for moral support. These funds will be used towards ADA modifications to my residence as well as getting more suitable transportation for my daughter as I am also selling my sedan to get a minivan or midsized SUV that has more room. Part 2- she had her brakes locked on her wheelchair and her seven-year-old cousin wanted to move her and accidentally dumped her out of the wheelchair. She put weight on that leg as an instant reaction and snapped three of her top screws. In for corrective surgery now.