Erika Sai's Stroke Recovery

For those of you who have known and been friends of Erika Sai (aka DJ Dazzle) you probably recall her generous and fun loving spirit.  What most of you probably do not know is that Erika suffered a devastating medical situation this year, one from which she nearly did not survive, and from which her road to recovery will be long and challenging.  In January of this year, Erika was driving home from work when she suffered a debilitating stroke due to an arteriovenous malformation (a tangle of blood vessels in the brain, mostly present at birth, but not usually detected until if/when it suddenly ruptures).   While some people with this genetic condition will never know they have it as it is usually asymptomatic, a rare number people will experience this stroke, some worse than others. 

While Erika was driving home from work, she lost feeling in her left hand and had to pull over and call for help.  She was rushed to the hospital where they performed emergency brain surgery.  Her brain was so badly swelled that a large portion of her skull was removed.  Days after her surgery, she was placed in medically induced coma for 3 weeks so her body could battle a severe case of hospital pneumonia that she contracted.  She nearly died and her doctors were preparing for the worst.  While in coma she was placed on a ventilator and later had a tracheostomy (opening in the neck in order to place tube into the windpipe) as she was not able to breathe on her own. 

As you can imagine, Erika’s rehabilitation is and will continue to be a long and challenging process.  She is working on re-learning how to walk, use her left hand and perform certain cognitive functions.  She was in-patient at Kessler Rehabilitation for about 4 months after she was discharged from the hospital.  It was not an easy road- there were so many challenges including a seizure putting her back into the hospital for a week, an open, painful wound from her tracheostomy and feeding tube.  Her vocal chords were damaged from the tracheostomy, and will need to continue being evaluated for that as well as she is having difficulty speaking.  Erika is progressing and hopes to make a strong recovery.

With Erika not being able to work for the foreseeable future, even with medical and state aids, it has been a financial burden on the family.  That’s why (with Erika’s knowledge) we are reaching out to her friends and family to ask for any contribution you may be able to make.  Any amount will help alleviate the stress on Erika and her parents to start paying for these bills as well as help support her continuing recovery.  If it is not possible to help financially at this time, then please keep Erika in your thoughts and prayers for her continued progress and recovery.