Help support my mom, in honor of my dad, Jimmy Zeng.

Hi, my name is Hannah Zeng, I am 15 years old and my dad recently passed away. He was always a happy, healthy man and his death was very unexpected. Friday, July 26, 2024, was the day my dad had a stroke. I found him lying on the ground, unable to walk or talk to me. I was terrified and confused, yet I was still able to help him up the stairs and call 911. Even though he couldn’t talk, he understood I was scared and saw me crying, then he gave me a hug. At the time, my mom was in China with my brother, so it was just me and my dad. I got to the hospital with my friend and her mom and got told that he had a stroke and would need to have a procedure done immediately. Walking into the emergency room and seeing my dad lying on that bed broke me. It was so hard seeing him in that setting and knowing that he had no idea what was going on. I held his hand, said 'Love you', and then he left for his first procedure. His first procedure went better than the surgeon expected and he would be back in his room after a CAT scan. Unfortunately, the scan showed that his brain started bleeding and swelling. Then the doctor told us he needed to have another surgery, to remove part of his skull to allow his brain to swell. The surgery finished and now all we had to do was wait.

A day goes by and he still hasn’t improved, that’s when the doctors made the decision to transfer him to another hospital, Jefferson. By this time, my aunt, uncle, and grandparents from my dad's side traveled from Canada to be with me while waiting for my dad. We got to Jefferson and got told that he would need another procedure to be done. This time to drain a ventricle in his brain to try and help reduce the swelling. The procedure went well and he now had a drain inside of his brain, and again, we had to wait. We waited 8 days at Jefferson for any improvement, by this time my mom had come back. Unfortunately, it was not getting any better for my dad. The doctors told us that 90% of the left side of his brain was gone from the stroke. The left side is the more dominant side, so if my dad would wake up, he wouldn’t be able to take care of himself, eat, talk, or understand anything. Ultimately we decided that he would rather comfortably go rather than be bed bound for the rest of his life.

My dad's death destroyed my grandparents and my mom. We are all trying to be strong during this tough time but it is hard. We still don’t know what caused his stroke or why it happened so suddenly. Please help support my family during this time, giving or sharing, anything helps. Please keep my dad and family in your thoughts.

Thank you in advance for any support and kindness given.