Transferring Erika to #1 Hospital

Erika suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm on September 4th, 2015 that left her disabled. She is now unable to walk, talk, or do anything alone. She feeds through a tube in her belly, and breaths through a hole in her neck. She is in constant pain always, and when she's not crying from pain, she is crying from plain saddness.

My family was beyond fortunate to have had the support of many in helping w making our home safe and accessible for Erika when she finally came home months later in her wheel chair. We were also able to put donations we recieved toward therapy equipment to try and help Erika regain some of the motor skills she lost.

I wish I could say that was all, and that things got better after we came home but that is far from the case.  Since coming home in November of 2015 Erika has been in and out of the hospital several times.

Today we had a Dr meet w us..He explained that most of Erika's entire left side of the brain is dead tissue and would not repair itself. This is the part of the brain that controls thinking, reasoning, talking, etc. I asked if w therapy she could improve and he said that right now she is basically not there anymore and that what we think are responses from her are really just "reflexes" and that at best therapy could help make those reflexes more fine tuned. He also told us she has parts of her brain where oxygen isn't getting too to well and is subsequently starting to die too. Parts at the back of her brain and some on the right side too. To keep this short they basically told us the best thing to do would be to make her as comfortable as possible because they have exhausted all their medical knowledge to help her get better and that since her brain isn't working as well the rest of her body would soon follow.



My family and I will not settle for this. We will not let Erika just slip away. We are going to try to move her to one of the top hospitals in the US for brain injuries. We have applied to several this week already and are waiting for results. This would mean my mom and Erika would be living out of state in a hospital far from home, which would be extremely costly. And as you all know my mom isn't working. It's just my stepdad providing for the entire family. We are not asking any of you to re-donate because you have done beyond more then enough but please help us spread the word to those who dont know about my girl! To anyone! Everyone, Friends, family, strangers.

Please spread the word about what is happening to Erika. Help us fight w her. Help us keep her here. She is such a special girl and deserves much more then all this pain. Please help us help her.

With immense love & gratitute,
The Perez-Cabezas-Almanzar Family

#hopeforerika

To read more about how this journey began you can visit our last gofundme, which helped us gather money to renovate the house and make it disability accessible for Erika:  www.gofundme.com/erikaperez