Postpartum Recovery

Dear family and friends,

On May 27, 2014, as we welcomed the birth of our son, Huckleberry River Karas, we had no idea what challenges lay ahead for our new little family. By early August, Ami began to experience bouts of sleeplessness and euphoria which escalated into delusions and paranoia and resulted in her emergency hospitalization. This extended to a nearly two-week stay in which she was diagnosed with postpartum psychosis, a rare form of bipolar disorder.

This was a frightening experience for us all. Though Ami is now home and recovering, we have exhausted our resources just to get through each day. Her plans to return to work and Matt’s expectation of continuing working while supporting Ami’s caregiving of Baby Huck have taken a devastating blow. With extensive outside assistance, Matt has taken on the role of primary provider while Ami’s job is now to rest and to heal. Neither of us is able to work outside the home at this delicate juncture. We will be healing from this experience and seeking treatment for Ami's disorder for a long time to come and some wounds may never close. We are hopeful for the future, but doctors have suggested that neither of us work for at least six months and instead devote our energies exclusively to recapturing the stability and harmony that existed within our beautiful family prior to this period. 

Our plan is to integrate standard and holistic medical treatments during this time, but these are expensive—certainly beyond our affordability considering how fragile we are just now. That is why we are reaching out to you. Past and future medical treatments, together with our loss of employment have devastated us. Your monetary gift could make all the difference. With your help, we can maintain a loving home environment for our baby Huckleberry while growing stronger as a family. And as we heal, we hope to offer you a greater understanding of this frightening psychosis.

We are deeply grateful for any support you are able to give, and appreciate your thoughts and prayers! We will be updating this site as our healing progresses.

Thank you.

Ami, Matthew and Huckleberry


Expenses: 
Medical Bills: $2,000

Immediate Medical Needs $600 

Counseling: $900 

6 Month's Housing Expenses $4,500 

Physical Therepy (to help matthew recover from a back injury and get back to work) $1,000

Huckleberry's Needs $600