Amanda Jepson Medical ExpenseFund

My 12 year old daughter Amanda's entire life has always revolved around horses.  She started on a pony at 4 and worked up to a show horse named NR Tater last year.  She would ride about 4 hours a day and was very involved with our 4-H club and horse project.  Amanda is an old soul.  She has allways been dedicated to helping others.  Whether she was mentoring younger kids or raising money and items for older people, if you really needed something she would find it for you.   When her friend Grace got sick last year, she spent a day gathering pictures and making a poster of Grace's horses and friends and brought it to her at UMC.  A few days later, when we found out that Grace was going to die, Amanda insisted on going to the hospital every day to sit with Grace and her family.  She helped brush Grace's hair and held her hand and talked to her while she died. 

Now she needs your help.  On Saturday, December 6th Amanda was kicked in the right side of her face by a horse at a 4-H horse show.  She sustained significant injuries.  The force knocked C1 and C2 off her spinal cord.  They were popped back into place but because the ligaments were stretched she has to wear a halo orthosis until they are strong enough to hold the vertebrae.  She had a 7 hour surgery to reconstruct the front part of her skull, her right orbital socket and her right sinus cavity.  Her right eye has some vision straight ahead but no peripheral vision.  This greatly affects her balance and she often needs a walker to help her move.
She has headaches and nausea and has a traumatic brain injury.  Throughout all of this, Amanda has not cried, whined, complained or felt sorry for herself.    That is just the kind of person she is.  When they tighten the screws on the halo, it is excruciatingly painful.  They epected her to cry.  She told them that crying wasn't going to help her and to just hurry up abd get it over with.

My first problem is that even though we have health insurance, the copays and deductibles are piling up.  She needs new glasses because the old ones were destroyed.   This is going to be a long recovery.  The neurosurgeon estimated it at about a year.  They don't know yet if her vision will improve or if it is permanent.

My second problem is that we haven't been able to go back home even though she has been discharged from the hospital.  We live in an old trailer in rural Ariona and while we love our home, it is not very accessible.  We need to redo part of it to accomodate a walker and build a stable ramp for her to go in and out.  We are staying with her brother in Tucson right now and both of us would love to be able to go home as possible.  she misses her dogs, cats and horses.

Our family has always made enough money to take care of what we need.  We have never had a surplus to save.  I am not working right now because she needs 24/7 care.  She also has therapy every weekday.  Anything you are able to donate would be greatly appreciated!  Thank you very much for the time you took to read this!