$7,152 raised
·94 donations
Joanelle's road to recovery after brain surgery
Donation protected
My fiancée, Joanelle Arana, has touched so many lives with her act of kindness and willingness to help others without expecting anything in return. As an educator, she’s always going above and beyond with her students to ensure they become successful individuals. As a friend, she’s loyal, encouraging, and giving. As a mother, you’re looking at a woman who is a role model to her kids and gives just pure love to her son and stepdaughter. As a future wife, she’s the rock and the glue of our family. She just has a way of keeping us all together. Her love has made a difference in my life. Everyday I feel so blessed to know that God has sent me a life partner to love and grow old with.
If you don’t know Joanelle (Jo), all I can say is that she is just a happy beautiful soul full of positive energy that outshines any room she walks in just with her smile. She’s one of the strongest persons I’ve known and has overcome a lot of obstacles in her life.
The past couple of months have been quite the roller coaster for our family. Jo started to have severe headaches and felt a large bump in her head. We immediately seek for medical attention. After several trips to different doctors, without any answers, on December 22nd, she visited the ER and was admitted at Lakeland Regional Hospital. We never thought it would be this serious until the doctors saw the results from her CT Scan and MRI. Doctors discovered a brain tumor, a fractured skull, and blood retention in her brain. Her tumor was growing so much that caused her skull to fracture. The news was hard to swallow. She needed a neurosurgeon specialized in brain tumor and fractured skull. Since it was the holidays, it was hard to find one who was available. The doctors sent her home to enjoy the holidays promising us that they will work hard in finding a neurosurgeon to treat Jo.
We were all devastated, but Jo was so calmed and continued to be the rock of the family by staying positive. Without any fear, she kept saying “is going to be ok because God is leading the way”. She continued her life as normal. Even with all the head pain she was having, she found the strength to go back to work after the holidays and just kept smiling each day. On January 12th, we got the call from the neurosurgeon who was taking Jo’s case and needed to see us immediately. The doctor explained in detailed how he would remove the tumor and fix the blood retention in the brain. On January 14th, the doctor performed a cerebral angiogram to have a clear picture of Jo’s brain before surgery and on January 15th, she had an occipital craniotomy to remove the tumor from her brain and a stent placed in her brain to stop the blood retention. Because of the location of the tumor, the doctor was unable to remove the entire tumor which means this tumor can grow again if she doesn’t receive radiation.
We were all impressed how quickly she responded after surgery. She woke up, moved her hands, legs, and was talking like nothing happened. She’s truly a walking miracle. With her head stapled and a lot of pain, her strong attitude has helped her get up and still see the positive in her situation. She was supposed to stay in the hospital for at least 7 + days. Well Jo was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday, January 19th. She cut her hospital stay in half because of her strength, courage, and optimism. She was determined to get up and keep going. She will refuse to let her situation take the best of her.
On February 11th, she will start her road to recovery. She will need 30 consecutive radiation sessions to get rid of the other half of the tumor that is still in her brain. Our Jo continues to have the best spirit. She’s teaching me how to stay calmed throughout difficult situations. Everyday she continues to let God lead the way.
Joanelle is blessed to have health insurance, but we all know health insurance does not cover all the medical expenses. Since Joanelle has used all her sick hours, she will soon start unpaid leave. She'll be facing punishing medical bills and she will need help paying for these expenses.
If you are able to help support Joanelle with a donation through Go Fund Me, it would be so greatly appreciated. All donations will go directly to Joanelle's medical bills on her path to recovery. If you cannot donate, please help us by sharing this story.
We can’t thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers throughout this difficult time. Please continue to pray for Joanelle. We will continue to keep you all updated with her road to recovery.
Thank you all for reading this story and for all your support!
Per Molin
If you don’t know Joanelle (Jo), all I can say is that she is just a happy beautiful soul full of positive energy that outshines any room she walks in just with her smile. She’s one of the strongest persons I’ve known and has overcome a lot of obstacles in her life.
The past couple of months have been quite the roller coaster for our family. Jo started to have severe headaches and felt a large bump in her head. We immediately seek for medical attention. After several trips to different doctors, without any answers, on December 22nd, she visited the ER and was admitted at Lakeland Regional Hospital. We never thought it would be this serious until the doctors saw the results from her CT Scan and MRI. Doctors discovered a brain tumor, a fractured skull, and blood retention in her brain. Her tumor was growing so much that caused her skull to fracture. The news was hard to swallow. She needed a neurosurgeon specialized in brain tumor and fractured skull. Since it was the holidays, it was hard to find one who was available. The doctors sent her home to enjoy the holidays promising us that they will work hard in finding a neurosurgeon to treat Jo.
We were all devastated, but Jo was so calmed and continued to be the rock of the family by staying positive. Without any fear, she kept saying “is going to be ok because God is leading the way”. She continued her life as normal. Even with all the head pain she was having, she found the strength to go back to work after the holidays and just kept smiling each day. On January 12th, we got the call from the neurosurgeon who was taking Jo’s case and needed to see us immediately. The doctor explained in detailed how he would remove the tumor and fix the blood retention in the brain. On January 14th, the doctor performed a cerebral angiogram to have a clear picture of Jo’s brain before surgery and on January 15th, she had an occipital craniotomy to remove the tumor from her brain and a stent placed in her brain to stop the blood retention. Because of the location of the tumor, the doctor was unable to remove the entire tumor which means this tumor can grow again if she doesn’t receive radiation.
We were all impressed how quickly she responded after surgery. She woke up, moved her hands, legs, and was talking like nothing happened. She’s truly a walking miracle. With her head stapled and a lot of pain, her strong attitude has helped her get up and still see the positive in her situation. She was supposed to stay in the hospital for at least 7 + days. Well Jo was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday, January 19th. She cut her hospital stay in half because of her strength, courage, and optimism. She was determined to get up and keep going. She will refuse to let her situation take the best of her.
On February 11th, she will start her road to recovery. She will need 30 consecutive radiation sessions to get rid of the other half of the tumor that is still in her brain. Our Jo continues to have the best spirit. She’s teaching me how to stay calmed throughout difficult situations. Everyday she continues to let God lead the way.
Joanelle is blessed to have health insurance, but we all know health insurance does not cover all the medical expenses. Since Joanelle has used all her sick hours, she will soon start unpaid leave. She'll be facing punishing medical bills and she will need help paying for these expenses.
If you are able to help support Joanelle with a donation through Go Fund Me, it would be so greatly appreciated. All donations will go directly to Joanelle's medical bills on her path to recovery. If you cannot donate, please help us by sharing this story.
We can’t thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers throughout this difficult time. Please continue to pray for Joanelle. We will continue to keep you all updated with her road to recovery.
Thank you all for reading this story and for all your support!
Per Molin
Donations
Organizer and beneficiary
Per Molin
Organizer
Bartow, FL
Joanelle Arana
Beneficiary