Donation protected
UPDATE: It's been a while since I've updated but here's a timeline from what I can recall:
February 18th: My sister, mother, and I went to visit Julie in the hospital on her 22nd birthday, they performed the tracheotomy and gave her a feeding tube, she was out of the medically induced coma and was awake. Her levels stabilized but since she had the hemorrhaging in her brain she was in severe pain and was on large amounts of pain killers. Her levels would spike when she wouldn't be on the painkillers and she would withdraw her hands and feet in pain. She was awake but not aware of what was going on and couldn't follow verbal commands (follow my hand with your eyes, squeeze my hand). They said they would move her into a rehabilitation center for long term care, and it could take years for her to heal, and she may never be the same again.
March 18th: Julie's mom texts me telling me shes much healthier and she's crying a lot, she told me Julie wants to come see her more. Due to the language barrier I'm not understanding what Julie's level of awareness is.
March 29th: I go to visit Julie and upon seeing me she bursts into tears. I obviously begin crying too and I ask her if she understands everything, she nods. I'm crying more. Julie is as of now, fully aware and alert, she's unable to speak because of the trach but she's in physical therapy learning how to speak over it slowly, she's been doing standing and walking exercises as well! She understands everything everyone says and is very emotional. She's been doing very well in all of her tests!
I feel like we've been given a miracle in how fast she's recovering.
Julie is the strongest person I know. The road to recovery is one I'm happy to see her on and so much sooner than everyone expected! Thank you so much to everyone for your donations, your thoughts, your prayers, and well wishes! I will be seeing Julie again on the 19th of April and I will update again once I've seen her again!
UPDATE: On January 26th we learned Julie's condition is called Moyamoya, a rare progressive brain disease that blocks arteries at the base of the brain. Her father told me her head pressure is too high and when it starts to lower they can perform surgery, it was a ray of hope.
On the 29th I got messages from her mother in distress telling me to come to the hospital ASAP, her father telling me he doesn't know how much longer she has, in a sobbing fit we took a two hour drive to New Haven. I saw my best friend covered in various tubes one going into her brain, and her body swollen as she lay unconscious. This was an incredibly distressing sight. The nurses told me that she'd suffered two strokes, her pressure is too high, she's bleeding into her brain and she's hemorrhaging. They said this disease is usually unsurvivable. Her parents are deciding to continue the aggressive treatment they have her on but the nurses said after fifteen days they need to start talking about some more permanent solutions. They want to give Julie a tracheotomy and a feeding tube, this won't make things better, just keeping her stable.
31st of January: Her father has told me Julie is being taken out of the coma. She's a little higher in blood pressure and in pulse.
We need a miracle. We need support. This is an incredibly difficult time for Julie's family who I've considered a second family for the last 10 years.
ORIGINAL: On January 23rd 2019, I was contacted by my best friend, Julie Jung's mother telling me she's in the hospital.
Julie and I have been practically sisters for almost 10 years and she's my family. Many of you know her either from going to school together, or are close internet friends of hers.
About two weeks ago Julie came down with flu like symptoms, these progressed and turned into her passing out. She was moved from Danbury Hospital ER to the ICU in Yale University Hospital in New Haven via a helicopter. She's been in a medically induced coma since Saturday, the 19th of January. Due to her high blood pressure, the doctors were unable to get MRI imaging done and she's currently on blood thinners to try and get her blood pressure to go down.
We don't know what's wrong and we don't know how long she'll be in the hospital. What I do know is this, I love Julie and her family like my own and I know how expensive hospital bills can get, especially with an airlift. My family and I want to help hers to pay even a fraction of those bills, I'm currently unsure of how much it's going to cost because they are in the process of getting insurance so the goal may go up depending on when we can get an estimate for the bill.
We appreciate even the smallest donations and all the help we can get. Julie has touched the hearts of many and she's an angel among us. If you can't donate, just send love, prayers, and well wishes to Julie and the Jung family. We're all trying to be strong and are hoping for the best.
February 18th: My sister, mother, and I went to visit Julie in the hospital on her 22nd birthday, they performed the tracheotomy and gave her a feeding tube, she was out of the medically induced coma and was awake. Her levels stabilized but since she had the hemorrhaging in her brain she was in severe pain and was on large amounts of pain killers. Her levels would spike when she wouldn't be on the painkillers and she would withdraw her hands and feet in pain. She was awake but not aware of what was going on and couldn't follow verbal commands (follow my hand with your eyes, squeeze my hand). They said they would move her into a rehabilitation center for long term care, and it could take years for her to heal, and she may never be the same again.
March 18th: Julie's mom texts me telling me shes much healthier and she's crying a lot, she told me Julie wants to come see her more. Due to the language barrier I'm not understanding what Julie's level of awareness is.
March 29th: I go to visit Julie and upon seeing me she bursts into tears. I obviously begin crying too and I ask her if she understands everything, she nods. I'm crying more. Julie is as of now, fully aware and alert, she's unable to speak because of the trach but she's in physical therapy learning how to speak over it slowly, she's been doing standing and walking exercises as well! She understands everything everyone says and is very emotional. She's been doing very well in all of her tests!
I feel like we've been given a miracle in how fast she's recovering.
Julie is the strongest person I know. The road to recovery is one I'm happy to see her on and so much sooner than everyone expected! Thank you so much to everyone for your donations, your thoughts, your prayers, and well wishes! I will be seeing Julie again on the 19th of April and I will update again once I've seen her again!
UPDATE: On January 26th we learned Julie's condition is called Moyamoya, a rare progressive brain disease that blocks arteries at the base of the brain. Her father told me her head pressure is too high and when it starts to lower they can perform surgery, it was a ray of hope.
On the 29th I got messages from her mother in distress telling me to come to the hospital ASAP, her father telling me he doesn't know how much longer she has, in a sobbing fit we took a two hour drive to New Haven. I saw my best friend covered in various tubes one going into her brain, and her body swollen as she lay unconscious. This was an incredibly distressing sight. The nurses told me that she'd suffered two strokes, her pressure is too high, she's bleeding into her brain and she's hemorrhaging. They said this disease is usually unsurvivable. Her parents are deciding to continue the aggressive treatment they have her on but the nurses said after fifteen days they need to start talking about some more permanent solutions. They want to give Julie a tracheotomy and a feeding tube, this won't make things better, just keeping her stable.
31st of January: Her father has told me Julie is being taken out of the coma. She's a little higher in blood pressure and in pulse.
We need a miracle. We need support. This is an incredibly difficult time for Julie's family who I've considered a second family for the last 10 years.
ORIGINAL: On January 23rd 2019, I was contacted by my best friend, Julie Jung's mother telling me she's in the hospital.
Julie and I have been practically sisters for almost 10 years and she's my family. Many of you know her either from going to school together, or are close internet friends of hers.
About two weeks ago Julie came down with flu like symptoms, these progressed and turned into her passing out. She was moved from Danbury Hospital ER to the ICU in Yale University Hospital in New Haven via a helicopter. She's been in a medically induced coma since Saturday, the 19th of January. Due to her high blood pressure, the doctors were unable to get MRI imaging done and she's currently on blood thinners to try and get her blood pressure to go down.
We don't know what's wrong and we don't know how long she'll be in the hospital. What I do know is this, I love Julie and her family like my own and I know how expensive hospital bills can get, especially with an airlift. My family and I want to help hers to pay even a fraction of those bills, I'm currently unsure of how much it's going to cost because they are in the process of getting insurance so the goal may go up depending on when we can get an estimate for the bill.
We appreciate even the smallest donations and all the help we can get. Julie has touched the hearts of many and she's an angel among us. If you can't donate, just send love, prayers, and well wishes to Julie and the Jung family. We're all trying to be strong and are hoping for the best.
Organizer
Nancy Kosmidis
Organizer
Whitestone, NY