Kelsay's Courage: A Teacher's fight Against a Brain Aneurysm

An Eastwood kindergarten teacher Kelsay Hocanson fought to heal from a headache Thursday morning, but it only got worse. Kelsay, mom and step mom to 5 children, started the day like any other day … getting the kiddos up and ready, a cup of coffee and took her 5th and 7th grader to school. Then she went was off to teach kindergartners! She was looking forward to another fun filled day with her little classroom buddies. The day turned out to be anything but fun filled. Around 11 AM as her class was at one of their specials, Kelsay sat down at her desk and began to feel very odd. The left side of her body lost all feeling, and she suddenly had a headache. She described it as a sharp pain, the worst pain she had ever felt in her life. Her husband was called, he rushed to the school, picked her up and took her to the ER. After many challenging hours and shuffling between hospitals, the diagnosis revealed a brain bleed. Sitting in ER Kelsay smiled, joked and laughed even asked for her laptop so she could work on lessons for her little kindergartners. But Kelsay was very sick… she had a ruptured aneurysm. Although she fought off these symptoms, the aneurysm had to be surgically dealt with or her life here on earth would be lost. Doctors were coming in and out of the room, then surgeons met with her and family to put together a plan to do brain surgery. The 5 surgeon team finished the surgery only to find out another surgeon had to be called in to add a drainage tube. The hours after, Kelsay was put on life support as the medical team worked to get her better. She is in ICU.

Jon and family slowly realized that healing will be slow, maybe months. The kindergartners might not have their teacher for awhile and Kelsay will need help from Jon so he will have to take off work. Kelsay and Jon will not have the financial resources to get them through this. Family medical leave, yes, but without pay is a tough “pill” to swallow on top of everything else. The reserves will be depleted. God will help us, we know that but if your heart is drawn to Kelsey’s story, any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!