Kourage for Kortni

Hello, My name is Tanya Schafer, and I have been close friends with Kortni's parents, Audra since we where kids, and Ryan since High School. The Peterson's are the most beautiful family that has been dealt their share of medical issues and losses over the years. Kortni's recent health journey has been no exception, and her recent diagnosis of Rassmussens Encephalitis has been a tough one for the entire family. Kortni is Ryan and Audra's youngest child, at just age six, and she is only 1 of 2 children in Saskatchewan with this diagnosis, and 1 of maybe 15 in all of Canada. We've been told there is only a 1 in a 10 Million chance of having this disease. Therefore, her medical care is going to have to be transferred to Calgary for the next little while as she consults with other professionals. Kortni will ultimately require a brain surgery that will take place in Calgary this spring.

With the family's blessing, we have created this GoFundMe as a way for people in their 'village' to help them with immediate costs of travel, meals, lodging, etc. while they make many trips to Saskatoon to Jim Pattison Children's Hospital and Calgarys Alberta Children's Hospital leading up to Kortni's surgery. The after care for her at this time is unknown, so for now we are focusing on helping this family in the short term to help them navigate the appointments and everyday life as they work towards a solution to stop the seizures and progression of the disease for Kortni.

Some explanation of Kortni's Journey and Medical Diagnosis from Audra:

"We are now at the stage where Neurologists are quite positive we are dealing with Rassmussens Encephalitis. We are scheduled for a brain biopsy to take place February 20th in Saskatoon, where a tissue sample would confirm this diagnosis. After that we will head to Calgary for a surgical consultation in the coming weeks, and she will have surgery at some point this spring in Calgary.

This is an autoimmune disease that has attacked Kortni's brain. She was not born with this, her immune system just decided this. The only way to stop it from spreading is to disconnect the right hemisphere. Doing so will leave her with left sided physical weaknesses, some cognitive deficits and some left sided peripheral blind spots.

Kortni's seizures have not slowed down at all since our stay at JPCH in the fall. In October she had 50 focal seizures, November she had 26, December we saw 33 focal seizures and her first tonic clonic seizure out of hospital. January was no better with 54 focal seizures and 2 tonic clonics. We are trying another new medicine to try and slow them down - I think they’re helping and I’m hopeful to see the results. The longest we have gone is just over 100 hours seizure free.

Our lives have changed immensely since September. Ryan and I make sure we always have our phones charged and we always answer each others phone calls or texts, our vehicles never go less than 1/2 a tank and one of us has to be with her constantly. She cannot be left unsupervised even for a quick minute. This has caused a lot of anxiety for all of us in our house, primarily for Kortni.

There is light at the end of the tunnel - with surgery - the seizures will stop and the disease goes away. How long the tunnel is and how dark it gets is all unknown. We don’t know much about surgery, rehab, or setbacks until we meet with the neurological team in Calgary. I have faith we will get through this and be on the other side of it - it’s the process I’m not looking forward to - but frankly have no other choice. We are taking things on a day by day basis."

Some of the expenses the family will be incurring and we would like to help them with:

The families of Ryan & Audra Peterson would like to thank everyone who has reached out and asked how to help this amazing family and Kortni through this tough medical journey they are on. The family has expressed that helping them financially at this time would take some burden off of Ryan and Audra while they figure out the next few months. We know that Ryan and Audra would never 'expect help' or want to ask for it, but they are also the first ones to give back and help their community and friends when they can.