Charlotte Grady's Medical Transport
Donation protected
Doing this puts us way out of our comfort zone, but due to the current situation our family is in, we are giving this a try.
On Tuesday, February 3rd, our mom, and Makenna's Nana, Charlotte Grady, was having a great time on a cruise. While in her state room she tripped and fell into a wall face first. She told us that as soon as she hit the wall/ground she knew she was paralyzed. She spent that night on the ship, in their medical area, on a board. The next day she was taken off the ship in Antigua for a CT scan. The following morning (Thursday, February 5th) she was air lifted, at the sum of $23,000.00, from Antigua to Ft. Lauderdale. Thank God for travel insurance protection...but that flight basically depleted the account for medical evacuation.
My sister and I scrambled to booked flights out of Phoenix Thursday morning and were able to make it to Ft. Lauderdale to her bedside about midnight…
After meeting with the doctors we were told that our mom has a central cord contusion. Combined with an additional diagnosis of spinal stenosis. The result of this is that she has lost use of both her hands and legs. The legs have a better prognosis over the hands. She cant open her hands but she can lift her arms. She cant move her legs but she can wiggle her toes.
The doctors are holding out hope that in maybe 2 months she might start walking. Her hands, however, are a much more of an issue, and we use our hands for basically everything. The doctors have given us no time frame, if any, for when she will regain use of her hands. We are very hopeful that she will regain use of her hands and legs but as we have been told this is no guarantee.
Our mother is very independent woman and as you can imagine this injury is devastating to her. Yesterday, Saturday, February 8th she had surgery the spinal stenosis, but that is only to fix something, so if god forbid she ever fell again, this surgery will hopefully prevent her from becoming a quadriplegic. Her neurosurgeon has told us that due to the spinal stenosis, her spine cant handle any type of injury without this surgery.
We are still at her bedside in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, praying everything went well with the surgery and that her pain will subside soon.
Our next dilemma is that we now have 7-10 days to figure out how to get her back home to Phoenix where her family is so that we can help care for her.
Due to the nature of the spinal rehabilitation, if she starts it here in Florida, she will have to remain here for the duration, which would be at best a few month. My sister and I would not be able to stay with her and she has no friends for family locally. Colleen and I would do everything we could to get here as often as we possibly can...and Makenna not being able to see Nana… we really feel that this would not be an ideal situation.
We really need her to begin rehab back in Phoenix but that potentially comes with a price tag of $35,000.00, or more. Her only option of transport is air ambulance. Which brings us here. So many of our friends have asked what they could do to help. What we really need is to get Mom home so we can help with her care. We typically would never ask but we don’t know where else to turn. All of the money raised will be used for Charlotte Grady's travel home and her medical care. Thank you in advance for all your help. Your thoughts and prayers mean the world to us!
On Tuesday, February 3rd, our mom, and Makenna's Nana, Charlotte Grady, was having a great time on a cruise. While in her state room she tripped and fell into a wall face first. She told us that as soon as she hit the wall/ground she knew she was paralyzed. She spent that night on the ship, in their medical area, on a board. The next day she was taken off the ship in Antigua for a CT scan. The following morning (Thursday, February 5th) she was air lifted, at the sum of $23,000.00, from Antigua to Ft. Lauderdale. Thank God for travel insurance protection...but that flight basically depleted the account for medical evacuation.
My sister and I scrambled to booked flights out of Phoenix Thursday morning and were able to make it to Ft. Lauderdale to her bedside about midnight…
After meeting with the doctors we were told that our mom has a central cord contusion. Combined with an additional diagnosis of spinal stenosis. The result of this is that she has lost use of both her hands and legs. The legs have a better prognosis over the hands. She cant open her hands but she can lift her arms. She cant move her legs but she can wiggle her toes.
The doctors are holding out hope that in maybe 2 months she might start walking. Her hands, however, are a much more of an issue, and we use our hands for basically everything. The doctors have given us no time frame, if any, for when she will regain use of her hands. We are very hopeful that she will regain use of her hands and legs but as we have been told this is no guarantee.
Our mother is very independent woman and as you can imagine this injury is devastating to her. Yesterday, Saturday, February 8th she had surgery the spinal stenosis, but that is only to fix something, so if god forbid she ever fell again, this surgery will hopefully prevent her from becoming a quadriplegic. Her neurosurgeon has told us that due to the spinal stenosis, her spine cant handle any type of injury without this surgery.
We are still at her bedside in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, praying everything went well with the surgery and that her pain will subside soon.
Our next dilemma is that we now have 7-10 days to figure out how to get her back home to Phoenix where her family is so that we can help care for her.
Due to the nature of the spinal rehabilitation, if she starts it here in Florida, she will have to remain here for the duration, which would be at best a few month. My sister and I would not be able to stay with her and she has no friends for family locally. Colleen and I would do everything we could to get here as often as we possibly can...and Makenna not being able to see Nana… we really feel that this would not be an ideal situation.
We really need her to begin rehab back in Phoenix but that potentially comes with a price tag of $35,000.00, or more. Her only option of transport is air ambulance. Which brings us here. So many of our friends have asked what they could do to help. What we really need is to get Mom home so we can help with her care. We typically would never ask but we don’t know where else to turn. All of the money raised will be used for Charlotte Grady's travel home and her medical care. Thank you in advance for all your help. Your thoughts and prayers mean the world to us!
Organiser
Kimberly Grace
Organiser
Cave Creek, AZ
