Hi, all. My name is Amanda Evans, big sister to Mariah Knutson. Where to begin? Life can change in the blink of an eye. Mariah is currently in the hospital recovering from a Myasthenia Gravis Crisis.

Just a couple of months ago, Mariah began having some strange symptoms of random aches and pains and blurred vision. She sought medical help and it was recommended she make an appointment with a specialist, which was months away. Her symptoms worsened with weakness, fatigue, numbing of her tongue, a drooping eye and more. She went to urgent care and the ER multiple times and was told she needed an MRI, which again, no appointments were available for months. The week of Christmas she and her husband Zach drove to Rochester where she received an emergency MRI. After finding lesions on her brain. With that information and knowledge of her other symptoms, she was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis. MG affects the voluntary muscles, which include swallowing, eye movement, limb movement and the respiratory system. She was able to set up 5 appointments for mid-January.

On January 6th, Mariah was going about her work day at her in-home daycare. She was having trouble breathing and called the hospital. She was told to get to the ER as soon as possible. She waited til all her beloved children whom she provides care for were picked up in the evening and Zach was home from work with their 4-year-old daughter Veronica. She was quickly seen by a fantastic ER team and learned that the MG had weakened her diaphragm to the point where it couldn't function properly. She was quickly intubated and began her stay in the ICU. This is called a Myasthenia Gravis Crisis which is unfortunately common with this condition. It was a very scary couple of days, and on Saturday around noon, she was able to wake up from anesthesia and extubated, with the help of a BiPap.

The first full sentence she said was "What about my daycare families? I need to be working for them." As a small business owner myself, I empathize that she does not want to let the families that attend her daycare down and she is very concerned about how they will have their children cared for during this time. They all love attending Little Rainbows Daycare, which my sister is so proud of.

Today, Sunday, she took a bit of a walk with the help of a walker. She has a long road ahead of her but is very determined to recover and get back to her life, her family, and her business. The next few weeks are uncertain as a care plan is made, but she will be having her Thymus gland removed, which has helped other people with MG.

We are unsure what to expect for her upcoming hospital bills, and owning her own business, she will have a total loss of income during this time. We are doing our best to help keep the financial burden of this to a minimum so she can heal and get back to living her best life with Zach, Ronnie, Olive, Qynn, and Evie.