Sarah Stobbe Medical & Family Expense Fund
Donation protected
Never heard of Guillian-Barre Syndrome? Don't worry, most of us haven't.
Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rare neurological disorder in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks part of its peripheral nervous system—the network of nerves located outside of the brain and spinal cord. It's extremely rare, and is estimated to affect about one person in 100,000 each year. This syndrome begins with tingling in your lower extremities, hands and then moves up your body with extreme pain in your back, which continues until you are completely paralyzed. It causes extreme muscle weakness, which once it arrives in your upper body you sometimes can no longer breath on your own, eat, or even swallow your own spit.
Sarah Stobbe is a 36 year old mother to 5 year old Maddy and wife to Justin Stobbe. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving she began experiencing the tingling in her hands and feet and within 24 hours was in extreme lower back pain. After her second visit to the ER on Saturday, November 30th, she was admitted to the hospital and has been there since.
During that time her husband has been by her side, spending sleepless nights because the pain was so immense, she needed help with every single thing. During this time he watched her decline more and more everyday. After 5 days and at the point of near total paralysis, she was finally diagnosed with GBS and transferred to ICU. By this point Sarah was not even able to smile or barely speak. She started a very expense 5 day treatment, that at first did not seem to be working and they thought she was at risk of a heart attack or stroke.
After almost 12 days and her body slowly being taken away from her, with the aid of the medicine, this awful syndrome hit its plateau. It has now slowly started to reverse itself. For people with GBS once you hit this turning point, you now have to re-learn to eat, talk, swallow, walk, etc... just as slowly as this syndrome takes everything away, it returns it even slower. Some people have reported having up to a 2 year recovery period.
Sarah has now spent 3 scary weeks in the hospital and the progress has been very slow, she still can do very little for herself, if anything, she can not feed herself, hold anything or really be alone. Imagine not being able to even scratch an itch.
Justin has spent every night by Sarah's side, because both physically and emotionally she needs him. It has been a really tough three weeks for both of them, he has missed three weeks of work and is now finally is able to go home for a couple hours during the day to catch a some rest, shower and get Maddy from the bus. During this time one of her parents have been with her. Finally this past week her daughter Maddy is able to visit for a couple hours after school.
This has been an extreme emotional, physical and financial hardship on them as a family. Her parents have been staying with Maddy at night and getting her off to school.
Sarah still has a long road ahead of her, she has started physical therapy and is finally up to about 90 grueling minutes a day. She has MONTHS ahead of her in the hospital and a physical rehab facility.
They do have insurance (Thank god), but as you can imagine with high deductible and max out of pocket, the cost to cover the hospital medical bills and recovery will far exceed what they can afford. Sarah will not be able to go back to work for many months and Justin has now missed three weeks, with more time in the future. She will have ongoing doctors and physical therapy appointments once she does come home.
So many people have asked how they can help, so we set up this Go Fund Me account. Thankfully, she will recover but no one knows how long it will take. Please help us relieve some stress from this family as I believe this has been more than what most can even comprehend.
All money collected will go towards paying her medical bills and assisting in lost income for her and Justin. All donations, no matter how small, are greatly appreciated. This family has a long road ahead of them and with your help we can make that road a little more manageable.
Those of you who know Sarah know she is a fighter, so please share this so we can get her and her family all the help they will need. Thank you for your support, prayers and generosity.
Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rare neurological disorder in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks part of its peripheral nervous system—the network of nerves located outside of the brain and spinal cord. It's extremely rare, and is estimated to affect about one person in 100,000 each year. This syndrome begins with tingling in your lower extremities, hands and then moves up your body with extreme pain in your back, which continues until you are completely paralyzed. It causes extreme muscle weakness, which once it arrives in your upper body you sometimes can no longer breath on your own, eat, or even swallow your own spit.
Sarah Stobbe is a 36 year old mother to 5 year old Maddy and wife to Justin Stobbe. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving she began experiencing the tingling in her hands and feet and within 24 hours was in extreme lower back pain. After her second visit to the ER on Saturday, November 30th, she was admitted to the hospital and has been there since.
During that time her husband has been by her side, spending sleepless nights because the pain was so immense, she needed help with every single thing. During this time he watched her decline more and more everyday. After 5 days and at the point of near total paralysis, she was finally diagnosed with GBS and transferred to ICU. By this point Sarah was not even able to smile or barely speak. She started a very expense 5 day treatment, that at first did not seem to be working and they thought she was at risk of a heart attack or stroke.
After almost 12 days and her body slowly being taken away from her, with the aid of the medicine, this awful syndrome hit its plateau. It has now slowly started to reverse itself. For people with GBS once you hit this turning point, you now have to re-learn to eat, talk, swallow, walk, etc... just as slowly as this syndrome takes everything away, it returns it even slower. Some people have reported having up to a 2 year recovery period.
Sarah has now spent 3 scary weeks in the hospital and the progress has been very slow, she still can do very little for herself, if anything, she can not feed herself, hold anything or really be alone. Imagine not being able to even scratch an itch.
Justin has spent every night by Sarah's side, because both physically and emotionally she needs him. It has been a really tough three weeks for both of them, he has missed three weeks of work and is now finally is able to go home for a couple hours during the day to catch a some rest, shower and get Maddy from the bus. During this time one of her parents have been with her. Finally this past week her daughter Maddy is able to visit for a couple hours after school.
This has been an extreme emotional, physical and financial hardship on them as a family. Her parents have been staying with Maddy at night and getting her off to school.
Sarah still has a long road ahead of her, she has started physical therapy and is finally up to about 90 grueling minutes a day. She has MONTHS ahead of her in the hospital and a physical rehab facility.
They do have insurance (Thank god), but as you can imagine with high deductible and max out of pocket, the cost to cover the hospital medical bills and recovery will far exceed what they can afford. Sarah will not be able to go back to work for many months and Justin has now missed three weeks, with more time in the future. She will have ongoing doctors and physical therapy appointments once she does come home.
So many people have asked how they can help, so we set up this Go Fund Me account. Thankfully, she will recover but no one knows how long it will take. Please help us relieve some stress from this family as I believe this has been more than what most can even comprehend.
All money collected will go towards paying her medical bills and assisting in lost income for her and Justin. All donations, no matter how small, are greatly appreciated. This family has a long road ahead of them and with your help we can make that road a little more manageable.
Those of you who know Sarah know she is a fighter, so please share this so we can get her and her family all the help they will need. Thank you for your support, prayers and generosity.
Organizer and beneficiary
Michele Mazur
Organizer
Oak Creek, WI
Justin Stobbe
Beneficiary
