Medical Expenses For Major Stroke

Our Aunt Tina had a major stroke in May of 2016.  She was in the hospital for about one month.  We were not sure if she would live.  With all of the tubes going into and out of her body, it was scary.  However, she managed to pull through and make it to a nursing home.  Her stroke happened on the left side of her brain, which affected her ability to speak or to understand speech.  Her right arm and leg are paralyzed and only respond to certain stimulus.  She can't walk or say much right now.  They have removed her trach tube, but she still has a feeding tube.  She cannot take care of herself and requires 24 hour care.  She can sit up for a short time in her wheelchair but will need speech, occupational, and physical therapy.  The only therapy she gets as of now is restorative care and anything we do for her.  I come in every week and try to give her some speech and occupational therapy, but I do not specialize in the therapy that she needs.  Some of the things we do together include: reading to her, writing, teaching  her how to brush her teeth again, etc.  She needs to relearn so many things.  However, Social Security Disability and Medicare/Medicade only pay for her basic needs at the nursing home.  For example: room and board, medications, Dr's visits, etc.   As of now, Medicare/Medicaid have refused all rehab for her.  They have denied payment for all of the therapies she needs.  The family is in the process of appealing the denial of her rehab.  Who knows how long this will take or how much Medicare/Medicaid will actually pay?   Aunt Tina desperately needs your help now.    She has been lying in bed, with brief periods of sitting up in a wheelchair, for a little over a year now.  I'm afraid that the longer she stays in bed waiting for an appeal for her funding she may feel even more hopeless and depressed.   Let's help her decide not to give up the fight to get better.  I'm waiting for a full quote of the cost for each of the therapies that she needs.   I will update you as I receive more information.  The money raised will go directly to evaluations for her treatment and her therapy needs that are not paid for.  Any money left over will go to emergency needs or living expenses, ie: immediate dental bills, any unmet expenses for care at the nursing home, paying her past bills unpaid by SSD or Medicare/Medicaid, or necessary living expenses for her to live at home if she  can ever live outside the nursing home again.

12/3/18

Sorry to add this additional update so late.  Medicaid has caught up with her dental bills as of 6/2018.  Medicare has finally kicked in this November.  Now she has therapy both Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy.  She is getting up every day and sitting up for awhile.  Tina is able to be a little more independent.  Ie:  when asked to if she wanted to go to Bingo two months ago she was able to wheel herself in her wheel chair to Bingo.  She currently can not speak more then a few words.  However, she can understand most of what we tell her.  Unless Medicare stops therapy I will use the the money collected here to fund: past bills, therapeutic activities (like taking her on outings), and medical bills that are not payed by Medicare/Medicaid (like second opinions).  She currently continues to get better.  My husband and I are still working with her weekly.