Olivia's journey through Transverse Myelitis

Hi there! This fundraiser is to help the Vega family get through this hard time they've been faced with.

Anyone who knows Olivia knows that she's a shy, sweet, loving, kind girl. Olivia loves her family, friends, the Lord, school and helping the community.

Starting in November Olivia had on-and-off respiratory illnesses' including pneumonia and RSV with fevers reaching as high as 106.7. She was sick all through Thanksgiving break. She returned to school with some mild congestion through December.

January 5-7 Olivia was in different stages of pain in different areas of her body. Crystal had multiple appointments for her and was given multiple remedies.

January 8

Phone appointment, Crystal was told that Olivia just had gas and was advised to take over-the-counter medication and if it didn't go away go to the ER. They then diagnosed her with a Urinary tract infection, gave her antibiotics and we went home.

January 9

Olivia started having severe pain in her entire abdomen, back and legs. Called and made an appointment but couldn't be seen until the next day.

January 10th

Olivia could barely walk, so she had to be carried to her appointment. At this point, she hadn't slept in days because the pain was so bad. They were advised at her appointment that she did not have a Urinary tract infection and they swabbed her again for all respiratory illnesses. All of those tests came back negative. Back to the lab poor Olivia went and had more testing done.

January 11th

Olivia was unable to walk or stand. They were advised to take her back to the ER. They were admitted to the hospital and transported via ambulance to Kaiser Oakland at 1am to be in the childrens unit. 

January 12

Now the ball starts rolling...

More blood work, more IVs. She was prepped for MRI where they did a complete scan of her spine and brain while she was under full anesthesia. They also performed a spinal tap while she was there.

Once they finished with that she was brought back, only to be rushed back to do a repeat emergency MRI.

Sweetest Olivia was diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis.

This usually affects both sides, of only a section of the spine. Hers has affected her entire spine. We were lucky it did not affect or spread into her brain. They immediately started her on pain medication and steroids. Olivia went through other labs and ultrasounds as well as having to have her bladder drained since she had no control over her lower body.

Olivia started physical therapy, occupational therapy and respiratory therapy in the hospital as well and luckily She was able to go home late Tuesday evening 1/17 with her walker and her family.

It is unknown how long Olivia will have to be home to build up her immune system, so with that said it is unknown how long a parent is going to be out of work to stay home with her. Medical bills are coming in, hospital stays are billed differently than clinical visits. Any little bit helps!

She has a lot of recoveries ahead of her, she will have continued physical therapy, and occupational therapy but with the love and prayers from family friends and the community, she is staying positive!

If you're interested in donating gift cards for dinner/stores, I'll list their favorites below. You can reach out to me and I can deliver them for you :)

Doordash

Roundtable

Panda express

Baskin Robbins

Wendys

Pollo Loco

Chilis

Wingstop

Starbucks

MOD

Mountian Mikes

Target

Raleys

Safeway

Foodmax