#One4Mon: Hope For A Better Tomorrow
My little sister Monika is fighting her biggest fight of her life in the Intensive care unit. For those who don’t know my sister well, Monika is a senior at the University at Buffalo, where she is majoring in Psychology. Monika followed her dreams of playing Division I volleyball in the United States, beginning her career at Long Beach State before moving on to Buffalo where she has been the last three years, a place that she considers her home away from home. Unfortunately, just a few weeks ago, her dreams took a huge hit.
Monika was admitted to the ICU at the beginning of August with an aggressive bacterial infection. Monika’s condition rapidly deteriorated as she turned septic, resulting in multi organ failure. Facing near death, a decision was made to perform a bilateral above the knee amputation, giving Monika the best chance at survival. The odds of this type of reaction and how quickly Monika’s body shut down are extremely rare.
It's been five long weeks since Monika was admitted to the hospital, and in those five weeks she has had seven surgeries. For these five weeks, she has been fighting unbelievably hard to stay here with us. She has been through so much, too much for one person to endure in life. But she is a fighter, she has the full admiration not just from me but from the whole MICU unit. Her body may be weak and fragile but her mind and motivation to live is made of steel.
Rehabilitation is the next step but before then she needs to recover from the illness. She continues to fight a bacterial infection in her blood, a fungus in her leg wound, and pneumonia in her lungs. Unable to eat on her own, she’s still using a feeding tube down her nose to the stomach.
Monika is a continuing to improve each and every day. Being able to sit up in bed, sucking on an ice chip and being able to swallow water down her throat is massive progress. Things we take for granted are life changing moments for Monika.
As an international student-athlete living overseas in the United States, Monika is still aiming to finish her Psychology degree while getting the best care possible here in the US. I will be staying by her side away from my home in Australia for the unforeseeable future, so in addition to funding Monika’s medical and rehabilitation procedures, the money raised through this GoFundMe page will also be used to help to support me as Monika’s primary caregiver.
Every day is a step back into life away from hospital walls. Facing new challenges, understanding what the new normal is going to be like for her and looking for moments which bring us joy from being alive.
From the bottom of our hearts, our family thanks everyone for their love and support of Monika!!
