Paula Dettmann's Mobility Van and Home Health Care

Friends and family of Paula Dettmann have joined together to host this fundraiser. Our goal is to raise money for a wheelchair-accessible mobility van and home health care for Paula. She has spent most of the last 6 months in hospitals and rehab centers. The van will allow her to return home while continuing to see her doctors and receive treatment. Please know that the Dettmann family is very hesitant to ask for help but they all agree that this is a need that will bring their mom/wife home.

Here is a letter from Paula’s daughter Molly regarding Paula’s medical challenges as best understood at this time:

My mom started having back pain and spasms in late March. She thought it was just a jogging injury as she loves to run outside in her free time. A month later in April, the pain started getting worse so she knew she needed to seek help. After multiple CTs and MRIs, no conclusions could explain her debilitating condition. In May, she experienced paralysis and an ambulance was called to the Dettmann house. By the Grace of God, the doctors discovered what was wrong and gave an answer for her mystery diagnosis.

She was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis in her spine and it had also traveled to her brainstem. Emergency spinal surgery was performed overnight, and the doctors said they had never seen an infection so advanced and that she was lucky to be alive. Recovery was going to be a very long process. The surgery saved her life, but she had also suffered a small stroke and was in the ICU for two weeks following. She received anointing of the sick twice and knew so many family members and friends were praying for her. Her hospital room walls were covered in get-well cards, and these brought our family so much comfort during those hard days.

Her recovery was day to day, but miraculously she was starting to get better and beat the odds. Mid-June, she was stable and was accepted into an intense rehab facility so she could learn to walk again. Unfortunately, two days later she was rushed to the hospital again after suffering another small stroke. She was in the hospital for three more months until mid-September, and in that time, she underwent another spinal surgery and was in the ICU twice.

My mom is now recovering at a rehab facility and the infection is no longer active from our understanding. However, the long-term impacts of the infection are that she has no feeling in her legs and has nerve damage in her right arm. Thankfully, we are able to bring my mom home on December 1st, 2023 but she will require home care likely for the indefinite future. We are so blessed that she’ll be home with us for Christmas! She is ecstatic that after a LONG six months since she first entered the hospital, she is finally coming home. She is a fighter and is SO thankful for everyone’s prayers and support, which mean the world to my mom and our family. We are beyond grateful to have such an incredible community rallying behind my mom every step of the way throughout her recovery. Thank you!