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My name is Kristen Nelson and Im a registered nurse. I’m raising funds to provide therapy, services, assistive devices and other treatments not covered by insurance for my husband, Brad Nelson, to provide the best opportunity to recover after his recent stroke, to provide heating fuel for the family’s upcoming winter, and ensure housing security. I’ve dedicated my life to helping people in positions rendering them unable to help themselves but now, as I struggle to help my husband and best friend, I find my efforts are heartbreakingly inadequate.

On August 12, 2023 at 20:00, Brad suffered a stroke. That Saturday he mowed the lawn, showered, enjoyed dinner, and at 8pm was watching a show and munching some Cheetos. I noticed he was breathing heavily and when it didn’t let up after a minute or two, I asked him what he was feeling. Brad reached for his left shoulder and his eyes slowly rolled to meet mine. Immediately I could see his level of consciousness was altered and after a long pause he struggled to tell me, “my shoulder and my chest hurt, it's hard to breathe, my left jaw is numb.” Considering his medical history [Brad has Wolf-Parkinson White, which is a rare heart condition], my immediate concern was his heart. With my stethoscope to his chest I listened intently, until my fear of needing to perform CPR on my husband had passed. Cheeto crumbs on his shirt and slippers on his feet, I was able to get him to the car [a feat, considering how unstable his balance and gait were] and delivered him to the closest emergency department.

Exactly one hour after the onset of symptoms, Brad was being examined in the local emergency department. The neurological exams immediately alerted us to his brain. Troponin levels were zero, the CT scans were clear, and Brad was profoundly confused and scared with seemingly no immediate short-term memory. He was now requiring a bedside urinal, as he was both a high fall risk and unable to get up on his own. The recommendation from the neurologist consult was not to administer TPA, a ‘clot-busting’ medication, and Brad was admitted to the intermediary floor of the facility.

02:00 Sunday, August 13th, 6 hours after the ‘event’, I noticed Brad’s speech had cleared a little when he spoke to me. He was having profound left-sided weakness, but his head would no longer sag to the left. He needed the help of a walker, gait belt, and personal superhero [CNA providing him assistance] to use the restroom.

The next morning [Sunday] we saw the NP hospitalist, who explained what he anticipated to see on the MRI [a cluster of smaller previous strokes that went unnoticed, with this event represented by a larger area]. Brad went down for a MRI at 12:00 Sunday, August 13th. He was less scared now, but equally confused with no change in memory. Left-sided weakness persisted, but his speech continued to improve. It seemed like the fog was starting to lift - it didn't take him as long to begin to formulate his responses. By Sunday evening Brad was no longer scared. He was still confused and struggled to follow conversations and respond, but was comforted to have me by his side.

Monday morning, August 14th, Brad had an echocardiogram [which was clear]. Speech therapy evaluated and cleared his ability to swallow. Physical therapy did their evaluation and, although he still required a walker, gait belt, and help from a personal superhero, they cleared him for discharge home.

13:00 Monday, August 14th, the NP hospitalist discussed the previous day’s MRI results with us. Contrary to what he expected to see on the MRI, there was no indication of previous strokes. He also expressed confusion as to Brad’s symptoms being more severe than the MRI might otherwise indicate. After consulting with a couple of neurologists, they were discharging Brad with recommendations for follow-up with cardiology, neurology, and his primary care provider to find the cause of the stroke. In-home physical, occupational and speech therapy would be arranged until he’s strong enough to transition to out-patient. At 13:44, less than 42 hours after the onset of the stroke, Brad was discharged to my care.

As of 03:00 Monday, August 21st, Brad has recognized tremendous gains! 24 hours after returning home he was able to ditch the gait belt and another 24 hours later he no required me to physically help him get to the restroom. Brad still gets confused and still needs to be talked through many tasks, such as aspects of ambulation [moving around]. His speaking is back to normal, but it’s not uncommon for him to struggle to find his words and he often forgets what he’s saying.

Brad is 39 years old and holds dear the anticipation of many more years with our family. For this to be a possibility, we need to find out the cause of the stroke; otherwise, it’s a matter of time before he has another event. Unfortunately, it looks like our answer won’t be timely. While he has an appointment with cardiology this week [Wednesday, August 23rd], the responsibility of referring him to a neurologist was left to his primary care provider, who will discuss this at his appointment on Monday, August 21 [an appointment he fortunately already had].

Further blows to his recovery come from his health insurance, which does not cover speech therapy or private-duty nursing. Still recovering after [my own] two emergency spinal cord decompression surgeries, which addressed 3 of 6 herniated discs in August 2022, I’m physically struggling to attend to all of Brad’s needs. Furthermore, our family’s financial security is anything but… well, secure. Although Brad has short-term disability insurance, we will go 3 weeks with no income before they approve or deny his claim. Once approved, he should receive less than $1,000 monthly in benefits. While he should be able to receive benefits for a max of 26 weeks, that neither covers our monthly living expenses nor does it allow us to provide services and therapies for Brad that aren’t covered by his insurance.

I wasn’t raised to ask for help and sharing our story in this public manner is very uncomfortable for both Brad and me… but if I hold my tongue and try to push through, it’s Brad’s health and the happiness and security of our family that hangs in the balance and, at the end of the day, well here I am.

Even if you aren’t in a position to donate, please consider sharing our story. Thank you.