Help Carolina Duarte In Her Fight to Survive

Dear family, friends and loved ones,

 

My name is Ana. I should be celebrating my birthday today alongside my family, yet, here I sit, still in shock, as I try to gather the words to share with the world what my sister, Caro, and family have been battling for the past 2 weeks.

Since so many have reached out, I felt compelled to share a rather detailed explanation of Caro’s current situation. I will continue to share updates so please continue to tune in and SHARE SHARE SHARE so that this reaches as many as possible so she can continue to be surrounded by love, prayer, and positivity through the long journey ahead.

Now, before I continue, I have to share a bit about my sister. Her and my dad have worked together for years. You see, my sister has refused to leave my dad’s side at his place of employment because she has wanted to make sure he is taken care of. This is simply who she is. She has wanted to be by his side to make sure he’s fed and safe as my dad is of elderly age (77) and has needed to continue working through a painfully disabling medical condition since finances are tight. She has also been like a second mom to my kids. Caro unselfishly and without hesitation took a massive pay cut years back by lowering her work hours to help care for my son so I could fulfill my dream of becoming a nurse. She has continued to show such unconditional love and dedication to my kids, just as she has to everyone else she’s crossed paths with.

 

On November 15th, 2021, I received a call from my dad telling me Caro had fainted at work. Being a nurse, I figured her sugar was low as this sort of thing happens often, and surely, it would quickly resolve itself. I requested he FaceTime me, but it was in that moment that I realized my sister was unresponsive and seizing. This continued for what seemed like an eternity before paramedics arrived. A second grand mal seizure en route to the hospital followed, as the medics informed me she had to be heavily medicated to stop the seizure.

Upon arrival to the emergency department, she was still very much in and out of consciousness and continuing to vomit. A CT scan unfortunately revealed what any loved one fears most; a mass in her brain. And not just any mass. This was an astonishingly, large, ominous mass occupying both left and right frontal lobes of her brain.

 

My sister had displayed no obvious symptoms prior to the seizures besides an occasional headache and a migraine-type headache 4 weeks back which resolved overnight with medication. With a mass the size of a baseball, the doctors were shocked to hear she had not been battling other symptoms prior to her seizure. The news hit us unexpectedly like a brick wall. 

The events that followed are still painfully hard to recall and relive as my sister was unfortunately under the care of a medical team that did not follow standard protocols for these sort of emergency situations. For one, she was not placed on anti seizure medication upon arrival to the emergency department which led to yet another grand mal seizure during her MRI. The seizure was so severe it required emergency intubation. She remained sedated throughout the night and transferred to the ICU as we were forced to leave her side due to new COVID-related visiting restrictions. Now, it’s hard enough to see a loved one in such critical state - but, let me tell you - navigating a tragic event in the COVID era is an entirely new level of pain, suffering and desperation as you are ripped from those you love so dearly and are forced to surrender your role as caregiver and advocate, oftentimes for HOURS or DAYS at a time. The love and support they need is gone. The importance of the human touch and connection that us, as healthcare providers, have had engrained in us throughout our careers and it’s importance and key role such support systems play on a patient’s recovery and outcome… it’s suddenly no longer there.

 

It pains me to write that my sister sat in that ICU, intubated, WITHOUT ANY NOURISHMENT DESPITE CONTINUOUS DEMAND FOR IT, for 4 days, before any intervention was done. Despite having a tumor the size of a baseball, with severely declining neurological status and seizures, the team caring for her did not perform the emergency craniotomy she should have received. I spent countless hours pleading and begging for case managers, insurance companies, and medical providers to transfer her to a place where she could obtain the higher level of care she deserved.

Unfortunately, we were left with no option but to place our trust in the neurosurgeon following her case who insisted this was no emergency, and a biopsy would be needed rather than a tumor resection.

On 11/18/21, at 0730, I kissed my sister (who remained intubated, unable to communicate, and with declining mental status) on her head, I explained she’d be undergoing a quick surgical procedure, and told her I loved her. I had her look me in the eyes and promise me she’d fight. With what little energy she had, she nodded her head yes, and she was wheeled into what was scheduled to be a simple, minimally invasive, biopsy procedure.

Caro never woke up after surgery. Several grueling hours passed as I frantically told the nurses to contact the neurosurgeon or neurologist immediately as I watched my sister’s condition deteriorate before my own eyes. She was displaying obvious signs of worsening brain injury, yet her surgeon refused to come to her bedside for 7.5 hours after her procedure, despite her not waking up. He irresponsibly insisted it was the anesthesia, and it wasn’t until he finally stepped foot in her room that he realized the gravity of the situation. A STAT CT did not reveal a bleed, so he felt it was appropriate to, again, let her wait overnight and wait to see if she woke up. I begged and pleaded stating I was seeing breakthrough seizure activity, yet he refused to conduct an EEG that evening. Once again, we were sent home feeling helpless as nobody was willing to help. Nobody ever showed their face. I was informed the charge nurse and house supervisor were aware of the situation, and there was nothing else that could be done. Management was gone for the evening, and I was informed a hospital administrator was not available either. I stayed by her bedside praying, pleading for healing and for her to wake up until I was forced to leave the ICU for the night. 

At 0500 the following morning, I received a rather short and dry call from the ICU informing me my sister was being immediately transferred to a hospital equipped to care for her as she was now requiring “a higher level of care.”

By the time she arrived and I was at her bedside, I knew the damage had been done. My sister remained in a coma, significantly posturing, and seizing. It’s a sight I still wish to unsee. The new neuro team caring for her saw the gravity of the situation, and, despite several interventions, she did not respond well to any of them as the seizures and posturing continued (for those unfamiliar with what posturing is, it refers to involuntary and abnormal positioning of the body due to preserved motor reflexes. The type of posturing she was displaying is called decerebrate posturing which typically is indicative of brain stem injury). The neurosurgeon was very frank with me and informed me he did not feel my sister’s condition would ever improve as the brain damage was severe. However, he agreed to perform the emergency craniotomy my sister had been in dire need of so that my family could feel that all that could be done was, indeed, done.

On 11/21/21, at 0810, my sister was prepped for a craniotomy with tumor resection as friends and family gathered outside the hospital to pray. After 4.5 grueling hours of waiting, we received the call she had made it through surgery. About 90% of the tumor was successfully removed which was equivalent in size to being slightly bigger than a baseball. The swelling and pressure found inside her brain was significant, and with the tumor out now, all we could do was wait. And so we waited. We waited the entire day and night, yet her condition remained unchanged.

11/22/21 - Doomsday. On this late afternoon, her neurosurgeon addressed my family and I with the news he had previously shared with me regarding Caro’s grim outlook. By now, she had been in a coma for 6 days with zero improvement in her condition, continuous clinical presentation of significant brain injury, and entirely dependent on the ventilator. He recommended we discuss hospice for her as she would not ever recover from this.

The pain our family endured that day I do not wish upon anybody. But Caro’s army of prayer warriors went to war. We grew in numbers worldwide as family, loved ones and friends prayed for a miracle. I watched as my mom spent the entirety of the night on her knees pleading for her daughter’s second chance at life.


11/23/21 - Friends, what we witnessed this day was nothing short of Divine intervention. Whether you believe in a God or a higher power, I am overwhelmed to share with you that a true miracle was witnessed by so many on this day. My sister opened her eyes! There was a team of medical doctors in her room, absolutely in awe of what was happening. She not only opened her eyes, but she was following commands.

Her surgeon told us there is no medical explanation for this beyond that of a miracle.

Her days since have been long and grueling, battling high fevers, infections, and metabolic imbalances - among other things. She remains in grave critical condition, but she is fighting!

She is still in need of further surgery for a tracheostomy and a g-tube placement as she is too weak and continues to be in and out of consciousness so she has not yet regained the capacity to breathe on her own (YET). The months to come will also require extensive and intensive rehabilitation as she has lost most use of her right side of her body and is still too weak to move much besides her little hands and fingers for a few seconds at a time.

We are dedicated to helping Caro make a full recovery so she can come home to us, as she will then need to undergo chemo/radiation for treatment of the remaining tumor that was unable to be surgically removed. We are still waiting for final pathology results on the tumor, but that is a hurdle we will manage when the time comes.

Our focus for now is getting Caro strong enough to breathe on her own and for her brain to continue to heal as the residual swelling in her brain subsides. Caro will most likely need to relearn how to use her muscles as the trauma her brain underwent has left her without much movement, but I am confident she WILL overcome this.

Her fiancé, Andrew (pictured above), has been an angel and has not left her side since day one. He has slept in his car, sacrificed entire days and nights to be by her side as has my mom. As I explained earlier, navigating this COVID era with strict visitation policies is heart wrenching. Only one visitor is allowed at a time, with a maximum of only 2 visitors per day with already limited visiting hours.

I’ve watched my mom sit at the hospital door entrance crying and praying, refusing to go home as she wishes to be as close to her daughter as she possibly can whenever she is not allowed to be at her bedside. I’ve watched as my elderly dad bravely continues to work through the pain and suffering of not being able to be at my sister’s bedside as finances are tight. He recently battled cancer himself and has since returned to work (at age 77) as he does not have any available sick days at his disposal to utilize currently. But that’s just who my family is, they’re warriors.

My sister would never be one to ask for help, and surely never for any assistance financially as she has always been a woman that lives by her hard work ethic and dedication. However, the reality and gravity of the situation we are being faced with calls for the dire need to ask our community for assistance as my family navigates expensive medical bills and time off of work to help care for my beautiful sister whom we love so dearly.

Will you be part of Caro’s team? Any financial offering is kindly received. Beyond monetary support, is there something else that you’d like to offer that can help? We’d be grateful to hear from you. And for everyone who simply visits this page, we ask for your prayers. Prayers are extremely powerful and proven to work as we have already been witness to the greatness and power of our Creator.

Love and blessings to all.