Saving Sarah! #sarahstrong
Donation protected
On January 27th at approximately 9:30 a.m. Sarah was involved in a very serious automobile accident. Her vehicle was t-boned on the drivers side by another vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed.
Both Sarah and her six month old daughter Gracie were inside the vehicle. Thankfully, Gracie made it out of the accident without even a scratch on her. Sarah, on the other hand was rushed to St. Anthony Hospital in Crown Point via ambulance in critical condition. When we arrived at the hospital we were taken back to a conference room. Anyone who is ever given bad news at a hospital is always sent to “The conference room”. My heart sank knowing that the news we would be receiving wouldn’t be good. The decision had already been made when the Dr. came in with her prognosis that she would be flown to Loyola Hospital via helicopter. At this time we knew she had a broken pelvis, some internal bleeding and possibly a fracture at the base of her skull. After arriving at Loyola and waiting in the E.R for what seemed like forever... We were escorted up to the I.C.U. TRAUMA UNIT and asked once again to come back to the “Conference Room”. Dr. Jones, Sarah’s Neurosurgeon as well as members from his team sat down with us and explained that Sarah was in very serious critical condition. She was suffering from Atlanto-Occipital Dislocation also known as AOD Trauma. All of her ligaments, tendons and muscles holding her head on had been lacerated. Her skull was no longer attached to her spine. She was internally decapitated. Dr. Jones gave her a 50/50 chance to make it through the night. 80% of patients who suffer from an AOD injury don’t even make it to the hospital and only 5% of patients are eligible for surgery to reattach the skull to the spine. Sarah had a small brain bleed as well which was causing her to have seizures. Seizures cause the brain to swell. Luckily, Sarah was part of the 5% of patients who were eligible for surgery but in order to get to surgery she had to stop seizing. They Neuro team placed a bolt (probe) into Sarah’s skull to monitor her brain activity for seizures. They also gave her several anti seizure medications. If she made it through the night and stopped seizing she would be able to go in for the necessary life saving surgery to reattach her skull to her spine. Our Sarah did just that! She stopped seizing and the surgery was a GO! Dr. Jones and his team spent almost 2 hours getting Sarah positioned for the surgery. He (Dr. Jones) held her head in his hands while they turned her. That process alone took almost two hours. Once they had her in the correct position they surgery took place. They attached Sarah’s skull back to her spine using two rods and six screws successfully! What a huge relief!
At this point we wait. Wait for movements. We still don’t know if she will ever be able to move again! Still in critical condition. After a couple of days Sarah’s sedatives we lowered in hopes of getting her to be coherent enough to respond to Dr’s commands. And guess what? She did that as well. She was now responding to yes or no questions by blinking her eyes. Twice for yes. Once for no. Most importantly, We knew our Sarah was still in there. She was still with us. She knew who we were and what was happening:)
She needed pelvic surgery to correct the fractured pelvis and the Neuro team ok’d that! Pelvic surgery went smooth and they were finished in under a hour!
Dr’s were concerned with the possibility of pneumonia setting in since Sarah had been on the ventilator. The decision was made to preform a tracheotomy to better assist Sarah with her breathing. That procedure went well and she still has the trach currently. She is breathing very well on her own.. Now if we can get that pain in the butt Pneumonia to go away! She is able to wiggle her right thumb and right pointer finger at this point. Sarah progressed from blinking to communicate to using a letter board. Someone would point at letters of the alphabet on a piece of paper and Sarah would move her right thumb when the correct letter she wanted would be pointed to! Amazing right!! Well she wasn’t going to stop there! Every day she was showing progression. She was able to move her right wrist a couple days after moving her two fingers. We then gave her a computer to communicate. Since she can move her wrist, her thumb and pointer finger she can move a computer mouse. The keyboard is shown on the screen and she rolls the mouse over the letters and clicks on them. She can now type out exactly what she wants to say. Even with it being the very first day she’s using correct spelling and punctuation. She is even communicating with the nurses using medical terminology. That’s our Sarah!! Fast forward another week. I’m sitting in the room with her and I hear the mouse clicking away. I walk over to her to see that she is on Facebook making a post about her accident. It took her about an hour to complete her post but she did it all on her own:) She took a good long nap afterward, it took a lot out of her but she did it....She will continue to progress because that’s what Sarah does. Anyone who knows her knows that she is a very driven person. Her motivation is Gracie. She refuses to leave her motherless! She will accomplish anything she sets her mind to.
Sarah is still currently at Loyola Hospital. We are hoping to get her placed in a facility that will be able to help rehab her with her type of spinal cord injury.
She has a very long road ahead of her. She has been out of work due to the accident and will continue to be out of work for a very long time. Medical bills as well as her personal expenses are piling up quickly. I know Sarah would do anything to help someone in need and I’m asking for others to PLEASE help Sarah if you can. No donation is too small, every dollar counts.
Sarah and her family really appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers! Thank you! Thank you!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read Sarah’s story! Share if you would please!
Both Sarah and her six month old daughter Gracie were inside the vehicle. Thankfully, Gracie made it out of the accident without even a scratch on her. Sarah, on the other hand was rushed to St. Anthony Hospital in Crown Point via ambulance in critical condition. When we arrived at the hospital we were taken back to a conference room. Anyone who is ever given bad news at a hospital is always sent to “The conference room”. My heart sank knowing that the news we would be receiving wouldn’t be good. The decision had already been made when the Dr. came in with her prognosis that she would be flown to Loyola Hospital via helicopter. At this time we knew she had a broken pelvis, some internal bleeding and possibly a fracture at the base of her skull. After arriving at Loyola and waiting in the E.R for what seemed like forever... We were escorted up to the I.C.U. TRAUMA UNIT and asked once again to come back to the “Conference Room”. Dr. Jones, Sarah’s Neurosurgeon as well as members from his team sat down with us and explained that Sarah was in very serious critical condition. She was suffering from Atlanto-Occipital Dislocation also known as AOD Trauma. All of her ligaments, tendons and muscles holding her head on had been lacerated. Her skull was no longer attached to her spine. She was internally decapitated. Dr. Jones gave her a 50/50 chance to make it through the night. 80% of patients who suffer from an AOD injury don’t even make it to the hospital and only 5% of patients are eligible for surgery to reattach the skull to the spine. Sarah had a small brain bleed as well which was causing her to have seizures. Seizures cause the brain to swell. Luckily, Sarah was part of the 5% of patients who were eligible for surgery but in order to get to surgery she had to stop seizing. They Neuro team placed a bolt (probe) into Sarah’s skull to monitor her brain activity for seizures. They also gave her several anti seizure medications. If she made it through the night and stopped seizing she would be able to go in for the necessary life saving surgery to reattach her skull to her spine. Our Sarah did just that! She stopped seizing and the surgery was a GO! Dr. Jones and his team spent almost 2 hours getting Sarah positioned for the surgery. He (Dr. Jones) held her head in his hands while they turned her. That process alone took almost two hours. Once they had her in the correct position they surgery took place. They attached Sarah’s skull back to her spine using two rods and six screws successfully! What a huge relief!
At this point we wait. Wait for movements. We still don’t know if she will ever be able to move again! Still in critical condition. After a couple of days Sarah’s sedatives we lowered in hopes of getting her to be coherent enough to respond to Dr’s commands. And guess what? She did that as well. She was now responding to yes or no questions by blinking her eyes. Twice for yes. Once for no. Most importantly, We knew our Sarah was still in there. She was still with us. She knew who we were and what was happening:)
She needed pelvic surgery to correct the fractured pelvis and the Neuro team ok’d that! Pelvic surgery went smooth and they were finished in under a hour!
Dr’s were concerned with the possibility of pneumonia setting in since Sarah had been on the ventilator. The decision was made to preform a tracheotomy to better assist Sarah with her breathing. That procedure went well and she still has the trach currently. She is breathing very well on her own.. Now if we can get that pain in the butt Pneumonia to go away! She is able to wiggle her right thumb and right pointer finger at this point. Sarah progressed from blinking to communicate to using a letter board. Someone would point at letters of the alphabet on a piece of paper and Sarah would move her right thumb when the correct letter she wanted would be pointed to! Amazing right!! Well she wasn’t going to stop there! Every day she was showing progression. She was able to move her right wrist a couple days after moving her two fingers. We then gave her a computer to communicate. Since she can move her wrist, her thumb and pointer finger she can move a computer mouse. The keyboard is shown on the screen and she rolls the mouse over the letters and clicks on them. She can now type out exactly what she wants to say. Even with it being the very first day she’s using correct spelling and punctuation. She is even communicating with the nurses using medical terminology. That’s our Sarah!! Fast forward another week. I’m sitting in the room with her and I hear the mouse clicking away. I walk over to her to see that she is on Facebook making a post about her accident. It took her about an hour to complete her post but she did it all on her own:) She took a good long nap afterward, it took a lot out of her but she did it....She will continue to progress because that’s what Sarah does. Anyone who knows her knows that she is a very driven person. Her motivation is Gracie. She refuses to leave her motherless! She will accomplish anything she sets her mind to.
Sarah is still currently at Loyola Hospital. We are hoping to get her placed in a facility that will be able to help rehab her with her type of spinal cord injury.
She has a very long road ahead of her. She has been out of work due to the accident and will continue to be out of work for a very long time. Medical bills as well as her personal expenses are piling up quickly. I know Sarah would do anything to help someone in need and I’m asking for others to PLEASE help Sarah if you can. No donation is too small, every dollar counts.
Sarah and her family really appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers! Thank you! Thank you!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read Sarah’s story! Share if you would please!
Organizer
Melissa Cristwell Gutierrez
Organizer
Schererville, IN