Zoe’s Recovery

Hi All,

My name is Teresa, I created this gofund.me page for my brother Ben’s daughter (my Niece ) Zoe Palmer. Zoe was struck down with a very rare and dangerous brain infection approximately three weeks ago.

Note: there has been some confusion (apologies) regarding having two gofundme pages for Zoe. As Sarah and Ben are separated, another gofund.me was created with more Zoe and Dad's angle of what has happened for those people that know Ben and not Sarah (and vise versa). It has been agreed Between Ben and Sarah to transparently pay for what is required for Zoe's care and halve the donations in both accounts regardless. Please Zoe and Sarah's gofundme link:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/zoes-battle

Any funds raised will be used to accommodate Zoe’s recovery and comfort for her stay in hospital and one day at home. There will be transportation costs for Ben and Sarah going to and from Hospital on a daily basis. Ben and Sarah may both have to drop hours from work in the future to care for Zoe (as Leave is currently drying up fast for both) meaning that there will be ongoing living/modification costs to support Zoe in this long battle.

Every little bit helps and I know how Ben and Sarah will really appreciate any donations.

Please find below about Zoe’s struggle by my brother Ben

About Zoe Palmers Struggle (described by my brother Ben)

On the 3rd of this Month, a Friday night - Zoe was rushed to hospital by my ex-wife Sarah with a terrible fever/temperature (reaching 41.5 degrees Celsius), experiencing shakes and displaying purple discoloration on her arms. I received a message from Sarah saying that Zoe had a feverish temperature and that the doctors there thought she was having seizures; I rushed off to Belmont Hospital which was 40 minutes to an hour away at the time, where Zoe was being assessed.

On my arrival at Belmont Hospital, Zoe had declined so dramatically that by the time I reached the Emergency Department, my innocent girl was already in a state of unconsciousness. Seeing her like this really hit me hard – I knew something very serious had happened right away. I was only talking to Zoe earlier in the day and I remember thinking - when will I talk to her again? Hours later Zoe was transported to John Hunter Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) via Ambulance as Zoe required Specialist/Neurosurgeon attention that could only be afforded at the John Hunter Hospital, we arrived at approximately 3:30am Saturday morning.

Zoe tested positive for Influenza A not long after arriving in PICU. Zoe contracted Influenza A in the week leading up to her seizures. It seemed like a mild Flu through the week and at the time we (Sarah and I) were not too concerned about it turning serious as Zoe had the the usual sore throat, cough and slight fever. The Neurosurgeons stated that the brain infection was caused antibodies fighting her Flu that have become rogue and instead attacked her healthy brain cells. The very rare brain infection Zoe was diagnosed with is like an aggressive meningitis (and the downside to being that rare is that the damage caused by the infection is much more serious/dangerous).

We were told by the Neurosurgeons that serious brain injuries like this can take a long time to heal (which can take months and sometimes years) and that there are still a lot of ‘unknowns’ about Zoe’s recovery. That being said, we are keeping positive; Zoe is strong physically and a strong willed twelve year old girl, so I believe she will do very well in the end. It is just a matter of how long recovery will be and what will be required to aid that recovery in the meantime.

Sarah and myself have been by Zoe’s bed side constantly since this situation erupted on that Friday night 3 weeks ago, we both work hard to provide for Zoe and have been unable to attend work with the care that Zoe requires and deserves.

In the first few weeks Zoe was unconscious in the PICU unit and it was a stressful wait for her to even move a closed eye. That said we are now seeing some positive signs of her waking up and recovering. In the last four days she has made some great leaps and strides compared to her previous state. Zoe can now move legs and arms on the bed, rip tubes out (as much as we try to keep them all in), open eyes, move her neck (on the pillow and sometimes when sitting leaning against bed). In the last four days she has become verbal for the first time saying some small words like ‘more’, ‘mum’, ‘dad’, ‘cold’ and even ‘grandma’ which was a huge deal to us all.

For the future we are estimating that we will be in the Hospital for some months yet but in all honesty - nobody really knows. The staff at John Hunter (Specialists/Doctors and Nurses and Paramedics) have been great and gone above and beyond to help Zoe and us as parents so far. I would like to thank them all for their support and professionalism.

I will try and keep updates available as I can.

Cheers and Thank you,

Ben Palmer.