Hello!
My name is Penny Foreman and I am initiating this fundraiser for my dear friend Mary Pyles who suffered a severe stroke 3 months ago. Many of you know her from working at the Bureau of Land Management, some from the Wild Horse and Burro program, country dancing at the Buffalo Chip, Young Living activities, or any of the other ways you were lucky enough to have crossed paths with her. I am just one of the MANY lucky people to be privileged to know and call Mary a friend. Anyone who has ever met Mary cherishes her and considers her a friend for life. Her caring, sweet, fun, good natured, crazy personality draws everyone in. She is that special person, always there for you in need, always offering to help or cheering you up with a card, flowers and/or gifts sometimes for no reason other than to make you feel important and special. That is our Mary.
Well now our buddy Mary, and her children, Sarah and Cody, need our help! In lieu of the flowers, gifts and food that has been offered over the past months, I am asking for financial assistance for Mary! She has been in 4 different hospitals and rehab facilities and is now in an assisted living home continuing her treatment and therapies slowly working towards recovery from the devastating trauma her brain and body suffered. And the bills have started coming in! Along with the thousands of dollars in medical costs that must be paid before her catastrophic insurance coverage kicks in, Sarah had to hire a nurse’s advocate and a certified nursing assistant to ensure her care continues at a high level since Sarah had to return to North Carolina and cannot attend to her daily care. In addition, Mary does not have long-term care health insurance so has to pay 100% of the assisted living home plus transportation costs, massage therapies, holistic and other treatments used to help with Mary’s comfort.
This has been a very tough road for our sweet Mary and her kids! Any contribution you can make towards this fundraiser is GREATLY APPRECIATED and I assure you 100% will go to Mary’s care. Mary has already been so blessed with the many cards and letters she has received and has been humbled by so much prayers, love and encouragement! Please keep sending the prayers, positive energy and encouraging mojo and continue sending cards/notes/letters/pics to my address as she is enjoying them and will continue to help her stay motivated during her long journey ahead. We love you all. <3 #Prayers4Mary
Background/Update:
Mary suffered a catastrophic brain bleed causing a stroke on Easter Sunday, April 4th. She had major brain surgery to repair the damage best they could, but she suffers from right hemisphere brain damage (RHBD) and is experiencing the typical impairments associated with RHBD, including left side paralysis, weakness on the right-side, short term memory loss and impaired cognitive abilities. It has been a very slow recovery. She spent most of June at Barrow Neurological Center in rehab receiving physical, occupational and speech therapies (PT, OT and ST) where she improved the movement and strength on her right side and the ability to speak and communicate but did not advance as far as we hoped with such state-of-the-art equipment and specialists. She experiences "central post-stroke pain", in her limbs and back which sometimes limits her desire to fully take advantage of the physical therapy and do her exercises. Mary is now at an assisted living home where just this week she started getting PT, OT, and ST again. She remains mostly bed-ridden relying on caregivers for most needs. She's too weak to sit herself up and/or move herself to a wheelchair however we are optimistic that her right side will continue getting stronger and she may regain some control of her left leg with continued therapy. Her right arm and hand continue to get stronger but fine motor skills are still challenging. Her left arm remains a challenge as she's having an issue with calcium deposits above her elbow causing swelling and pain. That may eventually require surgery. Luckily Mary can speak, has a great long-term memory and even demonstrates her deadpan sense of humor at times. Her voice is quiet and weak at times so she continues to work on that as well. She fatigues easily so we are continually providing encouragement and support to keep her going and motivated so she can go home.
Her current goal is to begin her directed and focused therapies again and consistently practice them to develop enough strength, mobility and control to get herself in and out of a wheelchair so she can use restroom facilities and shower with little assistance. In addition she'll be working on her right hand fine motor skills so she can more easily feed herself, handle a phone, hold a pencil to learn to write (as she is left-handed), etc. It is her hope to be able to fly to North Carolina for Sarah’s wedding in early October and join Sarah in her walk down the aisle! Of course, the long-term goal is that she be able to improve enough and gain some feeling and control in her left leg to be able to return to her home in New River and live independently with her son Cody and dog Roxy, and once again be able to country dance with her partner John at the Buffalo Chip... We are all doing our best to help her make those dreams and goals come true...
