Support Denise's Stroke Recovery

Hi Again,

It's Gabby writing on behalf of the family. Believe it or not, we have ANOTHER family member in the hospital (My Aunt Denise). We all debated whether it was appropriate to post another gofundme, but as most of you are aware, our family has been through some hard times in the past few months and life doesn't stop in the midst of tragedy. All of us have taken numerous days off work, commuted across the Whidbey Island Ferry, and racked up medical bills that would make you cry. As we all know, life can be a bit*h and seems to always kick you when you're down.

Here is Denise's story so far:

On July 14th, Denise was having chest pains and went to the doctor for assessment. They checked and noted that her heart was fine at the time. She proceeded to return to the Island County Fair to help the 4-H kids (an event she had worked hard for and was very excited about).

On July 16th, Denise was feeling extreme dizziness that wouldn't go away and uncoordinated movement. After a while, she experienced a headaches and burning sensations in her arm. She was encouraged to go to the walk in clinic by her daughters, Stephanie and Michelle. The walk in clinic promptly sent her to Providence Medical Center via ambulance. Once at Providence, Denise underwent testing including labs, CT, and an MRI. It was determined that she had suffered a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA Stroke) and that she had a brain bleed. Often times, a TIA stroke can be a warning sign of a future stroke so Denise has been in the hospital since (so far a total of 5 days).

Denise is cognitive but the left side of her body has been severely affected and she will require occupational and physical therapy to recover her function. She will not be able to function alone for a while so family members will be taking time off work and on a "rotation schedule" to help her out once she is released and home. Denise has no PTO left for the year, and FMLA has a 1 week waiting period before it kicks in so unfortunately Denise is losing at least 1 week of pay on top of all the medical bills that, in her words, "may make me have a heart attack".

All of your prayers, thoughts, and well wishes were critical in saving Bianca's life and we are once again asking for prayers and support to get through yet another hurdle.

We are hopeful that Denise can recover fully and return to her passion of teaching kiddos how important a horses love can be.