Support for the Kuester Family

The Kuester family needs some help! I am hoping to raise some money to help them with medical bills and other miscellaneous costs to help them with transportation, childcare, and any necessary medical equipment.

From Lisa:

"The middle of October, I went to the ER with face tingling and numbness. My left leg had randomly been going to sleep while standing as well off and on for a week or so prior. I went in thinking it was a pinched nerve, but I wanted to rule out a stroke just in case. While in the ER I had what looked like a seizure. After that one seizure, they have happened continuously since. The doctors at the first ER couldn’t find any reason for the episodes and released me, saying it was out of their scope. I knew something was very wrong, and so did Nate. We decided to drive 5 hours to UCI to find an answer, and thankfully we did. They diagnosed me with functional neurological disorder. At the time we didn’t know what that meant. We were in shock. Now that we have had the time to soak it in, this is what it looks like. At the current moment, I am unable to walk unassisted. I have horrible brain fog, and my speech is affected at times. It feels at times that electricity is running through my head and down my spine. I have endless muscle cramps and spasms. Luckily, because we live on a military base, we are able to switch to an ADA one-story home, and it should be ready for us in a few weeks. But for now, I am unable to get around the house without Nathan carrying me up and down the stairs. I cannot watch Emily, who is 4, on my own anymore, so she will need to quit her 3-hour a day preschool (because I cannot pick her up midday) and go to all day childcare. I am not allowed to drive due to the non-epileptic seizures, so we will need Addie to go to afterschool care or pay someone to pick her up and drop her off at home from the bus stop. After we are in the new one-story home, I will need to start physical and occupational therapy. With all of this that happened so suddenly, we obviously are still trying to figure out our new normal. However, I am grateful this is not a terminal condition, we will just need time as a family to figure out how we adapt and grow from this diagnosis."

In the meantime, Lisa is still waiting to get into a neurologist closer to home for regular care. There is also some concern of possible comorbidities/additional diagnoses. So she has also seen a rheumatologist and is waiting to do more extensive blood work; depending on those results, she may be sent to UCLA for further testing. She's also been referred to a cardiologist for irregular heart rates and passing out. She stills needs an MRI of her brain and spine.

The Kuester family is living on the Vandenburg base, and the medical group there doesn’t have all resources that they need. Her husband, Nate, is taking care of her and their two girls, Addie & Emily, by himself and has been out of work for more than 2 weeks (so far) to do so.

Please help this sweet family in any way that you can, big or small. And please pray for them as they navigate these new struggles and adjust to big life changes.

For more info about functional neurological disorder, click here!

For updates from Lisa, visit her CaringBridge site.

[For those that don't know me, my name is Shelley Wescoat. Lisa and I have been friends for over 20 years. She's family to me!]