My sister is an old soul, generous to a fault, healthy and active. She is also a very independent and private person. For those who don’t know, my sister, Lisa, 49 years old and no previous health issues, had a stroke on Tuesday, October 21st. Luckily, the amazing staff at Knight Veterinary, where she works, especially her incredible boss, Barb, recognized her symptoms (FAST), and called 911.

She needed emergency brain surgery to remove two blood clots from her brain. They still don’t have a reason why she got the clots; however, they did find another issue that she needs to deal with sooner than later relating with how the clots got to her brain. She may come home Saturday, but she isn’t out of the woods. Thank God for the wonderful staff at her work and friends and family that really stepped up to help out so far.

My sisters dogs are her family. She has her own house and works full time, but supplements to pay for her bills by pet sitting other dogs. She won’t be able to go to work for a bit, and won’t be able to watch other dogs until she gets her bearings back. Her medical bills will be quite substantial because very healthy people (the only “surgery” she had before this was for a filling) sometimes take high-deductible healthcare to be able to afford everything else in life.

People have asked how they can help. Besides the missed income listed above, she won’t be able to handle her hyper huskies. She will either have to have them at daycare or board them until she can. She has to have a super strict diet, even though she already eats pretty health, so bringing food over, although appreciated, really wouldn’t help. And because she would never ask for this, I am going to. If you have any monetary donation you could afford to give, that would be the best option. It would, if nothing else, give her time to heal and not worry for now about how she is going to pay for everything. If I had a million dollars, I would give her every penny. She’s my sister, and I love her. And I kind of want to keep her around.