Support Miwa's Recovery from Brain Injury

Miwa, my Japanese daughter-in-law, recently came to San Diego to visit my son after being in Japan for the last few years taking care of her elderly parents. Her visit would be an exciting fun-filled 3 months before going back to care for her folks. But her fun was abruptly cut short just 3 days after arriving while having coffee at a coffee shop at the beach with her husband and friends, she collapsed and fell unconscious. 911 was immediately called as my son, a former EMT, started assessing her for a stroke. Upon arriving at the hospital, the ER team immediately conducted tests, shaved her head and took her straight to surgery as they had determined Miwa had had a massive brain bleed and had blood pooled inside her brain, which can be fatal. The surgeon said afterwards it was fast acting that saved her life.

It has now been almost 3 weeks and Miwa is still in a coma (she has not regained consciousness since she collapsed at the beach), but the drainage tube from her brain has been removed although she is still on a ventilator and has a feeding tube. The good news is that she has recently started responding to simple commands, such as squeezing my son’s fingers and then she pointed to me when the nurse asked her if she recognized my voice and who I was, which brought a flood of tears to my eyes. Those simple gestures were HUGE milestones for Miwa since all this has happened!!! The doctors are discussing long-term care as it will be awhile before Miwa comes out of her coma and will need lots of care afterwards. Once she awakens, they will be able to assess if and what damage the bleed caused and if any of her cognitive skills were impaired. It’s hard to see our once vibrant, happy, beautiful Miwa laying helpless. Her husband has been at her constant side, praying over her, talking to her, rubbing her feet, stroking her cheeks and praying that he is the first person she sees when she awakens. Thus the reason we are asking for help, not only with the increasing hospital costs and Miwa’s ongoing medical care, but also for the possibility in the near future of taking a medical flight back home to Japan where she will be surrounded by her family, friends and native tongue (even in a coma, she can hear) especially since she has a long road to recovery. And of course my son will be going with her. More than anything though, we are clinging onto HOPE with the belief that Miwa will soon awake totally unscathed from all that has happened to her. Isaiah 53:5 "….and by His stripes, we are healed.”