On Thanksgiving morning 2025, our family’s lives changed forever.

My cousin, who had just turned 28, went to bed perfectly healthy the night before. In the early morning hours, she woke up unable to feel her arms. By the time her mother rushed her to the ER, her condition had rapidly worsened—her legs collapsed, and she lost all sensation in her body.

She was transferred to UofL Hospital, where she spent weeks fighting for her life, including multiple stays in the ICU. After extensive testing, doctors delivered a devastating and rare diagnosis: a spinal cord stroke. Her formal diagnosis is a C3–T7 acute spinal cord infarct, resulting in paralysis and severe weakness in all four limbs. This type of stroke accounts for only about 1% of all stroke cases, and in her case, there was no clear cause—no prior medical conditions, no genetic factors, no injury. It was described as a tragic, unexplained event.

Today, she is paralyzed from the neck down, with only minimal movement beginning to return in her arms and legs. While there is hope, her recovery will be long and uncertain.

She later spent 6 weeks at Frazier Rehabilitation, where she worked tirelessly to regain any function she could. During this time, she also developed a life-threatening condition called Autonomic Dysreflexia, which causes sudden and severe spikes in blood pressure and requires emergency care. She was again admitted to the ICU after a serious episode involving severe blood loss.

Now home with her parents, her life looks completely different. Their house has been modified to accommodate her needs, including a specialized hospital bed, wheelchair, and accessibility renovations. Her mother, now 60 years old, has had to stop working entirely to become her full-time caregiver—lifting, repositioning, feeding, and caring for her around the clock.

Before this, she was an independent, college-educated young woman with a career. Now, she is unable to work, and her days are filled with outpatient therapy 3–5 times a week—the only path forward in hopes of regaining movement.

Her current monthly expenses are overwhelming and continue to grow. They include medical supplies, copayments, ongoing medical bills, and transportation costs for frequent therapy appointments, which require specialized taxi services not covered by insurance. To make matters even more difficult, she will be losing her current insurance at the end of the month, and transitioning to a private plan comes with extremely high monthly premiums.

On top of everything, she continues to suffer from ongoing medical complications, including serious urinary issues that frequently require urgent care or ER visits.

This fundraiser is our last resort.

The past four months have taken an unimaginable toll on our family—physically, emotionally, and financially. We are asking for your help, your prayers, and your support during this incredibly difficult time.

Please consider donating or sharing. No amount is too small—every bit helps give her a fighting chance at recovery and hope for a more independent future.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.