Support Stephanie Grisanzio's Road to Recovery

Hello my name is Amanda, I am writing this on behalf of my sister Stephanie Grisanzio and her family.

This afternoon my baby sister was unfortunately involved in a terrifying motorcycle accident near her home in Belvidere during which she collided with a utility pole. Thankfully her husband Domenic was nearby and acted quickly and was able to lift the motorcycle off of her and keep her stabilized while waiting for paramedics to arrive. Dom accompanied Steph to OSF St Anthony Medical Center where she was treated by the trauma team. Due to her injuries Stephanie was unable to protect her airway at the time of arrival and was intubated and placed on a ventilator. She was quickly whisked away for MRIs, CT scans, Xrays, etc in order to fully determine the extent of her injuries. Family and friends flocked to the ER waiting room to be by our side through this process. We were unfortunately notified by the trauma doc that Steph’s injuries were worse than we had feared. She did in fact have 2 cerebral embolisms (clots) caused by the impact, multiple facial fractures, two cranial fractures, a broken jaw, a broken sternum, multiple broken ribs, a severely injured right eye, and a collection of fluid in her pericardial space. After meeting with the trauma team we were made aware the at that time it was too high risk to transport her, the teams recommendation was that we address the fluid collection surrounding her heart. The problem with this fluid collection is it could mean one of two things; if the fluid turned out to be pleural fluid, they’d likely have to drain it off and Steph would be okay… The other option was that the fluid was not pleural fluid, but in fact blood, which would indicate that there had been more extensive damage to her heart than we previously realized. The team wanted to do what is called a pericardial window (an incision made underneath the breast bone in order to gain access to the pericardial space) in order to see what exactly they would find. The doctors were unfortunately quite certain that this was in fact a collection of blood, not just fluid, in which case they would have to further open up her chest in order to find the source of the bleeding and hopefully put an end to it. We did not have long to make this decision and were unfortunately not given many alternative options, so Dom, Brenda and I discussed it and made the decision to move forward with the surgery as it gave Stephanie the best chance for survival. We were made aware of the extreme severity of this situation and the extreme amount of risks that came along with this choice. We were given our time to speak with her briefly before we sent her off to the OR.

More and more amazing family members and friends continued to show up as a testament of their love and support of Steph, Dom, and the kids. We all waited together well into the evening while the doctors worked to try to find and eradicate the bleed. Finally, after what felt like hours the doctors came out and told us that Stephanie had made it through the surgery. That she did in fact have a roughly 1 inch tear in the left ventricle, that had caused a build up over 350mL of blood around her heart. They were able to remove this blood, locate the bleed, and repair it. The doctor told us at this time that he was quite certain had we not moved forward with this surgery that Stephanie would not have made it. He informed us that while Steph had made it through the most challenging part of her recovery thus far, she does in fact have a very long and painful road ahead of her.

At this time OSF is unable to provide the care that she needs for the ocular damage she sustained, and that they would in fact be having to transfer her to another hospital for further care. At this time we are uncertain of where precisely she will be going, we are hoping for something like Madison or Chicago so that she remains close to family while the surgeons work together to find ways to best treat the remainder of her injuries. It is likely that Stephanie will remain hospitalized for the remainder of this month, as she continues to heal and regain strength and mobility. After her hospital stay it is likely that she will have to spend some time in an inpatient acute rehabilitation program before she is able to come home.

This news is obviously devastating to all of us, as all we want is her home safe and for this to be resolved. Unfortunately, it will be a long and complicated journey. One that leaves Dom home to juggle many different hats. He will be having to divide his time between not only taking care of Steph and remaining supportive and present for her at the hospital, but also he will have to find a way to remain present for Mags and Leo, as they navigate these next few weeks of trying to cope with everything that has happened over the last 24 hours. Apart from being a supportive father and husband, Dom also has the added financial burden that will come along with this situation.

With that being said, we decided to start a Gofundme in order to help offset some of the expenses their family will face in the upcoming weeks/months. This has not been an easy situation for any of us to endure, so if we can do anything to potentially alleviate some of the financial burden that Domenic will be feeling I’d love to do so.

It’s no secret that Stephanie means a lot to so many different people, that was evident tonight when all of you showed up to stand by our sides. And I don’t have the words to adequately express how much that show of love and support meant to all of us. The phones did not stop ringing, facebook posts, messenger, text messages, Snapchat, calls, etc. Y’all truly have no idea how touching it was to know how many people love Steph and care enough about her wellbeing and ours to show up or reach out during this trying time.

If you are able to donate, it would be so greatly appreciated. If not, if you could please take a moment to share this post to your family and friends. I just want to do everything we can to lift up Dom and the kiddos during this time, so that while Steph continues to heal and fight to return home, he can feel a bit more at ease with all that is on his plate. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for all of the love and support, I will continue to update as I can.

- Amanda