Support Suzanne Hamminga's Stroke Recovery

My name is Sommer Duran.

On October 19th, 2024, I received a phone call that my mother, Suzanne Hamminga, had suffered a stroke and the EMTs were on their way to her house.

When I arrived at my mom's house, I saw the most heartbreaking scene. She was sitting, slouched over, on the toilet in the bathroom, unable to make eye contact with me, and she had no control of the left side of her body. The EMTs were trying to move her from the toilet onto a chair to move her out of the house, but they slipped and DROPPED her into the tub, and one of them fell on top of her, causing severe bruising to her left hip.

My mother and I took a very stressful ambulance ride to Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo, where they immediately took her in for a CT scan. They then came out with some very scary but hopeful news. My mother had a blood clot on the right side of her brain, but she was a candidate for a thrombectomy. With a successful thrombectomy, they were able to remove 80% of the clot from her brain, but 20% still remained. They said the damage had already been done, so trying to get the 20% that was remaining was not worth it.

After her surgery, she was sent to the ICU, where they were monitoring her every hour. They did many CT scans, MRIs, blood draws, and ultrasounds on her neck, head, eyes, arms, and heart. A swallow test showed that she can't drink any regular liquids because it is going down the wrong tube and going into her lungs. They also did X-rays to check her left hip from where the EMTs dropped her.

After many tests, they found that the right artery in her heart was having some issues that caused her to have blood clots, resulting in her stroke. They wanted to put her on blood thinners to help dissolve the remaining clots in her head, neck, and hand, but were unable to due to the brain bleed caused by the thrombectomy.

By day 4, they were able to get the brain bleed to stop and start her on the blood thinners. On day 5, they were able to get her off the IV meds, and on day 6, they were able to transport my mother to a rehab facility called Mary Free Bed.

Although the scariest part of this journey is over, the hardest part is yet to come.

My mother is very active. She worked a full-time job that she has been at for almost 10 years and has 4 grandchildren that she sees almost every single weekend. While the road to recovery is looking like a long one, I am hoping to make the next year of her life a little less stressful so she can focus on recovering.

After this life-changing event, my mom has to relearn how to do the basic everyday tasks in life. She is relearning how to use her left arm and leg, how to drink without fluids going into her lungs, and hopefully walk without help.

She will need long-term 24/7 care.

The donations received will help cover the loss of income from not being able to work, the cost of gas to get to and from the rehabilitation centers, and for any medical bills not covered by insurance.

Thank you for your support and thank you for any donations given.