Support Taylor's Journey to Healing and Recovery

November 30, 2024 Taylor broke all 3 bones in her ankle and dislocated her foot. She had surgery to repair her ankle on December 12. After her surgery, her foot was placed in a cast and she was told she would be non-weight bearing for 6 weeks. On December 30 she went for a follow up appointment. They removed the cast and her stitches. She was told she would be non-weight bearing for 8 more weeks. She was experiencing leg pain and told to come back if the pain continued in the next few days. On January 1, Taylor was talking to her mom and mentioned not feeling great. Before Taylor could say what was wrong, she passed out and began seizing. Taylor had 1 more seizure before the ambulance arrived. When they arrived her heart rate was high and her oxygen was low. When she arrived to FHN, her body began to decline. Her heart rate was high and doctors were not able to bring it down. Her blood pressure and oxygen were both low. She was not stable enough to withstand a CT scan to confirm whether or not she had a blood clot. FHN called Madison and she was going to be airlifted to Madison. Unfortunately, when the helicopter arrived she was not stable enough to fly. She continued to decline. Her family was given a choice to keep her at FHN where she would die because they didn't have the equipment to do anymore or risk giving her a clot buster which could cause her to hemorrhage and die, and fly her to Madison in unstable conditions. Her family made the difficult decision to fly her to Madison. Before getting the clot buster, Taylor coded and CPR was administered for 5 minutes before she was revived. They administered the clot buster and flew her to Madison. When she got to Madison, Taylor's pupils were very large and she was not responding to voice or touch. The doctor's thought it was possible she had a brain injury. They were going to do a CT of her chest and brain. Since brain injury was a possibility, her family had to make a difficult decision on what to do if she coded during CT. She made it through her CT and her brain scan was clear! She still was not responding, so the doctors needed to perform a twitch test to check her brain activity. Taylor was completely coherent during her test which gave the doctors the confidence to put her on ECMO. ECMO was used to give her lungs and heart a break and give her the best chance for surgery. From there she was transferred to cath to remove the clot. They removed 2cm of clot. Taylor was then transferred back to the OR because her leg was not getting blood supply from the ECMO machine. She received a blood transfusion as well. She currently has a tube connecting the artery in her leg to the ECMO machine to ensure it gets blood flow. She is on dialysis and she is intubated as well. Doctors say it is miraculous she is alive. She has a long road ahead of her. She will have an extensive stay in the hospital followed by rehabilitation.