help Takiyah fight for her life

Hello Family and Friends,

Takiyah is smart, charismatic, and super funny! Over the years Takiyah went from being my friend to my best friend/roommate, and now she is my sister. She never fails to make me laugh when I am having a hard time, even now, when she is going through such a hard time herself. She’s been there through my toughest times and now I want to be here for hers. She does not deserve to be written off just because she lives in a wheelchair. But we, her family and friends, are not able to provide her with all the things she needs to heal herself and live the life she was used to and needs to live.

Her family, friends, and I are reaching out because our beautiful friend needs our help. Takiyah wouldn’t ask for help on her own because she would hate the thought of being a burden. She’s a genuinely amazing soul that would do anything for anyone. This past year has been a tough one for her and her family. She has been battling one health crisis after another. This has taken a toll on her family, including financially. She still has several medical needs that unfortunately are not being met due to financial restraints and lack of any help from the doctors and insurance.

Here is a little background for those who may not know Takiyah’s story.

She began her life in New York. Her father was shot to death during a robbery nine days after her 1st birthday. Her father’s death drove her mother to drugs and negligence. Takiyah’s grandparents did not want her to live a life like that and brought her here to New Mexico. They raised Takiyah all through her elementary and middle school years. For high school, they graciously sent Takiyah at her request to New Mexico Military Institute where she graduated.

Unfortunately, a little over a year and a month later, just before her 19th birthday, Takiyah was shot and paralyzed by a drunken racist who shot at her car while a friend was driving. That was back in 1996. After she was well enough to leave the hospital, Takiyah went to rehab to learn how to live as a paraplegic. While the nurses there were not being cruel, they explained to her, based on their experiences, that she would most likely lose most of her friends or live a normal life.

Despite all the adversity in Takiyah’s life, that hasn’t happened! Over the past 26 years, Takiyah has retained all of her friends and gained many new ones. She can drive and has held down jobs and has gone to college. No one took her, she took herself! Now, Takiyah has a bachelor’s degree in Human Services. She has lived on her own and raised a child, her baby sister, into a loving caring adult who is currently in the process of being her caregiver. This will be the first time Takiyah has needed a caregiver. She needs a caregiver because she is currently bedbound with a pretty nasty and big bedsore on her upper thigh.

Bedsores are common with paraplegics; however, she has always healed any bedsores she has had on her own before. This one was different though, it got worse and worse. Unfortunately, Takiyah was stubborn and still believed she could heal the bedsore on her own, and it did begin to improve. The bedsore started to get better and had been improving for a couple of weeks; feeling much better she drove to Florida with a friend.

Takiyah had a blast in Florida. She did a lot of sightseeing and went to a couple of museums. She even got to see a cruise ship that was out of the water about ten minutes after she said she wanted to see one up close. Then she got to do something she thought she would never be able to do as a paraplegic. Ride a zipline! Unfortunately, while still in Florida, Takiyah became very ill. She couldn’t eat and would get sick if she took even a couple of bites. The sore had become infected, and she didn’t realize it (it wasn’t easy for her to see back there.) Takiyah didn’t know why she was sick since she thought the bedsore was healing but it got to the point where she went to the emergency room in Florida and was told she had sepsis because of the bedsore. She was admitted to the hospital but while the Florida doctors were great, Takiyah wanted to be treated at home. The Florida hospital understood and released her with some antibiotics, a tightly bandaged wound, and a promise from Takiyah that she would see her doctor as soon as she got home. Her friend drove her home in 28 hours!

Takiyah was admitted to the hospital at home to treat the sepsis but the bedsore got worse at that time and then found out she had osteomyelitis (a bone infection) on her thigh. It was recommended that Takiyah go to a specialty hospital to help get rid of the bone infection. She would need six weeks of antibiotics at this hospital but stayed for an extra three weeks to also receive wound care. During that time the bone infection healed, and the bedsore also began to look much better. She was sent home with a wound vac and given a home health nurse, with the parting words that ‘it looked like the wound was healing great and would not need skin grafts or a muscle flap.’

Then, insurance happened. For some reason, Takiyah nor anyone else understands, her insurance did not understand that she was paralyzed and that was never going to change, so the coverage wasn’t as it should be. They ended up taking the wound vac once the allotted time was up. The insurance problem has since been fixed but the wound stopped healing in the time that it took to clear that issue up. Now, even though Takiyah’s doctors have agreed she needs the wound treated, she has basically been written off and given excuse after excuse to not get the care she needs.

You might ask yourself why at this point. Takiyah sure did! As a paraplegic Takiyah was given a mortality rate (unbeknownst to her) when she first became this way 26 years ago and the doctors don’t have any faith or hope for her, so she is not worth their time or money. They want to put Takiyah on hospice or palliative care. Thanks to her wound care nurse, the infection is under control, but the wound isn’t healing because she no longer has the proper medical equipment needed, such as a special mattress and wheelchair seat for people with bedsores.

Takiyah will die without this equipment but if she can heal this wound, she knows, her instincts tell her, that this is not the end of her life. She still has many, many, many years left to her to her life and she wants it back. This is where we need your help, please! Takiyah needs help with medical expenses, bills, supplies, and the tools that will help her to live her life the way she needs and wants to, so she can get her life back on track.

We are asking for help for Takiyah to help cover all of her medical supplies, bills, and medical equipment at this time. All donations will go towards whatever she needs to get better. Thank you all for your generous support!