- K
- K
*tw: blood, graphic images*
Hello there,
My name is Brittany, and the girl you see in the cover picture is my best friend and younger sister, Veronica. She is 24, bright, resilient, resourceful, kind-hearted, and also in a very awful position neither of us ever would have imagined. So to start off I will give you all a bit of a back story on how and why we ended up here today.
On Sunday May 15th, my sister came home quite late from her closing shift at the restaurant she works at. After getting out of the shower she slipped on our hardwood floors, putting her left foot right through an empty aquarium that we had pulled out of our storage a week before. Our plan was to attend the reptile convention coming to our city on May 28th, and we had been getting all of our old tanks and decorations out of storage to set up for the big day. Unfortunately, being home alone that night she was forced to call an ambulance as the wounds that were inflicted by the broken glass of the tank started to bleed profusely. Once the ambulance arrived she was rushed to one of the hospitals in our city, where she was seen by a physician after waiting in the emergency room for several hours. What we didn't realize at the time was the doctor in charge of her care did not clean out the wound or remove the glass, he simply sewed up her foot (around 9-10 stitches) and sent her on her way without any antibiotics. So she returned home that morning and was set to rest up for the week and get back to work. While at the hospital she did receive a tetanus shot however, and was told to be aware some people have a bad reaction to the shot which resulted in flu like symptoms. So that night when she fell ill we didn't think too much of it; a few days of bed rest and she would be good as new. Over the next 2 and a half days she progressively got sicker, unable to keep down any food or water, spiking a very high fever, chills, headaches, the works. It was at this time we started to notice the swelling in her foot was starting to get a bit excessive. We knew a little redness and swelling would be normal after trauma to the area, but we thought it would be managed with some anti-inflammatories and ice. 3 days after receiving her stitches, on Wednesday May 18th, Veronica woke me up screaming and crying in pain, claiming her foot felt like it was on fire. When I saw the state of her now extremely swollen and bright red foot we rushed to the hospital that she had originally sought medical attention from.
This is where things really started to deteriorate. She was rushed in quite quickly as it was apparent to everyone that her foot was infected. At this hospital they told her that she was septic, and that her recent vomiting, fever, etc. were all due to her being extremely ill, and not the tetanus shot we originally believed. After a few hours at the hospital she was then moved to another larger hospital in our city, as they had more resources to treat the infection. She then spent the next two days in several different wings, being seen by many different doctors and nurses all trying to figure out what was causing the infection and trying to slow/stop its progression. At the end of the second day at the hospital is when she was visited by the infectious disease unit where they told her that her foot had turned necrotic and that the tissues in her foot were dying due to this severe infection that they still couldn't identify. They informed her that they had advised the orthopedic unit that had taken over her case file that they would recommend a exploratory surgery to try and gain a better insight on how she got the infection, as well as to remove as much of the infected tissues as possible to slow it spreading further. She was in surgery that night. After the first surgery is when we found out about the glass remaining in her foot and that it had severed several tendons in her foot. She has been on many heavy duty antibiotics and pain killers since arriving at the hospital, and has had to have 2 more surgeries to go in and clean out the remaining infection and necrotic tissues.
At this point we do not know when she will be leaving the hospital, she has been given answers that range from 2-3 weeks to months depending on how her foot/body responds to the treatment plan the doctors have her on. Although she is not scheduled for anymore surgeries at this point, it would not be unlikely for her to have to have another. She is looking at being off of work for many months to come, having to go to extended physio therapy to regain full motion in her foot and ankle, and will be in a wheel chair for at least a few months following her discharge. This has been the hardest thing either of us have ever had to experience; this has been hard on friends and family also who cannot see her while she is in the hospital due to covid regulations. Already having to deal with severe anxiety, depression, adhd, and ocd on a day to day basis, she is now confined to a hospital room with no foreseeable release date and has had her life completely uprooted before she has even turned 25. I love my sister more than words can express and it has been devastating to watch her have to go through this, with no way to help her. She is one of the strongest and bravest young ladies I know and has been through many trials and tribulations in her life, but never anything as catastrophic as this. It breaks my heart to know she is suffering.
So this brings me now to present day. At this point the only thing I can think of to do is to turn to the kindness of those around us to help with the many expenses that are now starting to pop up. Obviously as this injury has taken away her ability to walk, she will be out of work for at least 5- 6 months. However she still has rent to pay, phone bills, several pets to feed etc. In Canada, although healthcare is free there are many things that still are not covered: the original ambulance bill (which will be anywhere between 400-700$), purchasing a wheelchair for her to use when she is finally released, and physio therapy afterwards (which we haven't even begun to consider calculating the price of). All of the donations she receives will be going towards the bills specified above, and help to relieve just a small part of the stress and dread she has been feeling since she was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday. We really appreciate each and every donation, and all the support we have already received! We completely understand if donations are not feasible for you at the moment, even just sharing our fundraiser to get the word out more is extremely helpful! Thank you in advance to anyone that is able to make this nightmare just a little more bareable. Please keep her in your thoughts.
Pictures below depict her injury and the infections progression, as well as a picture of the two of us taken 1 week before her injury.
Hello there,
My name is Brittany, and the girl you see in the cover picture is my best friend and younger sister, Veronica. She is 24, bright, resilient, resourceful, kind-hearted, and also in a very awful position neither of us ever would have imagined. So to start off I will give you all a bit of a back story on how and why we ended up here today.
On Sunday May 15th, my sister came home quite late from her closing shift at the restaurant she works at. After getting out of the shower she slipped on our hardwood floors, putting her left foot right through an empty aquarium that we had pulled out of our storage a week before. Our plan was to attend the reptile convention coming to our city on May 28th, and we had been getting all of our old tanks and decorations out of storage to set up for the big day. Unfortunately, being home alone that night she was forced to call an ambulance as the wounds that were inflicted by the broken glass of the tank started to bleed profusely. Once the ambulance arrived she was rushed to one of the hospitals in our city, where she was seen by a physician after waiting in the emergency room for several hours. What we didn't realize at the time was the doctor in charge of her care did not clean out the wound or remove the glass, he simply sewed up her foot (around 9-10 stitches) and sent her on her way without any antibiotics. So she returned home that morning and was set to rest up for the week and get back to work. While at the hospital she did receive a tetanus shot however, and was told to be aware some people have a bad reaction to the shot which resulted in flu like symptoms. So that night when she fell ill we didn't think too much of it; a few days of bed rest and she would be good as new. Over the next 2 and a half days she progressively got sicker, unable to keep down any food or water, spiking a very high fever, chills, headaches, the works. It was at this time we started to notice the swelling in her foot was starting to get a bit excessive. We knew a little redness and swelling would be normal after trauma to the area, but we thought it would be managed with some anti-inflammatories and ice. 3 days after receiving her stitches, on Wednesday May 18th, Veronica woke me up screaming and crying in pain, claiming her foot felt like it was on fire. When I saw the state of her now extremely swollen and bright red foot we rushed to the hospital that she had originally sought medical attention from.
This is where things really started to deteriorate. She was rushed in quite quickly as it was apparent to everyone that her foot was infected. At this hospital they told her that she was septic, and that her recent vomiting, fever, etc. were all due to her being extremely ill, and not the tetanus shot we originally believed. After a few hours at the hospital she was then moved to another larger hospital in our city, as they had more resources to treat the infection. She then spent the next two days in several different wings, being seen by many different doctors and nurses all trying to figure out what was causing the infection and trying to slow/stop its progression. At the end of the second day at the hospital is when she was visited by the infectious disease unit where they told her that her foot had turned necrotic and that the tissues in her foot were dying due to this severe infection that they still couldn't identify. They informed her that they had advised the orthopedic unit that had taken over her case file that they would recommend a exploratory surgery to try and gain a better insight on how she got the infection, as well as to remove as much of the infected tissues as possible to slow it spreading further. She was in surgery that night. After the first surgery is when we found out about the glass remaining in her foot and that it had severed several tendons in her foot. She has been on many heavy duty antibiotics and pain killers since arriving at the hospital, and has had to have 2 more surgeries to go in and clean out the remaining infection and necrotic tissues.
At this point we do not know when she will be leaving the hospital, she has been given answers that range from 2-3 weeks to months depending on how her foot/body responds to the treatment plan the doctors have her on. Although she is not scheduled for anymore surgeries at this point, it would not be unlikely for her to have to have another. She is looking at being off of work for many months to come, having to go to extended physio therapy to regain full motion in her foot and ankle, and will be in a wheel chair for at least a few months following her discharge. This has been the hardest thing either of us have ever had to experience; this has been hard on friends and family also who cannot see her while she is in the hospital due to covid regulations. Already having to deal with severe anxiety, depression, adhd, and ocd on a day to day basis, she is now confined to a hospital room with no foreseeable release date and has had her life completely uprooted before she has even turned 25. I love my sister more than words can express and it has been devastating to watch her have to go through this, with no way to help her. She is one of the strongest and bravest young ladies I know and has been through many trials and tribulations in her life, but never anything as catastrophic as this. It breaks my heart to know she is suffering.
So this brings me now to present day. At this point the only thing I can think of to do is to turn to the kindness of those around us to help with the many expenses that are now starting to pop up. Obviously as this injury has taken away her ability to walk, she will be out of work for at least 5- 6 months. However she still has rent to pay, phone bills, several pets to feed etc. In Canada, although healthcare is free there are many things that still are not covered: the original ambulance bill (which will be anywhere between 400-700$), purchasing a wheelchair for her to use when she is finally released, and physio therapy afterwards (which we haven't even begun to consider calculating the price of). All of the donations she receives will be going towards the bills specified above, and help to relieve just a small part of the stress and dread she has been feeling since she was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday. We really appreciate each and every donation, and all the support we have already received! We completely understand if donations are not feasible for you at the moment, even just sharing our fundraiser to get the word out more is extremely helpful! Thank you in advance to anyone that is able to make this nightmare just a little more bareable. Please keep her in your thoughts.
Pictures below depict her injury and the infections progression, as well as a picture of the two of us taken 1 week before her injury.
