Team Chase
Donation protected
Chase’s story…
My nephew Chase was diagnosed with focal epilepsy in the right temporal lobe at age 8. At that time, he was experiencing approximately 30-40 seizures a day. During the seizure it would feel as though he was falling to the left. Although he aware what was happening, he would be unable to respond. For years, he was given medication to reduce the frequency of the seizures and it worked. More recently, however, the medication has started failing. Once 3 medications fail there is little chance (less than 5%) ANY medication will work. Now, at the age of 15, Chase, my brother and sister-in-law made what feels like the only choice they could: surgery.
Chase is going to have the first of 2 brain surgeries at Children’s Hospital Of Philadelphia in the next few weeks. In the initial invasive surgery, they will take electrodes and insert them into several places IN his brain and then monitor for as long as needed. Then the EEG is monitored to record Chase during seizures. The surgery to place the electrodes may take only a few hours, but the monitoring may take several days or a few weeks. After the monitoring period, the electrodes are removed. It is not unusual for a person to be in the hospital for three weeks or so for this procedure and the EEG testing. This invasive procedure has obvious risks but the chances for complications are small enough that they have agreed to move forward. After this procedure they will know exactly where the issue is coming from and then they can go ahead with corrective surgery to remove the area in the brain causing the seizures.
Why we need your help…
My sister- in-law Jamie, a special education teacher for the last 20 years, has maxed out all her paid time off. On December 12th, 2020, my brother had a major heart attack and subsequent surgery to save his life. Since then, Jamie has been balancing the needs of her students during a pandemic, the care of my brother in his recovery, and Chase – physically and emotionally, while he copes with the testing, procedures and seizures leading up to his surgery. Their savings was used to purchase a home that they moved into just one month prior to my brother’s heart attack.
The financial strain on the family is immense. My brother, Joe, is disabled Veteran. Jamie used all her available sick days and exhausted all possible paid ways to continue. Her school district has docked pay and made it difficult to take the time they need. She had to fight for weeks to get FMLA protected leave of absence. It is likely Jamie will not be able to return to work (paid) until September.
Chase is as tough as they come and has maturity beyond his years, but he needs his parents there to care for him. Please consider helping them in any way you can. They have served their community and country, and now they need our help.
My nephew Chase was diagnosed with focal epilepsy in the right temporal lobe at age 8. At that time, he was experiencing approximately 30-40 seizures a day. During the seizure it would feel as though he was falling to the left. Although he aware what was happening, he would be unable to respond. For years, he was given medication to reduce the frequency of the seizures and it worked. More recently, however, the medication has started failing. Once 3 medications fail there is little chance (less than 5%) ANY medication will work. Now, at the age of 15, Chase, my brother and sister-in-law made what feels like the only choice they could: surgery.
Chase is going to have the first of 2 brain surgeries at Children’s Hospital Of Philadelphia in the next few weeks. In the initial invasive surgery, they will take electrodes and insert them into several places IN his brain and then monitor for as long as needed. Then the EEG is monitored to record Chase during seizures. The surgery to place the electrodes may take only a few hours, but the monitoring may take several days or a few weeks. After the monitoring period, the electrodes are removed. It is not unusual for a person to be in the hospital for three weeks or so for this procedure and the EEG testing. This invasive procedure has obvious risks but the chances for complications are small enough that they have agreed to move forward. After this procedure they will know exactly where the issue is coming from and then they can go ahead with corrective surgery to remove the area in the brain causing the seizures.
Why we need your help…
My sister- in-law Jamie, a special education teacher for the last 20 years, has maxed out all her paid time off. On December 12th, 2020, my brother had a major heart attack and subsequent surgery to save his life. Since then, Jamie has been balancing the needs of her students during a pandemic, the care of my brother in his recovery, and Chase – physically and emotionally, while he copes with the testing, procedures and seizures leading up to his surgery. Their savings was used to purchase a home that they moved into just one month prior to my brother’s heart attack.
The financial strain on the family is immense. My brother, Joe, is disabled Veteran. Jamie used all her available sick days and exhausted all possible paid ways to continue. Her school district has docked pay and made it difficult to take the time they need. She had to fight for weeks to get FMLA protected leave of absence. It is likely Jamie will not be able to return to work (paid) until September.
Chase is as tough as they come and has maturity beyond his years, but he needs his parents there to care for him. Please consider helping them in any way you can. They have served their community and country, and now they need our help.
Organizer and beneficiary
Brittany Murasky
Organizer
Lawrence Township, NJ
Jamie Sangine
Beneficiary