Help for the Pfaeffli fam

So three days ago, my sister had brain surgery. Let that sink in.....Brain surgery. Adding to this terrifying ordeal is that Ashley is pregnant and has just passed her first trimester. When Ash woke up from surgery, she spoke briefly to me on the phone with jokes, curses and Mama Mias. I felt so insanely relieved that she was her old self and all of this within only a few hours of the surgical team cutting through the muscles in the back of her neck to cut this aggressive poison out of her brain. This poison has claimed the vision in both of her eyes. It has also confined her to a wheelchair this last week because this brain cavernoma, that she has most likely had her whole life but that only ruptured four weeks ago, messed up her equilibrium so terribly that she could no longer walk.

This past Thursday, after being in the hospital for just over a week, the neurologist sent Ash for her fourth MRI, as her condition, that was first designated an 'A', progressed to a 'D', in the four short weeks since she had first went to emergency. Apparently the MRI showed the ruptured vessel had now spread blood all over her brain and it was no longer localized in the one area. Her doctor decided that he was not going to wait until the baby came to operate (as was originally planned) and that he wanted to go in and take it out immediately. A few weeks ago, Ashley said she had nervously asked the neurosurgeon if she was going to die, and he gave a confident "No". This past Thursday afternoon however, before Ashley went in for surgery, she asked again about whether she was going to die and this time he responded "probably not". Apparently the cavernoma had quadrupled in size in the 9 days since she entered the hospital, and if left inside any longer, the outcome would have not been a favourable one. 

So late on Thursday night Ash went in for surgery. I found this news out as I had just walked into work and I can never describe the feeling I had trying to explain to her in only a few short minutes, how much she means to me with words, on the phone, thousands of kilometers away. The words "I love you' just didn't seem to equate to the huge portion of my heart that she occupies. I tried my best to put on a brave face/voice for her and not completely lose it, but it was the scariest and most overwhelming conversation I have ever had and I was a mess when I finally hung up with her.  

Fast forward a few days and Ashley is beginning the very steep uphill road to recovery. She has not yet regained the sight in her eyes and the left side of her body is still not functioning optimally. She can't pick up anything with her left hand, she still needs help getting in and out her hospital bed and she can not walk anywhere unassisted. She can't pick up Sonny and won't be able to for a while. Ashley is going to need to work with a physiotherapist regularly to help her relearn to walk and most importantly, her and Swiss are going to need to find childcare for Sonny, as Ashley will not be able to care for him alone while Swiss is away at work all day. 

So today I ask, that if you can, please donate to this gofundme account. It will help make this healing process be a little less stressful by offsetting the costs of these unforeseen necessities of the next six months. 

What a plot shift this has been! These last four weeks have been the most worrisome and terrifying of my entire life and I can't imagine what they must have been like for Ashley and Swiss. Anyone that knows us, knows how close a bond I share with my sister. She is my oldest and dearest friend and her strength and positivity through the majority of this ordeal has been truly magical. There was a while there where we weren't sure if she was going to live through this and the idea that there could be a world that I didn't have my sister in, is not one I would want to be part of. If you're able, please help me raise money for my incredibly brave and beautiful sister and her little powerhouse of a family. 

Please feel free to share this with your family and friends. Thank you to everyone who has reached out and for your positive thoughts and prayers, we love you.