Help Tori Nieman
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Just before Christmas, Victoria (Tori) Nieman, felt a little under the weather. However, she has such a love of celebrating Christmas that she went to her Uncle Frank's to enjoy the holiday with her family. Tori enjoyed the food, the sweets and all of the presents. She really liked playing the shrink wrap game where her and her mom battled a large ball of shrink wrap to win money, candy and a box of macaroni and cheese.
A few days later, Tori was still not feeling well. Mom and Nana had a hard time waking her up and when she finally woke up, she was very confused, could not keep her balance, and spoke using scrambled sentences and slurred speech. She was promptly brought to the hospital.
Tori was immediately put on oxygen when she arrived at the hospital and the emergency staff asked her to be transported to the PICU at Children's Hospital in Milwaukee because her blood oxygen level was critically low. Tori's blood oxygen level continued to drop quickly and the emergency staff had to intubate her and place her in a medically induced coma before she was transported to Milwaukee.
Tori remained in coma for 2 days and intubated for 3. I can only image what was going through her 7 year old mind as she was awake while having a machine breathe for her and unable to speak. They found that Tori was suffering from pneumonia and RSV.
Tori started to improve, so they decided to move her from the PICU to a regular room. It seemed that she had finally turned the corner and was in the fast lane to recovery. However, her health took a turn for the worse. Not only did her oxygen levels drop significantly, the amount of carbon dioxide in her blood had rechead a toxic level. She was quickly moved back into the PICU.
Since returning to the PICU, it was found that she suffering from hypoxia, hypercapnia, respiratory insufficiency, acute encephalopathy, and thyroid disorder. The results of all of this is that she's not able to get oxygen into and carbon dioxide out of her bloodstream without help. She now has to wear a BiPaP mask most of the day.
With all this, the doctors are still not exactly sure what the cause of all of this is. They have ordered DNA type tests to help get a better understanding of what might be happening. However, the test results take weeks to come back. The doctors' best guess is that Tori will be spending the next 6-8 weeks in the hospital.
Now, it's our turn to help Tori and her family
Having to cope with the unexpected serious illness is truly heart-wrenching, but as a result of hospital expenses, transportation and food costs, and many weeks of unpaid leave, they are struggling with a significant financial burden.
Due to unfortunate timing, the family will have to pay both 2018 and 2019 deductibles plus any expenses that insurance won't pay.
The funds raised here will be used to pay for medical expenses and to help the family get back on their feet so they can help Tori get better without a growing financial burden.
I went to go see Tori when she was still intubated after waking up from coma. I took some time to talk to her even though she was only able to answer by shaking or nodding her head. I spent some of that time telling her a story about when I brought her mom to see Christmas lights when her mom was just a little girl. Every time we saw lights, her mom would say "look at the pretty lights Uncle Timmy...look at all the pretty lights!" We looked at lights for over 45 minutes...45 minutes of "look at the pretty lights Uncle Timmy...look at all the pretty lights!" When I told Tori the story, she smiled, smiled bigger, and appeared to start coughing. The nurse took a look and said "she's not coughing...she's laughing!" THAT'S OUR TORI!
A few days later, Tori was still not feeling well. Mom and Nana had a hard time waking her up and when she finally woke up, she was very confused, could not keep her balance, and spoke using scrambled sentences and slurred speech. She was promptly brought to the hospital.
Tori was immediately put on oxygen when she arrived at the hospital and the emergency staff asked her to be transported to the PICU at Children's Hospital in Milwaukee because her blood oxygen level was critically low. Tori's blood oxygen level continued to drop quickly and the emergency staff had to intubate her and place her in a medically induced coma before she was transported to Milwaukee.
Tori remained in coma for 2 days and intubated for 3. I can only image what was going through her 7 year old mind as she was awake while having a machine breathe for her and unable to speak. They found that Tori was suffering from pneumonia and RSV.
Tori started to improve, so they decided to move her from the PICU to a regular room. It seemed that she had finally turned the corner and was in the fast lane to recovery. However, her health took a turn for the worse. Not only did her oxygen levels drop significantly, the amount of carbon dioxide in her blood had rechead a toxic level. She was quickly moved back into the PICU.
Since returning to the PICU, it was found that she suffering from hypoxia, hypercapnia, respiratory insufficiency, acute encephalopathy, and thyroid disorder. The results of all of this is that she's not able to get oxygen into and carbon dioxide out of her bloodstream without help. She now has to wear a BiPaP mask most of the day.
With all this, the doctors are still not exactly sure what the cause of all of this is. They have ordered DNA type tests to help get a better understanding of what might be happening. However, the test results take weeks to come back. The doctors' best guess is that Tori will be spending the next 6-8 weeks in the hospital.
Now, it's our turn to help Tori and her family
Having to cope with the unexpected serious illness is truly heart-wrenching, but as a result of hospital expenses, transportation and food costs, and many weeks of unpaid leave, they are struggling with a significant financial burden.
Due to unfortunate timing, the family will have to pay both 2018 and 2019 deductibles plus any expenses that insurance won't pay.
The funds raised here will be used to pay for medical expenses and to help the family get back on their feet so they can help Tori get better without a growing financial burden.
I went to go see Tori when she was still intubated after waking up from coma. I took some time to talk to her even though she was only able to answer by shaking or nodding her head. I spent some of that time telling her a story about when I brought her mom to see Christmas lights when her mom was just a little girl. Every time we saw lights, her mom would say "look at the pretty lights Uncle Timmy...look at all the pretty lights!" We looked at lights for over 45 minutes...45 minutes of "look at the pretty lights Uncle Timmy...look at all the pretty lights!" When I told Tori the story, she smiled, smiled bigger, and appeared to start coughing. The nurse took a look and said "she's not coughing...she's laughing!" THAT'S OUR TORI!
Organizer and beneficiary
Tim Nieman
Organizer
Kenosha, WI
Kayla Nieman
Beneficiary
