Help Give Lauren a Second Chance

On October 4th, Lauren Minster, the daughter of our dear friends, Sam & Lisa Minster, suffered a massive, near fatal stroke.

Lauren wasn't expected to survive but miraculously, she is slowly beginning to respond with a few setbacks. It's going to be a long, slow, and costly journey which for anybody would/will become a big financial burden.

There will not only be hospital bills, but after she gets out of the hospital, she will need to go to rehab facilities to re-learn all the things we take for granted, like walking, talking, eating, brushing her teeth, etc., and this will be needed for at least a year (some of which will not be covered by insurance). She will also need to have in-home care, which is also not covered by insurance. Finally, the Minsters will need to have ramps and such installed in their home for Lauren.

If you can, please help ease the financial aspect of this traumatic situation by making a donation to help Sam and Lisa cover the growing medical bills.

We will continue to post updates of Lauren's progress as we receive them.

On behalf of Sam, Lisa, Lauren, and Shane, thank you so much for your help and prayers!

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LAUREN'S STORY:
"Our Journey" in Sam's Words
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On October 4th, my wife called to tell me that our 18-year-old daughter, Lauren, was unresponsive and being rushed to the ER.

When I arrived, this nurse was taking me back to the trauma room when I suddenly heard, “We lost her pulse.” My wife came running out of the room, hysterically crying, asking me to go in the room to be with Lauren. When I went in, this doctor was giving my lifeless daughter chest compressions. I immediately started crying this guttural cry that hurt every part of my body; it was the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my entire life, and I begged god to take me instead of her.

When she was finally stable enough to be moved, they took her to do a CT scan of her brain and that’s when we found out that she suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke on the left side of her brain. The doctors told us that it wasn’t looking good. I didn’t know what to do. I’m supposed to protect my daughter and I couldn’t do a single thing for her; I felt completely helpless. I was completely inconsolable and the Chaplain was telling me to be strong for my family, but I needed someone to be strong for me.

DAY 1: The Day We Almost Lost Her

They were finally able to move her to the ICU. The neurologist came in to tell us to prepare ourselves for the fact that Lauren may very well die or be in a constant vegetative state. My beautiful baby girl was in the ICU with breathing and feeding tubes down her throat and 14 different medicines working to keep her blood pressure up, the pressure in her brain (intracranial pressure or ICP) down, and her body in a medically-induced coma. 

Then a neurosurgeon came in to implant an ICP monitor in her brain to see how the pressure actually was. He said his goal was 15 or under. The pressure vacillated between 13 and 25, which wasn’t great.

DAY 2:
The neurosurgeon told us that he was going to have to remove part of her skull (craniectomy) to let her brain swell out of her head and not down toward her spine, because that would mean death. Right before the surgery, her ICP surged to 42, which was very dangerous. The surgery went well and her pressure started to finally drop.

We wanted to know if she was going to wake up, but the doctors kept telling us that it was a very serious stroke, and that they simply didn’t know.

DAY 2: Very Swollen After Craniectomy Surgery

OCTOBER 7th:
After three days in the ICU, she was able to maintain her own blood pressure without any medication. She was initially on two drugs to keep her blood pressure up, which they took down to one, and then none; this was a major step.

OCTOBER 9th:
After five days in the ICU, she started moving her toes (mainly left side since the damaged part of the brain was the left and the left side of the brain controls the right side of her body) and grimacing when they suctioned her mouth.

OCTOBER 10th:
After six days in the ICU, they lowered her sedation and she started opening her eyes! She was still heavily sedated, but we were finally able to take a breath.

OCTOBER 12th:
After eight days in the ICU, she had a tracheostomy done so that they could remove the tubes down her throat, and she would be more comfortable.

DAY 8: Right After Tracheostomy Surgery

OCTOBER 13th:
They removed her ICP monitor because her ICP was much lower and she was able to maintain it on her own. Also, her fourteen medicines got whittled down to two.

OCTOBER 15th:
Today was a big day for Lauren. They took her completely off her sedation and pain medicines, so we were able to get an idea of how she was mentally and physically.

She still can’t talk, and she favors her left side, but we are hopeful. They also tested to see if she could breathe on her own and she did! Normally they test someone the first day for 1.5 to 2 hours, but she was able to tolerate 3 hours.

OCTOBER 16th:
They inserted the feeding tube into her stomach, and they are now testing her breathing on her own again. They hope she can tolerate it for four hours this time.

The doctor told us that they are hoping to transfer Lauren out of the ICU tomorrow or Tuesday, but they said that she is going to need at least a year of constant physical therapy.

DAY 12: Starting to Look Like Herself Again

The most important thing, though, is since she still has so much swelling in her brain, we simply won’t know the amount of brain damage she will have.

The biggest thing going for her is her age, so we remain hopeful.... what else can we do? She's our daughter and we love her SO much!