LET'S HELP LAURA!
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** PLEASE DONATE AND SPREAD THE WORD**
I met Laura when I was 7 years old in our first grade class at Wilmot Elementary in Evergreen, Colorado. She was exactly as she is now - young, vibrant, and genuine. Over the course of the last 22 years, I’ve been lucky enough to call Laura my friend, my teammate, and my roommate (and for one weird summer, literally my roommate - we shared a room with two twin beds). For me, she’s always been one of the first people I turn to when things get hard. She always listens, she empathizes, and she makes me feel at home.
Now, in order to help Laura get through the most difficult time in her life, I’m reaching out to our networks to ask for donations to assist Laura in her recovery. I know she would do the same for me, and for any of us, without hesitation.
On Monday, November 28th, Laura was airlifted in a Flight for Life plane from Durango, Colorado to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Lakewood. She left behind a class full of third graders at Ignacio Elementary, Jasper, her six month old puppy, her friends and family.
Initial guesses were that she was suffering from a brain aneurysm and needed immediate attention. Laura had been feeling off for a couple weeks prior but had been told by two separate urgent care physicians that she was feeling the effects of a pulled muscle. Thankfully, Laura listened to her own body early that morning and asked her brother, Jason, to take her to the emergency room at 4am.
Late that night, Laura’s parents Chuck and Cheryl, arrived from Phoenix (where they recently moved after selling their Evergreen house of nearly 30 years) and Jason arrived after a 7 hour drive from Durango. After a series of tests her first week in the hospital, doctors determined that rather than an aneurysm, Laura had a cavernous malformation at the base of the third ventricle of her brain. Simply defined, she had an ‘unusual lesion’ causing pressure in her brain.
After 10 days in the hospital, Laura was set to fly to Arizona to get a second opinion from a specialist to discuss if surgery was an option. In the beginning, doctors were extremely hesitant to remove the lesion due to the level of risk the surgery posed - if anything went wrong, it could have killed her. However, the night before the Wagners were hoping to leave, Laura’s condition changed drastically and surgery was no longer an option, it was a necessity to save her life.
On December 6th, Laura underwent 10 hours of brain surgery to remove the malformation. The procedure was a success.
Since that day, Laura has been recovering from the effects of the malformation and the surgery itself. Thankfully, she was accepted into a rehabilitation program at Craig Hospital and was moved from St. Anthony’s on December 15th. At Craig, she was given access to a range of different therapists - from occupational therapy, to physical therapy, to speech. The Wagners cannot stress enough how supportive and beneficial the staff and facilities at Craig have been. I’ve personally been to visit Laura at Craig twice since she was admitted and she’s been to my house once and I can’t tell you how much progress I’ve seen. It’s clear that Craig is where Laura needs to be at this stage of her life in order to help her to achieve a new, normal life.
This is where we all come in. On Tuesday, January 24th, Laura was moved to outpatient care at Craig. Physically, this means that she was able to move out of the hospital and into family housing with Cheryl and Chuck. Financially, this means that Laura has far less coverage from her insurance provider and is now having to pay out of pocket for many of the things she needs in order to make a full recovery. Things like living expenses, a membership to the PEAK rehabilitation gym (where she can use specialized equipment that is catered to her very specific needs), unforeseen medical expenses and more.
All funds donated will go directly toward helping Laura to get the care she needs. It was a difficult decision for Laura and her family to make to ask for financial support from the community and anything donated will be greatly appreciated. The sooner we meet our fundraising goal, the better - it'll help Laura to focus only on what she needs to be focused on: getting better.
We will give updates on Laura as things progress - please send her positive energy as she continues her recovery at Craig.
**PLEASE DONATE AND SPREAD THE WORD**
I met Laura when I was 7 years old in our first grade class at Wilmot Elementary in Evergreen, Colorado. She was exactly as she is now - young, vibrant, and genuine. Over the course of the last 22 years, I’ve been lucky enough to call Laura my friend, my teammate, and my roommate (and for one weird summer, literally my roommate - we shared a room with two twin beds). For me, she’s always been one of the first people I turn to when things get hard. She always listens, she empathizes, and she makes me feel at home.
Now, in order to help Laura get through the most difficult time in her life, I’m reaching out to our networks to ask for donations to assist Laura in her recovery. I know she would do the same for me, and for any of us, without hesitation.
On Monday, November 28th, Laura was airlifted in a Flight for Life plane from Durango, Colorado to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Lakewood. She left behind a class full of third graders at Ignacio Elementary, Jasper, her six month old puppy, her friends and family.
Initial guesses were that she was suffering from a brain aneurysm and needed immediate attention. Laura had been feeling off for a couple weeks prior but had been told by two separate urgent care physicians that she was feeling the effects of a pulled muscle. Thankfully, Laura listened to her own body early that morning and asked her brother, Jason, to take her to the emergency room at 4am.
Late that night, Laura’s parents Chuck and Cheryl, arrived from Phoenix (where they recently moved after selling their Evergreen house of nearly 30 years) and Jason arrived after a 7 hour drive from Durango. After a series of tests her first week in the hospital, doctors determined that rather than an aneurysm, Laura had a cavernous malformation at the base of the third ventricle of her brain. Simply defined, she had an ‘unusual lesion’ causing pressure in her brain.
After 10 days in the hospital, Laura was set to fly to Arizona to get a second opinion from a specialist to discuss if surgery was an option. In the beginning, doctors were extremely hesitant to remove the lesion due to the level of risk the surgery posed - if anything went wrong, it could have killed her. However, the night before the Wagners were hoping to leave, Laura’s condition changed drastically and surgery was no longer an option, it was a necessity to save her life.
On December 6th, Laura underwent 10 hours of brain surgery to remove the malformation. The procedure was a success.
Since that day, Laura has been recovering from the effects of the malformation and the surgery itself. Thankfully, she was accepted into a rehabilitation program at Craig Hospital and was moved from St. Anthony’s on December 15th. At Craig, she was given access to a range of different therapists - from occupational therapy, to physical therapy, to speech. The Wagners cannot stress enough how supportive and beneficial the staff and facilities at Craig have been. I’ve personally been to visit Laura at Craig twice since she was admitted and she’s been to my house once and I can’t tell you how much progress I’ve seen. It’s clear that Craig is where Laura needs to be at this stage of her life in order to help her to achieve a new, normal life.
This is where we all come in. On Tuesday, January 24th, Laura was moved to outpatient care at Craig. Physically, this means that she was able to move out of the hospital and into family housing with Cheryl and Chuck. Financially, this means that Laura has far less coverage from her insurance provider and is now having to pay out of pocket for many of the things she needs in order to make a full recovery. Things like living expenses, a membership to the PEAK rehabilitation gym (where she can use specialized equipment that is catered to her very specific needs), unforeseen medical expenses and more.
All funds donated will go directly toward helping Laura to get the care she needs. It was a difficult decision for Laura and her family to make to ask for financial support from the community and anything donated will be greatly appreciated. The sooner we meet our fundraising goal, the better - it'll help Laura to focus only on what she needs to be focused on: getting better.
We will give updates on Laura as things progress - please send her positive energy as she continues her recovery at Craig.
**PLEASE DONATE AND SPREAD THE WORD**
Organizer and beneficiary
Caitlin Wren
Organizer
Denver, CO
Laura Wagner
Beneficiary
