Logan's Brain Surgery Recovery Fund
Donation protected
For those who know me, you know I have spent my life taking care of others. It began when I was young and has continued on into my adult life. The most important people in my life are my children, whose father passed away in 2006. This is the story of my youngest child and how we came to be in this situation.
Logan was diagnosed with intractable epilepsy at the age of 18 months. Our lives have never been the same. He is now 30 years old. He spent many months of his life in different hospitals while doctors tried to find answers to his seizures. The seizures refused to be controlled, despite all the testing and medications. In 2005 we traveled from Michigan to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN to see if they could help us find some answers. We have traveled back and forth multiple times each year since 2005. In September 2014, just before leaving on a trip to the Mayo Clinic, I lost my job. After we got back to Michigan from this visit, Logan received a phone call from his neurologist telling us they thought they isolated where the seizures were coming from. It was a miracle 29 years in the making. The doctor told us it would require brain surgery, which scared both of us, but we knew we had to take the risk. I said “Well I guess everything happens for a reason and now we know the reason I lost my job.” I was going to have to be available to travel to Minnesota and be by my son’s side while he had brain surgery. After all this time, who could pass up this opportunity for a normal life? It was exciting yet scary all at the same time.
For years I have been dipping into my retirement savings to cover the medical expenses due to traveling out of state for medical treatment. Now I have no job to keep that retirement fund rebuilding. I didn’t know how I was going to provide my son with this opportunity but just knew that I had to do it.
His surgery was January 23, 2015. The outcome was good with a mix of bad. The good is that the seizures have decreased from four to five every day to a couple the first week after surgery. He was seizure free for two weeks but has since had another seizure. The bad is they had to remove a part of his brain which left him paralyzed on his right side and unable to speak.
The doctors warned us ahead of time that this was a possibility and assured me that people usually recover from this type of deficit pretty quickly. Logan regained most of the use of his right side within a week after surgery and I got to hear his voice again five days after surgery. At three weeks out from surgery, he stayed awake for about three hours at a time before brain fatigue set in and his right side would hang and his verbal skills dropped significantly. His thought process is very slow, which makes it difficult and frustrating for him to navigate the outside world on his own. The long range prognosis is very good, but we are being told three to six months recovery time for his brain to heal and things to return to their pre-surgical status. This means alot of rehab. Some of the rehab will be in Minnesota and some will be at home in Michigan, which means there will be more trips back and forth throughout 2015.
I am his primary caregiver. I drive him to multiple appointments per week and care for him when his brain is fatigued and he cannot fully care for himself. This means I cannot work for the next three to six months while he recovers. Logan currently receives SSD which covers the cost of his vehicle for the trips from Michigan to Minnesota plus his regular monthly expenses. With losing my job and my unemployment running out, I have had to deplete my retirement savings for this trip and normal living expenses.
I have been very blessed up to this point that I have been able to cover Logan’s medical expenses for the last 29 years. I hate asking for help, but I am prayerfully asking. My resources are gone. I need assistance with housing costs and medical expenses until recovery is at a level that I can go back to work and we can both get back to our own lives.
If you can find it in your heart to help me, I will be ever so greatful! Any amount is appreciated. If you are unable to donate, please share this page with others who may be able to help.
Logan was diagnosed with intractable epilepsy at the age of 18 months. Our lives have never been the same. He is now 30 years old. He spent many months of his life in different hospitals while doctors tried to find answers to his seizures. The seizures refused to be controlled, despite all the testing and medications. In 2005 we traveled from Michigan to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN to see if they could help us find some answers. We have traveled back and forth multiple times each year since 2005. In September 2014, just before leaving on a trip to the Mayo Clinic, I lost my job. After we got back to Michigan from this visit, Logan received a phone call from his neurologist telling us they thought they isolated where the seizures were coming from. It was a miracle 29 years in the making. The doctor told us it would require brain surgery, which scared both of us, but we knew we had to take the risk. I said “Well I guess everything happens for a reason and now we know the reason I lost my job.” I was going to have to be available to travel to Minnesota and be by my son’s side while he had brain surgery. After all this time, who could pass up this opportunity for a normal life? It was exciting yet scary all at the same time.
For years I have been dipping into my retirement savings to cover the medical expenses due to traveling out of state for medical treatment. Now I have no job to keep that retirement fund rebuilding. I didn’t know how I was going to provide my son with this opportunity but just knew that I had to do it.
His surgery was January 23, 2015. The outcome was good with a mix of bad. The good is that the seizures have decreased from four to five every day to a couple the first week after surgery. He was seizure free for two weeks but has since had another seizure. The bad is they had to remove a part of his brain which left him paralyzed on his right side and unable to speak.
The doctors warned us ahead of time that this was a possibility and assured me that people usually recover from this type of deficit pretty quickly. Logan regained most of the use of his right side within a week after surgery and I got to hear his voice again five days after surgery. At three weeks out from surgery, he stayed awake for about three hours at a time before brain fatigue set in and his right side would hang and his verbal skills dropped significantly. His thought process is very slow, which makes it difficult and frustrating for him to navigate the outside world on his own. The long range prognosis is very good, but we are being told three to six months recovery time for his brain to heal and things to return to their pre-surgical status. This means alot of rehab. Some of the rehab will be in Minnesota and some will be at home in Michigan, which means there will be more trips back and forth throughout 2015.
I am his primary caregiver. I drive him to multiple appointments per week and care for him when his brain is fatigued and he cannot fully care for himself. This means I cannot work for the next three to six months while he recovers. Logan currently receives SSD which covers the cost of his vehicle for the trips from Michigan to Minnesota plus his regular monthly expenses. With losing my job and my unemployment running out, I have had to deplete my retirement savings for this trip and normal living expenses.
I have been very blessed up to this point that I have been able to cover Logan’s medical expenses for the last 29 years. I hate asking for help, but I am prayerfully asking. My resources are gone. I need assistance with housing costs and medical expenses until recovery is at a level that I can go back to work and we can both get back to our own lives.
If you can find it in your heart to help me, I will be ever so greatful! Any amount is appreciated. If you are unable to donate, please share this page with others who may be able to help.
Organizer
Sally Stackhouse Mate Stachowski
Organizer
Trenton, MI