Help Danielle Recover

Since November of last year, my family and I have been handling a devastating situation. 

It has been the most unexpected and heart-wrenching experience of my life. On November 22nd, my mom received a call asking her to consent to emergency brain surgery for my sister. That without it she would die. Of course my mother consented. I will never forget the sheer terror in her voice when she told me the news. 

I travelled to Florida and my kids stayed behind with my husband. My family and I would make a 3-hour roundtrip commute to sit vigil in the ICU. In a coma, she looked like her and not her. Tubes and beeps. Tears and fear. My heart literally ached. A hurt in my chest and a constant cough set in. Sleep eluded me. Weight fell off. I was also pregnant at the time.  

The pregnancy was so wanted. Such surprise and happiness when we found out not long before. The fear set in after this happened to her. Fear also of what the stress would cause in my body. What would come of me pregnant and so far from home in Illinois? The grief for her was so utterly complete. So unbearable and yet what choice did we have in the face of it? I remember being so excited about seeing those two lines on the test. I remember just a few weeks later, in my more bereft moments asking G-d that if he must, to take this developing baby, but not my baby sister. Bargaining as if that is how things worked. Just begging that my sister stay with us. That she be healed and come back to me. The day before my kids arrived in Florida, I suffered a miscarriage.

 My sister is still here. 

She has been making remarkable progress since. Her doctors have consistently been amazed. From coma to cognizance. From feeding tube and trach to eating and breathing on her own. I'll never forget her first laugh or the tears of joy when it finally came. Please join the healing journey of my sister. She really has come so far.  Please donate.

Danielle is a single Mom whose son Tyler turned 3 in March. We want to give Danielle the best chance possible to recover, but the road ahead will be long. She will continue to need cancer treatment and intensive rehabilitation therapy to aid in her recovery. There has been and will continue to be an enormous amount of expenses related to her health. She is finally showing remarkable signs of progress, but her insurance only covers a very limited amount of intensive rehab and she will need so much more to regain her abilities. In addition, she will continue to have expenses related to little Tyler. Would you please consider making a donation to help fund Danielle’s recovery?

Danielle's sister Jody can be reached at jodynicoleb@gmail.com.