Welcome and Thank You!

This is the first post regarding my mother's progress from her survival of meningococcemia, or Meningococcal septicemia, a deadly bacterial infection. We don't know how she caught the illness but it left a devastating trail of life-changing complications.

She is currently awake and alert, but still recovering in the Critical Care Unit. She is unable to speak as she required intubation when she was admitted to the hospital on Dec. 24th (she was unconscious) , then received a tracheotomy a few days after waking up. As far as I know, the tubing has been removed and she is breathing on her own. However, the doctors have not closed the opening from her tracheotomy because she is still undergoing regular surgical procedures. She receives dialysis regularly but after a little help from medication treatment last weekend, she was able to produce more urine. In fact, I visited her earlier this afternoon and her pee was bright yellow and clear (and there was lots of it!)

She had surgery on Tuesday Jan. 13th to amputate her fingers on both hands, and both legs below her calves. Fortunately, her thumbs were spared. My mother will require several months for her recovery, including potential skin grafts, then most likely will spend time in a rehabilitation center and learn to use prosthesis to walk.

Edit: We are now accepting online donations through this site via PayPal (on the right).

Thank you for your time; your thoughts and prayers would be most appreciated.

Also, be sure to read the story below written by my Aunt Esy.

-Karen