Gracie went into the hospital Sunday, December 21st, after feeling a strange numbness in her hands and a soreness in her neck. This moved to numbness in in her toes which progressed up her body. But Gracie is so strong! She was telling the nurses and doctors it was okay as they poked and prodded her to find out what was wrong… she was doing better than the rest of us. As the day progressed, the paralysis had reached to her neck, and started to affect her ability to breath. Because of that, the doctors decided to intubate her so that she’d get the help breathing that she needed. Even though intubated, Gracie was awake and responsive, with the occasional smile.
In the first 24 hours, the cause was a mystery, as her doctors ran multiple tests, all of which came back normal. On Monday, test results seem to indicate it was Transverse Myelitis, but then, based on review by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), they changed the diagnosis to Flaccid Myelitis. According to the doctor, this is only the 101st case of flaccid myelitis ever (there was a huge outbreak of it in Colorado earlier this year). Because the disease is so new, we do not know what Gracie’s recovery will be like, but no matter what happens, Gracie has a very long road ahead of her.
As you can imagine, Bill, Emily, and I are overwhelmed with all of the the events since then. While we wished we had the time and energy to talk to each of you, it is difficult to tell and retell the events, so please use this web site to keep updated on her progress. We are posting regular updates, so you can browse through our postings to see Grace's progress. We may not respond to your texts or emails, but we do covert your prayers.
We appreciate the support of our family and friends, and know that many of you want to help. In addition to this one, our friends have setup another web site for coordinating meals, and If you are interested, visit https://mealtrain.com/ovn91. From there, you can see details of what's needed and sign up for open dates.
Debbie, Bill, and Emily
p.s., if you would like to get a hold of Paul Corr, who is maintaining this site, you can email [email protected].