Dear Community,

Many of you know Erika as a dedicated preschool teacher and director who shows up for your children every single day. Right now, she needs us to show up for her!

This is a summary of events as some of you may have known different pieces of information.

Erika is a single mom who lives with her mother, who is also disabled and is herself a care recipient. She has a very sweet 10-year-old son . There is no other family nearby. We are asking for help on her behalf so let’s wrap around her and her family during this difficult time.

In April, Erika began experiencing what appeared to be a severe allergic reactions that ended up requiring prescription steroids and antibiotics. On April 28th, an ambulance was called to the school when her symptoms became critical — she was unable to stand, experiencing full-body numbness, weakness, extreme cognitive difficulty, and what can only be described as stroke-like neurological effects. Stroke, MS, and Lyme's have been ruled out with preliminary testing. She was admitted to the hospital for five days.

She was released on Saturday, May 2nd, but far too soon. Erika's condition is fragile and unpredictable — symptoms can change from hour to hour and include difficulty walking, extreme weakness, cognitive and speech difficulties, and numbness. The care she now needs is comparable to what a stroke patient would receive: occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy, ideally in a rehabilitation setting. Unfortunately, she was discharged before that transition could be arranged, having taken only about 10 challenging steps with a walker with the support of a physical therapist before being sent home.

This was an extremely challenging couple of weeks and our community was able to arrange some help for her as she continued to advocate and look for her own longer-term home based care.

However, on Saturday, May16th, after nearly two weeks at home, Erika was taken via ambulance to KU Hospital Downtown. A good friend was able to go to the hospital with Erika to help advocate and assist her. She underwent further testing and spoke with a neurologist who gave the diagnosis of Functional Neurologic Disorder. She was admitted and has been in the hospital since then (today is Tuesday May 19th).

She will be released soon to an inpatient rehabilitation facility where she will continue to recover after which she will be sent home to receive home care.

For now the need is primarily for financial support with more opportunities to surround Erika and her sweet family to come later on. Spending several days in the hospital along with not being able to work for an unknown amount of time means that her financial need is great! This initial goal will give a good start to meeting her needs for herself, medical costs, and covering her costs of living while unable to work.

If you cannot sow financially, I ask that you please pray.

1. Pray for Erika’s strength and stamina to return, for the “flare-ups” to stop, and for clear and easy answers to come.
2. Pray for peace and calm in her body, her soul, and her household.
3. Pray for the right resources and empathetic and trauma informed medical care providers to guide her in this process.

She has given so much to our school and many others. Thank you for surrounding her now!!