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So as you all know some of my story is floating around on the different pages in iMSN. In November 2011 my little brother suffered a severe traumatic brain injury after and accident where we don't truly know what happened and never will. We nearly lost him on several occasions. In the early ICU days his life was saved by the on call emergency NSG team and the ICU team. A long and painful road for all of us has continued. There are no 100% recoveries and he had to learn EVERYTHING again. Some things he simply cannot learn again. He's made excellent progress thanks to the relentless work of my mother and father (and always in the background all of us). There's been set backs, he's overcome them. Now he's facing another one. His IVC filter has complicated and is not only a highly likely culprit for his extreme pain but is threatening to fragment and travel to God knows where it decides to lodge. The only procedure in Australia to remove it is a risky open surgery. So we are going to the U.S. and Stanford Medical Centre for a minimally invasive interventional radiology procedure. It's a $130,000 journey though. So with the help of my late best friends (also Luke's late girlfriend) charity Smiles of Strength A sizable fundraising campaign is currently underway. It's been really humbling and tear jerking to see all the support flooding in. And after 4 years of keeping this side of my life closed and off social media it is now all out there. It's a strange sort of exposed feeling but overall I am feeling immensely blessed and so grateful that not only the people that we know but the broader community have gotten behind us to support us. As you are all part of my community now too I wanted to post Luke's and our story here. You don't have to donate but you can via the go fund me link if you like. But even if you could all share his face book page 'Stand for brother Luke' with the #standforbrotherluke that would be amazing as we are trying to get this as far and wide as we can. I have added the screenshot of his page and Smiles of Strength so you know you've got the right ones. On the stand for brother luke page there's a pretty awesome short video showing his journey that I would highly recommend watching. He even made the local news tonight. Despite the tragedy there is still something about where we are now that brings me a sense of great peace and for that I am grateful. Thanks for reading about our journey.
http://www.gofundme.com/pv35btkk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
http://www.gofundme.com/pv35btkk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
[MENTION=1139]MrsC[/MENTION] I'm glad to hear of your cousins success I hope they have recovered well. It's ironic because my best friend Stacey who started smiles of strength passed away from HOCM in Australia is was virtually unheard of. In the US I believe they have entire foundations for it. I had been helping her research how to get assessment and potentially treatment over there but I guess it wasn't meant to be.
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