Hannah was enjoying her 3rd birthday party with strawberry cupcakes and pink balloons on January 28, 2016. Greg and I were so happy that she'd finally kicked the pneumonia she had been battling for a couple weeks. No sign of a cough and she had been sleeping through the night. But... that night she woke up with a scary cough. She struggled to catch her breath. The albuterol breathing treatments weren't helping enough. I drove her to the ER. After seeing the doctor and getting another breathing treatment, she stopped breathing. CPR started immediately. It took ten very long minutes to get a pulse. She was medivaced to Providence Anchorage where we stayed for six weeks. She was diagnosed with Hypoxic Eschemic Encephalopathy. She had acquired a severe brain injury from the lack of oxygen.
Since that day, we have ruled out environmental causes like mold in our home, allergies, and immune deficiencies. It could possibly be asthma related even though she had never shown signs of asthma before. It is likely that she had a perfect storm of respiratory illness and asthma.
She is currently receiving around 5 hours of therapy a day at home in Kodiak, AK.
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