SHARE ON: |
| |
| |
 |
 |
|
|
In January, Kerry Wallen of Regina went to stay with her sister Sharonette Wallen-Robinson in Edmonton, since her job as a maintenance scheduler at BHP Billiton’s mine in Jansen allowed her to work remotely.
But shortly after she arrived, Wallen-Robinson says her sister started complaining of severe headaches.
“At one point she said that the pain was so bad, like the headaches she’s talking about, she said ‘God, please just take away the pain,’” she said.
She says her sister also began to display strange behaviour: confusion, repeating herself, showing signs of memory loss, hearing things, and even experiencing dreams about her own death.
On Jan. 27, Wallen-Robinson took her sister to the University of Alberta hospital. They wanted to intubate her to have an MRI done of the brain and the pelvis.
Wallen-Robinson says doctors suspected her sister was suffering from Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis, or Brain on Fire.
Dr. Jennifer McCombe, Associate Clinical Professor, Division of Neurology with the University of Alberta treated Wallen at the hospital.
She describes it as a condition where a patient’s own immune system creates antibodies that attack a specific part of the brain.
Patients with this condition can be quite sick, and are often admitted to ICU. It is thought that the auto immune attack is in someway triggered by the presence of a teratoma. When a teratoma is found, part of the treatment involves removal of this tumor. Despite the fact that patients with Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis become quite sick, with aggressive therapies, they can do very well with little to no residual troubles.”
Wallen was placed in a medically-induced coma on Jan. 29.
“The MRI showed the brain was fine but there was a tumor in the abdomen, and they’d have to go ahead and do surgery and remove it, then start treatment because it was as they had suspected,” said Wallen-Robinson.
Wallen-Robinson says within a week after the surgery, her sister was taken off of heavy sedation, but remained in a comatose state for weeks.
“For the most part she was just there, sometimes eyes open, eyes closed, wouldn’t respond or squeeze my hand, occasionally you’d probably get a squeeze but nothing on command,” she said.
Nine weeks after first being checked in, Wallen-Robinson says her sister is still at the hospital, but is now awake and talking, with a long road to recovery ahead of her.
“Memory issues, kind of things along that line, learning to walk, learning to talk are the main things that I know about at this point,” she said.
“Physical therapy and speech therapy, and also because its a brain injury that it’s considered, there was quite a few psychiatric issues that comes with her condition, so there’s a team of doctors that will be working with her in the rehab hospital.”
Her coworker at the Jansen mine Alexis Nyandwi started a GoFundMe page to help cover the costs of Wallen’s rehabilitation.
“It’s kind of scary, and we thought she deserves to see if we can help her out,” he said.
“Its not just getting back and saying, ‘Hey I missed eight weeks’, its relearning a lot of things.”
Wallen-Robinson says she’s taking it one day at a time.
“Its stressful at times, but Im encouraged that its for a reason,” she said.
“Weve been through this, and we know we can encourage others through this and through everything thats happened.”
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
10 am |
| 27 ℃ |
| CLEAR SKY |
WIND: SE 8 KM/H
GUSTING TO 9 KM/H |
|
|
|
11 am |
| 27 ℃ |
| CLEAR SKY |
WIND: SE 9 KM/H
GUSTING TO 9 KM/H |
|
|
|
12 pm |
| 28 ℃ |
| CLEAR SKY |
WIND: SE 10 KM/H
GUSTING TO 11 KM/H |
|
|
|
1 pm |
| 30 ℃ |
| CLEAR SKY |
WIND: SE 15 KM/H
GUSTING TO 15 KM/H |
|
|
|
2 pm |
| 32 ℃ |
| CLEAR SKY |
WIND: SSE 17 KM/H
GUSTING TO 19 KM/H |
|
|
|
3 pm |
| 34 ℃ |
| CLEAR SKY |
WIND: SSE 18 KM/H
GUSTING TO 21 KM/H |
|
|
|
4 pm |
| 35 ℃ |
| CLEAR SKY |
WIND: SSE 19 KM/H
GUSTING TO 26 KM/H |
|
|
|
5 pm |
| 35 ℃ |
| CLEAR SKY |
WIND: SE 20 KM/H
GUSTING TO 29 KM/H |
|
|
|
|
TODAY |
HIGH OF 35 ℃
LOW OF 20 ℃ |
| CLEAR SKY |
|
|
 |
SUNDAY |
HIGH OF 36 ℃
LOW OF 21 ℃ |
| OVERCAST CLOUDS |
|
|
|
MONDAY |
HIGH OF 29 ℃
LOW OF 19 ℃ |
| OVERCAST CLOUDS |
|
|
|
TUESDAY |
HIGH OF 26 ℃
LOW OF 18 ℃ |
| OVERCAST CLOUDS |
|
|
 |
WEDNESDAY |
HIGH OF 24 ℃
LOW OF 17 ℃ |
| LIGHT RAIN |
|
|
|
THURSDAY |
HIGH OF 26 ℃
LOW OF 16 ℃ |
| LIGHT RAIN |
|
|
|
FRIDAY |
HIGH OF 29 ℃
LOW OF 18 ℃ |
| CLEAR SKY |
|
|
 |
SATURDAY |
HIGH OF 28 ℃
LOW OF 17 ℃ |
| FEW CLOUDS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
FROM FALL TO SPRING
CHASING THE HIGH
10:42 AM |
|
 |
FRAYLE
HERETIC
10:37 AM |
|
 |
THREE DAYS GRACE
IN WAVES
10:34 AM |
|
 |
LORD OF THE LOST
LIGHT CAN ONLY SHINE IN THE DARKNESS
10:30 AM |
|
 |
IZZY REIGN
YOUR ENTERTAINER
10:27 AM |
|
 |
KEITH WALLEN
CROWN OF THORNS
10:23 AM |
|
 |
VENUES
DUALITY
10:20 AM |
|
 |
SMASH INTO PIECES
HURRICANE
10:17 AM |
|
 |
FLIGHT PATHS
BROKEN LULLABIES
10:11 AM |
|
 |
THOUSAND BELOW
VANISH
10:07 AM |
|
 
 |
