A Cowichan Valley woman is trying to help her parents, who’ve been forced onto the back foot financially after her mom, Donna Ludvig Turner, suffered an aneurysm on Dec. 20.
According to daughter Kallishandra Davis, Turner was taken to Vancouver General Hospital and had to undergo a five-hour operation.
Davis and her family saw her in Vancouver last weekend and the reports are good.
“Luckily, she’s alive and she’s really recovering really well right now. She can speak and we caught her on a good day. They knew family was coming so they didn’t give her the medication that half-way conks her out.
“It was just so great to see her. They’ve taken her down from eight to four IVs. And they’ve made her bed so she can sit up. Usually she’s been lying down or slightly inclined. Those are all good things and then Sunday night we got even more good news. They moved her from general ICU to the neurological ICU. That’s a really big thing,” Davis said.
The family is delighted by that improvement in mom’s condition.
“In general ICU, the nurses knew how to handle all her medicines she was on [so she had to stay there]. Now she’s going to neurological ICU for a few more weeks and then after that they’ll probably move her to just the regular neurological unit and start working on things like physiotherapy. Right now she has a drain in her head still and until that comes out they won’t let her up to walk. Even so, every two hours someone comes along to wake her up and ask her to move and speak. At first it was every five minutes, then every half hour then every hour so she is improving.”
Ludvig Turner is recovering well and is getting her spirit back, especially after she got to see her grandson, Davis said.
“I took him to see her and that really brought a ray of sunshine to her life. She lit up when Conri, my son, came into the room.”
But now that the prognosis is hopeful for recovery, it’s time to do something about helping them with supporting themselves during it, according to Davis.
“The reason we’re trying to raise funds is because currently my parents have no income to deal with any of this. They were already behind in their rent and they were having trouble even before my mom went down. But, it’s very expensive. They’ve talked to the landlord so they’re not in danger of being evicted. Dad is actually staying in Vancouver. He’s got a friend watching the house. He doesn’t want to leave her side until she’s out of any kind of ICU and she won’t be out of those woods for at least another two more weeks.”
Ludvig Turner had a part-time job at a local business and both parents also ran a small daycare together but neither of these sources of revenue will be helpful in the near future.
“The kids from the daycare love her and are asking to see her and we have to say, ‘she’s in the hospital’. My dad is on disability and he can’t work. Mom and dad are not doing anything, the daycare is suspended and when they come back they will have expenses. I’ve been trying to raise some money for them. It’s for general expenses,” she said.
Davis has a gofundme campaign going at www.gofundme.com/donna-ludvigturners-recovery-fund so visit that site to make a donation or to follow the updates on her mom’s condition.
