Cristi's Update Page

Today was a GOOD DAY❤️ Both eyes were wide open today!! She tracked Mady when she walked around the bed. She tried to smile when asked several times, I asked her to give me a thumbs up & it didnt go up like thumbs up but her thumb did move - 3 separate times!! Mom thought she heard her say Hi & so did the nurse. This step forward in her consciousness is what we have been praying for!!
Monday May 20th Cristi & I(Trisha) will be leaving for Denver - Craig Hospital is a world renowned neuro rehabilitation hospital & we will spend around 60 days there… for Cristi it will be rehabilitation, getting her brain to continue to wake up & relearning whatever things she will need to relearn. For me - it will be learning how to be her speech, physical & occupational therapist as well as care taker. This isn’t where any of us thought our road would lead but its where we are… please continue to pray for Cristi’s full recovery & for our whole family as we all adjust to what is going to be our new normal❤️ We are thankful for the hope that today brought to all of us!

Thursday - day 22
They removed the feeding tube from her nose today. She had a PEG put in her tummy for the feeding tube which will hopefully be much more comfortable. The surgery to put the PEG in seemed to make her really sleepy for the entire day today. She wasn't awake for the majority of the day.

Harborview has referred her out to 2 different facilities for intensive neuro rehab - Craig Hospital in Denver or Shirley Ryan in Chicago. Over the past few days we have been talking with liaisons from both. We learned today that both require a family member to stay the majority of Cristi's stay (approximately 30-60 days) in order to be trained in physical, occupational and speech therapies as well as whatever other care taker responsibilities with the goal of discharging her to an in-home care situation as opposed to a nursing facility. So we are processing what that means for my family right now.

Our prayer is that Cristi starts to make steps in the next few days to show progress in following any direction (give thumbs up, wiggle toes, stick tongue out when asked etc.) We aren't sure if her insurance will approve her going if she isn't capable of any participation in the therapies provided at either hospital.

Also PLEASE share the gofundme. https://gofund.me/8bb93b64
We have spent almost 23 days in Harborview... most in ICU - now will be taking a medical private jet to a facility in Denver or Chicago that charges roughly 5K a day before insurance. So even with insurance the costs will be astronomical. Cristi is going to need an army of people supporting her. Thank you for being her army!!! We appreciate all of you more than words could every say!!

Donate to Cristi Vanderhoof Horse Accident Support Fund, organized by Trisha Brock On Wednesday, April 17, 2024, my beautiful sister Cristi was getting on her… Trisha Brock needs your support for Cristi Vanderhoof Horse Accident Support Fund

They upped her stimulant today and this morning when I first got there I always tell her why she's in the hospital because I don't know if she understands or would remember so every day I tell her and today when I told her “you are in the hospital because you hit your head really hard” she looked at me, furrowed her brow, kind of cocked her head a little. She looked like she was processing “WTH”?? I almost peed myself.. praying this little step forward is a step in the right direction❤️🙏🏻🙏🏻. Please keep praying!!

Cristi was moved out of ICU to acute care last night. She is no longer hooked up to multiple monitors etc because her body is stable right now.
My updates are less frequent because the first 2 weeks there were so many changes every single day… so much was changing so fast - we are almost at 3 weeks now & she her body is now stable but her progression of neuro advances hasn’t been as quick as we hoped. I will update when there is something to update & ask that people just continue to PRAY!!!! ❤️ & please share the gofundme to help with her medical bills. Thank you all for your amazing support of my AMAZING sister!! ❤️

They have started moving Cristi up from bed into a chair a couple times a day. She is having periods of time with her eyes open now that she is on the new medication to help stimulate wakefulness. We are praying she will start following commands - docs need her to make purposeful movements(give thumbs up, wiggle toes etc) That is the most important thing right now. Her overall health is stable, pneumonia is better, breathing is stable - they will move her out of ICU most likely by Monday. Please continue to pray that her brain heals🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻. We appreciate all of the prayers more than we could ever say!!

The doctors started a stimulant medication today to try to get her brain to start firing again... they said it could take a few days to build up enough in her system to start working. But today she opened her eyes more than she has in the last 15 days. She was opening them when we would call her name pretty consistently & actually stayed "awake" for a couple hours in a row during the day. Also they have moved her to the least amount of oxygen flow nasal tube in an effort to prep her to move to a different floor - out of ICU. We are torn about her being out of ICU because the nurse to patient ratio is either 1-1 or 1-2 In the acute care it will be different.. not as much attention - which is good because she is progressing off of the emergent need for care but also a bit nerve racking in that she won't be getting as much attention as often. Praying tomorrow brings more engagement - this is specifically what the doctors need from Cristi right now. Thank you all for your continued prayer for her!!! We are so grateful for every single prayer for Cristi's recovery!! Thank you!!

Stop by A Hill of Beans Espresso for Drink for Cristi! Thank you for your generous support❤️

Yesterday we met with the neuro doctors regarding the MRI results from Cristi's scan. Unfortunately the results were not what we were hoping for. The road to recovery will be long & hard - but Cristi is a fighter!!! We would ask that you please continue to pray - PRAY WITHOUT CEASING!!! & if you can please donate & share her gofundme page as this journey is going to be a long one and any help supporting her will help with the medical care needed. Thank you all for continuing to pray for Cristi!!! THANK YOU!!!

Donate to Cristi Vanderhoof Horse Accident Support Fund, organized by Trisha Brock On Wednesday, April 17, 2024, my beautiful sister Cristi was getting on her… Trisha Brock needs your support for Cristi Vanderhoof Horse Accident Support Fund

I have created this page so that those of you that would like to continue to get updates on what is happening with Cristi's recovery from the horse accident can follow this page.

On Wednesday, April 17, 2024, my beautiful sister Cristi was getting on her horse Fly from the mounting block. As she was getting on, Fly spooked and ran about 20 feet down the arena. Cristi was coming off as he was running and her head hit the arena wall. She was immediately knocked unconscious. Thankfully her daughter Mady was there and called 911. Aid arrived quickly, she remained unconscious but breathing on her own. She was airlifted to Harborview for a traumatic brain injury. Cristi sustained bruising and bleeding around her brain, several large blood clots around her brain, a small blood clot inside her brain, a fractured skull, fractured ribs and fractures in her face. They put a hole in the top of her head where they placed a monitor that tracks the pressure in her brain. Her pressures have been difficult to stabilize so they will continue to keep her sedated until she is stable enough to begin removing the sedation. The nurses have warned us that this journey is a marathon not a sprint and will be the worst roller coaster of ups and downs imaginable.

If you know Cristi then you love her - that's just how it is. She is truly one of the kindest, most loving and caring people you could ever meet and always goes out of her way to lend a hand and bring a smile to someone's face... she is the queen of making everyone around her feel special and loved.

Cristi is a single Mom with financial responsibilities for Mady and their horses on her shoulders. I have created this GoFundMe in hopes that we can help alleviate the financial burden of Cristi's monthly bills as well as the additional burden of the medical bills from this tragedy so that Cristi and Mady can focus on the only that that is truly important - Cristi coming back to us 100%!!!

This is literally the fight of her life - please help support Cristi and Mady.

https://gofund.me/d28718f2
Thank you.

Donate to Cristi Vanderhoof Horse Accident Support Fund, organized by Trisha Brock On Wednesday, April 17, 2024, my beautiful sister Cristi was getting on her… Trisha Brock needs your support for Cristi Vanderhoof Horse Accident Support Fund