It was just last December when MSU alumna Stacy Blakeslee suddenly fell sick with a severe staph infection that ended up creating a hole in one of her heart valves. The infection spread to other parts of her body, including her brain, every time her heart beat.
This led to aneurysms forming in her brain, one of which burst last Christmas Eve, which sent Blakeslee into a semi-responsive state.
She was eventually moved from the University of Michigan Health System Hospital in Ann Arbor to a Spectrum Health nursing home and neurology rehab center in Grand Rapids , where she has been ever since.
Progress has been stable, said Stacy’s father Dale Blakeslee .
“We’ve got her where she’s not going to the hospital,” he said. “She was going to the hospital, getting pneumonia. I think we’ve finally got her stable. The fluid on the lungs really sucks, but ... her body has been working so hard to compensate for all this that she’s just not strong enough like she used to be ... but it’s very possible now that it’s starting to wear on her and that’s one of my concerns.”
The family recently reached their fundraising goal on GoFundMe of $20,000, but is still struggling to pay for everything, which includes the hospital bills and paying back more than $100,000 of Stacy’s tuition bills. They have opted to reopen the GoFundMe to help with these finances.
On the days Dale Blakeslee doesn’t spend in Grand Rapids with Stacy, he is waking up at 4 a.m., working 60 hours in a span of four days. Meanwhile Stacy’s mother, Patty Blakeslee, is no longer able to work full time because of her battle with breast cancer.
Dale Blakeslee said that has resulted in the family losing $3,600 in income per month . But the family has decided to open the fundraiser back up.
“We’ll probably be opening that back up again, because we have another $10,000 deductible to meet the beginning of January,” he said.
Stacy Blakeslee’s sister, Kelly Blakeslee , handles all the fundraising for Stacy. The next fundraising step is a 5K run on MSU’s campus .
Her mother said she doesn’t have the facial expressions she used to, but she responds to her dog when she sees him.
The Blakeslees said they don’t believe she would have made the progress she’s made if she wasn’t at the Spectrum Health center in Grand Rapids. They said that everyone else wrote her off.
Dale Blakeslee has even earned the nickname “Dr. Dale” at the rehab center because he’s been so hands-on.
Patty Blakeslee said Stacy Blakeslee is still able to call commands and she makes good effort in exercise and therapy. She can say “yes” and “no” with arm movement.
“It doesn’t look like Stacy is going make a full recovery at all so it’s hard to justify to people,” Patty Blakeslee said. “‘Well, why do you want to keep her alive if she’s not going to be alive like she was before?’ You know she’s our daughter and she does respond.”
While Patty Blakeslee said Stacy Blakeslee doesn’t have the same facial expressions as she used to, you can tell when she’s upset or hurting and “every now and then you’ll find a little smirk in Stacy’s face.”
Stacy received Botox medication in October, which helped to reduce her muscle tone. According to Dale, she had her head turned and can straighten it out now because of it.
The Blakeslee family recently went on their first field trip with Stacy Blakeslee to Frederik Meijer Garden and Sculpture Park.
“We had fun. It was a blast,” Dale Blakeslee said. “She seemed to at least be alert.”
Patty Blakeslee said they’ve got prayer circles going all around the world going for Stacy Blakeslee and she knows that there’s plenty of family and friends praying for her.
“You don’t give up on her, she’s human. She’s so different than before, but she’s in there,” Patty said.
