Hi, My name is Katrina Cahill, and I'm here to tell you the story of my best friend, my sister, my other half. On August 14, 2014 my worst nightmare came true. My sister was in a terrible accident while she was on her way to the airport to pick me up. She was rear-ended while sitting still at almost 70mph. She suffered a severe brain injury due to the accident. She was moments away from death, but by the grace of god, a million angels and a million more prayers we are blessed enough to still have her on this earth.
Since August, she has had 15 surgeries, including having part of her skull removed twice. Shes a survivor, a fighter, and the strongest and most beautiful person that I know inside and out. Ciana has overcome so many obstacles thus far, bleeding and fluid on her brain, her lung collapsing, complications with surgery and every hurdle a brain injury can offer. This accident has truly put myself, my family and Ciana's close friends through such turmoil that there are not words to really describe it.
Ciana's is in her third year of college and was due to graduate this year and now her life is completely on hold. All of our lives have been on hold. We've been unbelievably blessed with amazing doctors, surgeons, nurses and friends who have held us all together through this trying time. Life is so short and so precious, the accident has really put all of this into perspective for us.
And now here we are asking for your help. Ciana's insurance is running out with her current stay at The Children's Institue Of Pittsburgh (The most amazing facility I have ever been to) and we need to modify my parents home so that she can come home. The insurance does not cover the cost of this.
My parents will have to get a driveway to accommodate a wheelchair, hallways that are wider so that her wheelchair can fit down them and also a walk-in shower so that she can be bathed. I never wanted to resort to asking for help, but the estimate for this modification is going to be around $100,000 and all of us want Ciana back and comfortable in her own home.
She has come such a long way on such a hard journey and her recovery is still a few years down the road. I would love to make it as easy as I can on my parents in this tough time. Anything that you can do, including sending love and prayers would really help us in our time of need.
Thank you for reading.
Katrina & The Cahill Family
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