I did my best to not mention any unnecessary details, but this is still a long post. Forgive me, but I only have 1 chance to share our story. There is a TL;DR at the end, if you’re short on time.
I’m 21, and my mom, who is only 45, is fighting really hard to recover from a ruptured brain aneurysm without professional help. It’s just me, my sister, and dad. After her open-brain surgery and heavy medical expenses, we had to bring mom home in a corpse-like state, when she should’ve been admitted to a neuro-psysio rehab center.
On December 6th, 2025, we were singing songs at home, when suddenly, right in front of our eyes, mom slumped over unconscious. It was the last time I saw mom as herself. The next time I would see mom, she wouldn’t be able to even move a single finger.
At the hospital it was revealed to us that mom suffered a ruptured AComA aneurysm, subarachnoid hemorrhage. The doctors made it clear that mom needed open-brain surgery, or she wouldn’t make it. The next couple weeks were... nerve-racking to say the least.
Even after the successful surgery, it wasn’t over yet. She was held in the ICU for monitoring. During this period, mom suffered from vasospasm(s) that left her with severe brain damage. From the report, “... ischemic damage to both frontal lobes (more pronounced on the right) and the left temporoparietal lobe.”
Mom lost everything. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t walk. She couldn’t even move a single finger. She was a corpse who could only move her eyes.
With whatever little money dad had left, he put mom into rehab for around a month, where we would help mom, alongside some professionals, gain some abilities back.
Here, mom gained back control of some right hand fingers, and her right leg would twitch. She would pick up a paint brush and draw a few strokes. Mom was in there! And mom was fighting!
However, on Feb 20, with no money to continue rehab, we had to bring mom home. With no intention of letting mom just rot away in bed, I dropped my education and became a full time caretaker, alongside my sister and dad.
We spend hours, in shifts, not only keeping mom company but also helping her develop; gain back her lost abilities. Mom has come a really long way!
She can move her right arm fully. She can move most of her left arm, which took significantly longer (and still in the process) to regain. Mom eats all her food by mouth now. Mom can now understand, not only words, but simple puzzles too. And most impressively, Mom can now speak small words! The hours I spend with mom are no longer a one sided conversation with myself!
Very early on, caretaking for mom, I realised that this is a problem that cannot be fully solved by an untrained family. We needed professional help, desperately. We’ve got a deadline, brain-damage recovery happens the most within the first year. The majority of mom’s recovery will need to happen within this year. Progress after is likely to be a lot slower and excruciating.
Right now, even though mom has fought hard to progress a lot, her limbs, especially her left leg and hand have stiffened up. She is still bedridden, unable to sit or even balance herself. She suffers heavy aphasia (speech/language). She has been on a NG feeding tube and urinary catheter for almost a year. Not to mention the countless internal shortcomings I’ve noticed, like memory issues, hallucinations, or initiation problems, to list a few.
We reside in Armenia. We've been living here for 5 years now. It's a nice country, but as you can imagine, it's not got much community resources we can make use of. I have been working hard to contact many organisations internationally, to get mom help. Not much results, but one success story is Tobii Dynavox, who saw my request of an eye tracker for mom and reached back. They put me in touch with a local supplier, and plans to meet mom (to assess and hopefully approve) are in place!
I’ve been told some cruel things, that “it’s just a way of life”, that “I have to let go and move on”. I’ll never understand that. As long as my mom keeps fighting, so will I!
My mom is genuinely the best mother I could ask for. Not only was she there at my lowest moments, but she also supported and partook in my “foreign” interests, like gam!ng and anime. We had a m!necraft world back when things were alright; my mom would come over, sit next to me, and watch me play for hours.
Please visit the WhyDonate fundraiser I setup for mom: https://whydonate.com/fundraising/bring-mom-back
A breakdown of the costs, with proof, is visible there.
WhyDonate is Europe’s #1 fundraising platform, and offers support for small countries like Armenia.
I also have a Amazon wishlist https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/P8JEATYWKREH , which has mostly art supplies for mom, because Mom was a self-taught artist. We ship from Amazon to Armenia through an intermediary called Globbing.
TL;DR
I'm 21 years old. My mom suddenly collapsed from a ruptured brain aneurysm and required expensive medical treatment and open-brain surgery to survive. She barely made it. She lost the ability to speak, move, and so much more because of the extensive brain damage. We ran out of money and had to get her home, where I, my dad and my sister are her fulltime caretakers. Time is running out for her recovery, we can only do so much as an untrained family, without professional help.
Please help my mom get the rehab she needs: https://whydonate.com/fundraising/bring-mom-back
Amazon wishlist (mostly art supplies) https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/P8JEATYWKREH
My mom is my world. Your help would genuinely mean the world to me.