The Kunze Family

Hi! Our names are Megan and Matthew, we are the daughter and son to Diana James. We are experiencing one of the most surreal events of our lifetime currently. It’s hard to imagine what we are dealing with, even for us living in these moments! On Mother’s Day (5/14) we put our mother on a plane in Portland Oregon for what was supposed to be a trip of her lifetime to Portugal. Within 16 hours of landing she suffered a subdural hematoma, we believe due to some unfortunate events that occurred during her travel.  She went to a park along the river bank for an art class and didn’t feel well. She lost consciousness at the park and the ambulance was called. She was taken to Braga Portugal for an emergency craniotomy (removing part of the skull to relieve pressure). We flew out immediately and have been by her side navigating and coordinating her care here in Portugal.  Up until 5/30 she had been intubated with ventilator assist but had a tracheostomy to allow her lungs to stay strong and her throat to heal. We spend several hours a day at her side offering encouragement and familiar voices in a foreign country. She is still unconscious but she has shown signs of improvement. Her eyes have started to open a little bit and had a few tears, she gripped our hand the other day, she blinks her eyelids and moves her body (especially when we tickle her feet), she responds to pain AND most importantly she is now breathing on her own without ventilation. Her latest CT Scan (5/31) was normal.  As of 6/1, she has been moved from ICU to the neuro floor.  On 8/22 she smiles for the first time. Her doctor back home, the doctors here in Braga and her children fully believe she just needs more time to wake up and to get back to the states so that she may receive medically necessary treatment. Only 200,000 people in the US have a subdural hematoma every year and the mortality rate for it is 50-90%!  She has already beat so many odds stacked against her! Our mother is a fighter in every sense of the word! She raised 2 children as a single parent working 3-4 jobs. She is the only parent we have really ever known, she is our hero. The list of her struggles to survive are endless and now she is faced with the biggest fight and challenge of her life. We are staying in Portugal until she is safe to transport.  The current quote for us to bring her home is $165,000!  Also we now are battling her insurance as they are refusing the hospital a letter of guarantee for payment, instead they are expecting us to front the bill and then seek reimbursement once we are home.  We don’t have that kind of money but we feel the hospital should be paid for taking care of our Mom.

We are now seeking to bring our Mom back to Washington state for much needed medical care and rehabilitation.  She is not receiving appropriate care for her traumatic brain injury and we have been battling Medicare and Humana to approve a medically necessary flight back to the United States.  She has been approved to be received at Harborview in Seattle, we just need a plane.  Humana remains constant in their denials of responsibility even though we have proven to them with letters from all treating and receiving physicians that medically repatriating our mom is medically necessary and is the key to her recovery.  We are heartbroken that we have had to battle this on top of worrying about our mother and the medical implications of this injury.

We have reached out to the US Government and they have offered very little assistance, only providing us a number to an air ambulance company in Lisbon.  We are now faced with a lifetime of debt on top of the cost of care our mom is likely going to require once she is back home.  She is humble, she is kind, she is determined, she is strong, and is someone who would be mortified to know we are asking for your assistance.

We appreciate any and all support you are willing to give to help us get our mom back to Washington state! No donation is too small, even a penny adds up to something! We appreciate your generosity and consideration no matter the amount.