St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Columbia is hosting a benefit walk this Saturday to raise funds for a young local nurse who has been dealing with severe complications following a brain surgery which took place over a year ago.

Allison Ford’s father Chuck offered his recollection of her health struggles.

A nurse at Mercy Hospital South, Allison was driving through Waterloo on April 11, 2022, when she experienced a seizure and had a car accident, ultimately winding up in a yard along the road.

Passersby stopped to assist Allison and noticed she was having a seizure, calling an ambulance to have her transported to the hospital.

It was then discovered that she had a massive epidermoid brain tumor which had caused the seizure. This tumor was so large that it would require two surgeries to completely remove.

Allison underwent the first of these surgeries just a few weeks later on April 27, and about 50 percent of the tumor was removed.

Unfortunately, the extremely sensitive brain surgery left her facing severe complications. As Chuck said, the family understood that massive brain surgery was dangerous, but they hardly anticipated what would follow.

“She had the surgery on the 27th, and everything went haywire,” Chuck said. “She had every complication imaginable, and based on that surgery, she had at least three known strokes there. She had what is called a vasospasm, which is constriction of the vessels in the brain, constricting and cutting off oxygen to the brain. She ended up, to be quite honest, for a while, in the ICU in St. Louis in a vegetative state.”

Allison spent about three months in the ICU at Mercy Hospital, unable to speak or move, spending at least part of that time on a ventilator.

The family began seeking out potential rehabilitation for Allison, coming to the realization that such specialized rehab would be difficult to find. They eventually wound up taking her to Craig Hospital, a neurorehabilitation and research hospital in Denver, Colorado.

“When we left the ICU, she couldn’t speak, she basically couldn’t move, she couldn’t do anything,” Chuck said. “We went to Craig. By the time we left Craig, about three months later, she still could not walk, but she did regain the ability to talk and communicate there.”

Chuck explained that she was able to move to some degree. As the strokes she suffered were chiefly on the left side of her brain, it was the right side of her body that was suffering the biggest impact to its movement.

He further spoke about the state of Allison’s speech, saying she has some trouble communicating, otherwise known as aphasia. While she is able to think normally, and she knows what she wants to say, she often has difficulty translating that into speech.

Allison later pursued additional therapy at QLI, a physical therapy clinic and rehabilitation center in Omaha, Nebraska.

As Chuck said, she continued to make good progress but after three months, her insurance company refused to pay for further treatment.

“We finally got to a point after about three months there where insurance wouldn’t pay anymore, so we had to bring her home,” Chuck said. “We knew that she needed more rehabilitation, more help, more work to just try to continue to improve, but insurance started making that very difficult at that point.”

The family brought Allison back home last February, and her mother Laura has been caring for her since, trying to provide her with the best rehabilitation she can on her own.

Though Allison is still struggling physically and would seem to have a long road to recovery ahead, Chuck spoke with a great deal of hope.

He noted the exceptional progress Allison has made over the last few months, going from entirely nonresponsive to being able to speak and walk with some assistance.

“I go back to when we left the ICU, it was pretty hopeless,” Chuck said. “She has come a long way. She’s now able to talk and communicate. Not like she was before. She still gets a little confused and still has some minor aspects of the aphasia and stuff that we continue to work with. She can walk, very labored… but she can do some walking.”

Chuck further said Allison’s own effort toward recovery has served as a major source of inspiration for him and Laura.

As the family continues to seek rehab for her – an extremely costly treatment – many in the community have reached out to offer some assistance.

Chuck noted one fundraiser which took place earlier this year as some of the proceeds from the Annual Redneck Trivia Night at St. Mary’s Parish Center in Valmeyer were donated to the Ford family.

The latest fundraiser, “Walking with Allison,” takes place this Saturday, organized by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, of which the Fords have long been members.

Pastor Stephen Krenz expressed his sympathies for Allison and the family, also commending the progress she’s made through rehabilitation.

Krenz also noted that a benefit walk was selected in order to celebrate Allison’s ongoing recovery.

“Basically, this event is just to help out the family with some medical costs, Krenz said. “We were thinking about different things to do, and we had this gentleman that kinda talked about this. I know there’s a lot of different things you can do for fundraising, whether it’s an auction or something, but we thought this would be kind of a celebration of the progress she’s made so far.”

Chuck offered his thanks for all the help and kindness the community has shown the family.

“It’s been tremendous,” Chuck said. “You realize the kindness and the generosity of other people.”

As Chuck said, it’s unclear how long it might take for Allison to fully recover. There is also, unfortunately, the remaining concern of the rest of the tumor which wasn’t removed – though a second surgery is hardly on the table while she still recovers from the first.

Chuck further described his personal experience being able to see his daughter recover as best she can.

“She’s come a long way, and you feel like you at least can communicate with your daughter,” Chuck said. “She struggles walking and this and that, but she can do a bit of that. You just feel like you have your daughter back, and that gives you hope to keep plodding forward.”

The Walking with Allison benefit walk takes place this Saturday from 10-11:30 a.m. Participation is $50 per person and $100 per family.

A box lunch will be provided at the Horseshoe & Playground pavilions near the tennis courts, and participants are encouraged to walk as far or short as they like.

Donations can be sent to the church at 227 N. Good Haven Drive, Columbia, with the memo line “Walking with Allison.”

For more information and to register, visit stpauls-lcms.org.