Hello, my name is Janna Thornhill, cousin to Jennifer Force. Most of you know her as Jenni.
What some of you might not know is that she recently spent time in the hospital (11 days) and was then moved to rehab (11 more days) for an infected wound on her foot, the sepsis being exacerbated by her diabetes. She is lucky to have not lost her foot, but more importantly, we are all lucky that she did not lose her life.
Jenni has been a bright light in my life since the day I was born, she is much more than a cousin, she is my sister at heart. Since both of us have lost our mothers, our best friends, it has brought us closer than we were before.
I am hopeful that Jenni’s vast circle, whether it be family, friends, or her church, will lift the Force family up in this time of need. As you can imagine, Jenni and Brian have missed quite a bit of work while she was admitted and, subsequently, for the doctor’s appointments and physical therapy that have come after.
On top of missed work, the hospital bills are starting to roll in. I understand that we have a lofty goal in place, but as most know, it is difficult to gauge final numbers since doctors and insurance companies work on their own time. The Force family will use this money to pay the medical bills they receive, as well as supplementing their income to ensure they are able to pay their budgeted monthly expenditures at least for a few months until Jennifer is cleared to return to work.
Please give what you can and share with your family and friends. Every little bit helps.
Here is a post that Brian shared to Facebook on May 14 regarding their situation:
“My wife Jenni has been sick with some very serious medical issues. I didn’t want to post about it until things were headed in the right direction and that seems to be the case now.
She had a small diabetic wound that quickly developed into a serious big wound despite her cleaning and dressing it as best she could.
On May 4th around midnight I took her to the ER after she said she was feeling awful and needed to go to the hospital.
Around 4am that morning they admitted her and later that morning they diagnosed her with Sepsis, a life threatening condition.
She was very sick. They started her on IV antibiotics and also IV because she was dehydrated. She was going to need surgery on her right foot, at the heel to remove the dead skin and tissue that was infected, and they took quite a bit. The doctor said that she was going to need another surgery to shave off some of the bone in her heel and possibly detach her achilles, which they ended up having to do, because the infection had spread there as well. She will probably need another surgery to reattach her Achilles.
The sepsis was/is a continuing problem.
They then put a wound vac on her foot to help grow the tissue back. This past Monday they also had to do a blood transfusion for anemia.
The foot was, and is, in bad condition, and she’s got a long road ahead of her in terms of healing and rehab, but the infectious diseases doctor told us that the Sepsis almost killed her.
She is still septic and she will be on antibiotics for at least the next six weeks for that, and visit the infectious diseases doctor’s office every week for the same timeframe. The rehab hospital will transport her to any doctors she needs to go to.
Either today or tomorrow she will be released from the hospital and be transferred over to an acute rehabilitation hospital for 10-14 days, possibly more. She is going to have to build up strength, especially in her arms and left leg, to be able to function and do things we tend to take for granted.
Ethan and I will be there learning how to be caregivers and how to navigate her around the home, get her from the bed to wherever she needs to go, and to help her continue to rehabilitate. As I said earlier, this will be a long road to recovery, and the goal is to get her back to as close to normal as possible.
I’m just so thankful that she’s still here with us. I was terrified I was going to lose my wife. I won’t be entirely comfortable until the Sepsis is gone but I believe we are on the right path now.
The rehab will be difficult and her life has changed drastically, and for Ethan and I as well, but that’s nothing compared to what could have been.
Jenni is going to work hard in rehab and we will be there every step of the way.
The hospital (which is literally right across the street from where we live), the doctors, the staff, specialists, etc., have all been incredible and I can’t thank them enough for what they have done for Jenni, and I’m confident the rehab hospital will be the same.
I also want to thank both our families and friends, as well as our jobs, for all their support during this difficult time.
I’m glad that we went to the ER when we did as every hour can be critical when a person has Sepsis. Her blood results up to now show that her organs are functioning normally.
I can’t say enough how grateful I am that my Jenni is still here with me and Ethan.
