When Ajeng Riandini’s father
experienced a stroke while travelling from Indonesia to Germany, what was
supposed to be a once in a lifetime family holiday turned into a worrying and
financially stressful event. A massive stroke on the plane was complicated by atrial
fibrillation, pulmonary embolism and gastric bleeding in hospital. Huge anxieties about her father’s
health were compounded by worries about the costs of his treatment in Germany and
of longer-term rehabilitation back home in Indonesia. Unsure of the whether
insurance would cover costs and knowing that her father had used his retirement savings to fund her studies abroad, Ajeng took to social media, to raise funds and ensure that bills could be paid. As it turned out, her father’s insurance did
meet many of the costs of treatment, so Ajeng committed to donate surplus funds to the World
Stroke Organization and Stroke Support Germany. Here she tells her story and
why her family chose to support WSO.
My father is my hero. A strong Indonesian man
who is not selfish and always puts his family first. He never complains and
always tries his best to provide his family. Even though he is from a poor background,
his wish was always to see his kids being successful and he worked really hard
to make it happen. Through his hard work, he was able to finance my study for
two years in Germany, using funds he had set aside for his retirement.
As a token of my appreciation of his
support, I invited both of my parents to Germany to have a holiday and see
Europe for the first time in their life. Unfortunately, my father suffered a
stroke on the plane and was immediately upon landing was admitted to the
Schlosspark Klinik in Berlin.
His stroke was massive it affected the left part of his brain. Just when everything seemed getting on the right track, he experienced sudden multiple complications: atrial fibrillation, pulmonary embolism, massive stomach bleeding which almost killed him, infection, and the then worst of all – another stroke. His condition deteriorated enormously. His right side of the body was partially paralyzed, he was unable to speak, eat independently, wash himself, and much more. Since he couldn’t express his feelings and other communication ways are not yet available, it was difficult to know the extent of his impairment, but we did know that he would need a lot of treatment and rehabilitation to recover. We were really concerned that the costs of both treatment and rehabilitation would be impossible to cover.
His stroke was massive it affected the left part of his brain. Just when everything seemed getting on the right track, he experienced sudden multiple complications: atrial fibrillation, pulmonary embolism, massive stomach bleeding which almost killed him, infection, and the then worst of all – another stroke. His condition deteriorated enormously. His right side of the body was partially paralyzed, he was unable to speak, eat independently, wash himself, and much more. Since he couldn’t express his feelings and other communication ways are not yet available, it was difficult to know the extent of his impairment, but we did know that he would need a lot of treatment and rehabilitation to recover. We were really concerned that the costs of both treatment and rehabilitation would be impossible to cover.
I set up a crowd-funding page and used it to reach out to
people to generate funds. In the end, contributions from insurance meant that we
had more money than we needed. I wanted to honor the generosity of everyone who
had contributed by making a donation that would help fight stroke everywhere in
the world. The World Stroke Organization is working hard to raise awareness of stroke. Awareness is very
important - not everyone in the world knows the danger of stroke. For stroke
survivors in many countries people are not aware of that there is hope and that
stroke can be treated, that people can recover with the right rehabilitation.
They give up gave up on their their loved ones and family members thinking that
they are not capable of recovering at all. We saw in WSO an organization that believes,
as we do, that with proper education, treatment and rehabilitation, almost
every stroke survivor can be able to get back to normal life again.
Ajeng’s father has made a good recovery from his stroke, but her family's experience shows that stroke can happen to anyone, anywhere. If stroke does strike whether that's close to home or far away, we all want the people we love will receive the best possible care and treatment. Donate now and help us deliver improvements in stroke prevention, treatment and care around the world.
