Helen Bartal

Helen is a 33 year old high school math teacher who suffered a brain injury on August 7th, 2024. She suffered from a brain aenurysm and suddenly had the worst headache of her life on a typical night like any other. She went to the ER and was sent home after being told that it was just a headache and that nothing was wrong. Her discharge paperwork was then updated the next morning to note that one of her scans showed that she had a brain aenurysm that had ruptured and clotted. She eventually ended up in a neruo ICU where a decision was made to perform a surgery that was intended to reinforce the area and stop any additional damage from occuring. The surgery did not go as intended and the blood vessel being treated fully ruptured, leading to a massive brain bleed and immediate emergency brain surgery.

Since the initial failed surgery Helen has gone through a number of complications, including having a large portion of her skull removed and replaced, and then having the same piece removed and replaced again after an infection was found. Immediately post-surgery she spent about a month in the ICU, with much of that time spent on a respirator. She spent months with a trach and a feeding tube. She has battled seizures, pneumonia, blood clots and countless other difficulties.

Before the injury Helen was an independent, take-charge person that loved to help others. She taught math at a charter school in Camden, New Jersey and loved to read, play board games, and organize events for her friends and coworkers. She lives with her husband Steve and their two dogs, JoJo and Jester.

Following her injury Helen spent August 2024 through May 2025 in various hospitals and inpatient rehabilitation facilities. She was finally able to come home in May of 2025 and has been participating in home therapy and an outpatient therapy day program. Currently, Helen’s right leg is largely paralyzed and her right arm is fully paralyzed. The speech center of her brain was most impacted by the injury – Helen is able to understand things that are said to her but it is difficult for her respond with more than a single word. She is unable to read or write and her memory has been damaged. She struggles to remember what she has done in a day, and has lost significant memories, such as her wedding day.

In October 2025 Helen will transition out of her day program and progress to attending outpatient therapy. She will be recommended to attend physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy on a regular basis, likely for several years. Under her current private insurance there is coverage for a very limited number of sessions every year, with the remaining sessions needing to be paid out of pocket. These therapy sessions typically cost about $150 per session, meaning that each day of therapy that Helen attends outside of insurance coverage could cost $450. It is essential that Helen continues to go to therapy on a regular basis. Brain injuries are extremely hard to predict, but Helen has been told that it is realistic for her to hope to be able to walk again with continued work. Since her injury, therapy has helped Helen progress from being totally bed bound and uncommunicative to now being able to stand with help, transfer between beds and wheelchairs, and communicate her needs. Helen hopes that with continued work she can get back to going on walks with the dogs, get out to try new restaurants, and drag Steve on “fun” shopping trips.

As a secondary goal, Helen and Steve would like to be able to hire a home health aid to help Helen during the day. Currently Steve is caring for Helen full time alone, while also working remotely at his job as an engineer with the other hours in the day not dedicated to Helen. If funds allow for it, a home health aid would allow Steve to return to work in the office a day or two a week and give him a chance begin to take some time for himself again.

We are running this campaign because we have been turned away by many other organizations and we need our community’s help. Because Helen’s injury was caused by a surgery and not an accident she is diagnosed as having an “acquired” brain injury, not a “traumatic” brain injury. There are many organizations and foundations established to help people in exactly Helen’s condition, but they have all turned her away because she does not precisely meet the “traumatic” diagnosis. We need help to make sure that Helen can stay in therapy and continue on the right road to recovery – we deeply appreciate anything you can contribute.