Rhea Hardester

Family and friends of Rhea Hardester are raising money for the nonprofit Help Hope Live to fund uninsured medical expenses associated with a Catastrophic Illness. Rhea has chosen to fundraise with Help Hope Live in part because donations are tax deductible for contributors and will only be used to cover medical and related expenses.

Rhea’s Story: A Journey of Courage, Hope, and Love

In November of 2022, life as we knew it changed in an instant. My daughter Rhea, who had been a bright, active, joyful child, suddenly woke up paralyzed from the neck down. We rushed her to the hospital, terrified and desperate for answers. Doctors moved quickly—high-dose steroids, IVIG treatments, plasma exchange—fighting to save her body from further damage. After many tests and endless days in the ICU, Rhea was diagnosed with Acute Flaccid Myelitis and Transverse Myelitis—rare conditions that attacked her spinal cord. In the middle of all this, an MRI revealed something else we didn’t know she had: a Chiari Malformation, a condition where brain tissue extends into the spinal canal.

For a month, our lives revolved around machines, specialists, and prayers inside Cardinal Glennon’s ICU. Rhea couldn’t move, couldn’t sit, couldn’t do the things most children take for granted. But she never lost her spark—she smiled at her nurses, she fought through the fear, and she showed us all the meaning of resilience.

After that month in ICU, Rhea was transferred to Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital, where she began the hardest work of her young life—rehab. For two months, she endured intense physical and occupational therapy, sometimes in pain, often exhausted, but always determined. Every small victory—a finger twitch, the lift of an arm, the wiggle of a toe—was celebrated like a miracle, because to us, it was.

In October 2023, we traveled to Ohio for nerve decompression and nerve transfer surgery. The surgeons gave Rhea a chance at regaining movement in her arms. Slowly, she began to show signs of improvement, the kind that gave us renewed hope. Since then, she has spent countless hours in physical and occupational therapy, rebuilding strength and function that the illness tried to take from her.

But the journey didn’t stop there. In September 2024, Rhea underwent brain surgery for her Chiari Malformation—a terrifying but necessary step for her health. She endured it with the same bravery she has shown from the beginning. Shortly after, she faced yet another setback: an emergency toe surgery, after her school bus accident left her injured. Each new hurdle would break most adults, but Rhea meets them with grace and courage beyond her years.

Today, Rhea lives with quadriparesis, hip dysplasia, contractures in her hamstrings and Achilles tendons, and the daily challenges of navigating the world in a wheelchair. Yet she radiates light. She dreams, she laughs, she pushes forward. She wants what every child wants—to feel included, to have freedom, to experience life without limits.

That’s where Help Hope Love comes in. Our family’s biggest need now is a wheelchair-accessible van. Right now, I struggle to safely transport Rhea to and from school, to therapy appointments, and to the hospital. Without proper transportation, her opportunities for therapy, education, and community are limited. A van would mean so much more than convenience—it would mean safety, dignity, independence, and the ability for Rhea to be fully included in the world around her.

Rhea’s story is one of unimaginable struggle, but it is also one of resilience, hope, and love. She has already beaten odds that no child should ever have to face. With the support of people who believe in her, we can give her the tools she needs to keep moving forward.

We share her journey not just to tell a story, but to invite you to be part of her future. Together, we can surround Rhea with the help, the hope, and the love that she so deeply deserves.