Stanley family in need of community support after mom suffers two strokes, baby battles RSV

Written by 

Kari Sundberg, Eagle Editor

What should have been nothing but a warm welcome home and new baby snuggles, quickly turned into a scary health battle for both Chelsea Stanley and her new baby Maverick.

Chelsea and Anthony Stanley had their baby boy on August 8th. Maverick was born perfectly healthy and was to join his family at home in rural Grygla, which includes his siblings Ryelin and Piper.

When Anthony and Chelsea were discharged from the hospital on August 10th, they had stopped to pick up their other two children at Anthony’s parents house, Brian & Bonnie Stanley. Chelsea sat down at the table and all of a sudden lost her vision. “It was so scary. We called the doctor right away and they said to come in immediately,” she shared. Chelsea has a blood clotting disorder but had been off of her medication due to having Maverick. Symptoms of a stroke quickly started to appear. On the way to Grand Forks, the left side of Chelsea’s body had started to go numb - her hand, up her arm, into her ear, and on the left side of her face and tongue. “It was so scary,” she said.

Anthony called the ambulance, but since they were outside of Thief River Falls already, they said it would be quicker to just continue driving themselves. At 120 mph, with the hazards blinking, the Stanleys continued on to Grand Forks where Chelsea was admitted and watched for a couple of days. The plan of action included pumping magnesium into her via IV in order to get her blood pressure down. An Echo was also performed and it was discovered that Chelsea has a hole in her heart. With the exertion of delivery, a blood clot had went through her heart and down into her kidney; this was what caused the first stroke.

A few appointments quickly followed, including a trip to Fargo to see a blood specialist who put Chelsea on six different medications. Everything was going better, but on Friday, August 26th, Chelsea’s hand started to go numb again. She checked her blood pressure and it was very high. Like before, the symptoms started to get worse on the left side of the body, including her leg going numb this time. By the time they got to Thief River Falls, Chelsea couldn’t walk into the hospital. After an MRI and CT Scan, everything was clear. However, TIA’s (mini strokes) don’t show up on those procedures.

From that point, Chelsea went to see her blood specialist again in Fargo. He set her up with a Cardiologist where a procedure is being planned for Tuesday, September 13th. A scope will be inserted in order to look at the heart and determine how big the hole is, if it can be fixed, and what the next step will be.

With her own health to worry about, Chelsea was also thinking about her children at home. Especially the newest arrival, Maverick, who had started to get a little congested last week. His breathing had gotten difficult for him, so Anthony and Chelsea decided a doctor visit would be best. Maverick was sent to Grand Forks and admitted for a 24-hour observation. He was put on fluids and oxygen, and diagnosed with RSV Bronchiolitis. After 5 days in the hospital, doctors tried to wean him off the oxygen, but little Maverick wasn’t ready to tackle the breathing without assistance quite yet. Chelsea stated, “He was retracting quite a bit, meaning he was breathing very hard. But the doctors said we are at the peak of it so hopefully he gets better from here on out.” Maverick isn’t on any medication as RSV is a virus that needs to run its course. His mom also shared that he is eating like a champ again, so right now it’s just a waiting game. She added, “We don’t know how long we’ll be here, so please keep those prayers coming.”

Neither Chelsea or Anthony are able to work right now. Chelsea works as a Para in Grygla’s Head Start room and often pitches in to help out in other parts of the school also. The Grygla School has put together an online silent auction for Chelsea and her family. Classes and organizations within the school will be putting baskets together as part of the fundraiser. Anyone else, or any businesses in the community that would like to donate, please contact Jamie Lunsetter by emailing jlunsetter@grygla.k12.mn.us or call 218-294-6155 (school) or 701-741-4102 (cell). 

If you’d like to give a monetary donation to the Stanley family, you can write a check to “It Takes a Village” and send it to the Grygla School at PO Box 18.

In conclusion, Chelsea had expressed her gratitude, saying, “Thanks to everyone that has reached out to us. We really appreciate all the kind words. We also want to give a huge thanks to our school and our community for setting up the online silent auction for us, we can’t appreciate you guys enough. It brings tears to my eyes and means the world to us that we have such an awesome support system while we go through all of this.”