Family wants sick daughter brought home from Alaska

Renelle Fields Harris with her family, including her parents Perry and Robin Fields.

On a clear day, Robin Fields can see Mt. Denali (a.k.a. Mount McKinley) from the window of her daughter’s hospital room in Alaska.

It’s a stunning view of the highest mountain peak in North America, but Fields and her husband, Perry, are there to help their daughter, 36-year-old Renelle Fields Harris. They haven’t left her bedside, where they’ve been since March 19 following her worst relapse yet with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

Her condition has worsened with minimal muscular movement and speech, and she has a feeding tube because of her inability to swallow food on her own.

“I wouldn’t be any other place than with her right now,” Fields said. “We continue to believe that God will bring her back to her family who love her dearly.”

They want to bring their daughter back home to Luling.

Soon after Renelle, her husband and three children moved to Eagle River, Alaska, for work, she was stricken with her relapse that brought her to Providence Alaska Medical Center. Recently, they were told there was nothing else they could do for her and recommended moving her to a skilled nursing facility.

But the Fields want to bring her to specialists in Louisiana.

Their journey is within sight.

Through fundraising and prayers, the couple hopes to have Renelle and a nurse caring for her on a commercial flight in seven to 10 days. They hope to get her admitted to the NeuroMedical Center in Baton Rouge that specializes in MS treatment or Ochsner for specialized care.

“It’s really been hard,” Fields said. “I never expected her to be in this state. We are glad to be here at her side.”

Fields said they were told by a hospital case manager on April 8 that as of April 5 insurance would no longer cover their daughter.

It was about this time that her mother asked God for strength.

Donations are helping them afford the commercial flight, as well as nurse who will accompany her, back to Louisiana.

Renelle’s husband and three children are expected to follow by summer when school is out.

Fields said MRI scans show every relapse has put more legions on her daughter’s brain. Even so, they remain hopeful getting her specialized care will make difference in her condition.

[pullquote]“We can’t give up. We have faith. God will bring her through.” – Robin Fields[/pullquote]

“It will be a long road,” she said. “We can’t give up. We have faith. God will bring her through.”

Her steadfast devotion to Renelle is bound in her loving memories of the middle child of five children who she described as “a beautiful person inside and out.” She added, “Everyone who came in contact with her love her. She would give you the shirt off her back.”

It made it all the harder to see the onset of the disease when she started having trouble holding a pencil at work or brushing her hair, her mother said. Then came the time she started having trouble walking and then an MRI scan revealed the brain legions that led to the MS diagnosis. The road since has been a trying one, and the family just wants to get the best help possible for Renelle.

Fields said they continue to ask for everyone’s prayers and support in donations, but mostly for prayers that their daughter will recover. They have a GoFundMe account in Renelle’s name for those who want to make a donation.

View this story at www.heraldguide.com for a link to the GoFundMe page.

“I told myself ‘I’ve cried my last tear. Today is a good day,’” she said of helping her daughter. “I know God has strengthened me. We’re ready to come home.”

Multiple Sclerosis

  • MS is a disease where the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged.
  • Symptoms can include double vision, blindness in one eye, muscle weakness, trouble with sensation or coordination.
  • The disease can occur in isolated attacks or progressively develop.
  • MS has no known cure.

 

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