‘I Suffer Permanent Brain Injury After A Routine Visit To The Chiropractor’

A new graduate from Georgia Southern University was left fighting for her life in the ICU from a severe brain injury after a visit to the chiropractor. Caitlin Jensen was reportedly there for a small adjustment.

She’s mostly paralyzed and her mother, Darlene, had to start a GoFundMe page to help them pay for the medical expenses that are expected to keep growing.

Caitlin had reportedly booked a session with a chiropractor for a “simple chiropractic adjustment” on June 16. She’d just finished her degree in Chemistry and Biology before she ended up almost fully paralyzed at the hospital.

The session had left four of the arteries on her neck damaged, leading to cardiac arrest and stroke. Caitlin did not have a pulse for nearly 10 minutes before she was finally resucitated at the Memorial Hospital in Savannah, Georgia.

Caitlin was given an emergency operation. Since then, she’s been in the neuro ICU in a critical condition with a traumatic brain injury.

As of the latest update, she’s aware of her surroundings and is able to respond to verbal commands by blinking her eyes. She’s also able to wiggle the toes of her left foot, but for the most part, she’s paralyzed.

Darlene, her mother, has been writing updates about her daughter on Facebook and continued to share news of her daughter fighting for her life. In one of her heartbreaking news, she wrote, “She gave her best effort to smile today, and it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

“She is progressing with her movements on the left side – wiggling and flexing. She can’t lift her arm yet, or turn her head. Her right side is unchanged – still no movement.”

“Her face doesn’t move very much yet, but she can open her eyes widely to show surprise, and the left corner of her mouth tries to smile. Adorable.”

“Still working on the pneumonia. The anti-platelet therapy seems to be going OK. We don’t see any signs of internal bleeding and are praying that it stays that way.”

But the family is hopeful and positive about her progress. She initially needed a feed and NG tube to be sustained for the first two weeks.

“Two weeks ago tonight we didn’t know if Caitlin would make it through the night,” read one of her older posts. “Dire and catastrophic are two of the words that we heard from our ICU team. We knew they didn’t casually throw around words like that.”

“But – she is alive, and every day is a little better. The accomplishments are both small and monumental at the same time. Today, she gave us a thumbs up. We have been working on this, and she got it! She also nodded again today.”

“It helps to see these things because it reassures us that she is working hard to stay with us and recover. Caitlin is strong, disciplined, and well-practiced in exercising her brain, and I truly believe that her science background and all of her time studying is going to help her in this long journey.”

You can visit her GoFundMe page here to support them with her medical expenses!