A Bellingham mother of three is preparing for additional brain surgery just months after surviving a life-threatening aneurysm, stroke, and brain bleed that turned her family’s world upside down.
Carrie Weston was rushed to PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center by emergency responders on March 3 before being airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, according to family friend Isabella Foster.
What followed was nearly three weeks of tests, procedures, and ultimately a major open-brain surgery.
The road home, however, proved far from simple.
According to Foster, Weston returned home in time to celebrate her daughter Alyza’s 16th birthday after being discharged from Harborview. But within days, she was rushed back to Seattle after suffering severe head pain and what organizers described as a “splitting headache.”
Since then, Weston has made multiple trips back and forth to Harborview while dealing with headaches, memory loss, and disorientation.
Then came another devastating setback.
During a follow-up appointment, doctors discovered three additional aneurysms that will require surgery.
A Family Carrying an Enormous Burden
Weston is a single mother raising three children: Blake, 19, Alyza, 16, and Dekotah, 7.
The family is now facing mounting medical expenses while also navigating the emotional toll of a prolonged recovery.
“With her mind playing cyclical tricks on her, the struggle to heal has increased the stress she is feeling every day as a single mother,” Foster wrote on a GoFundMe campaign.
Weston is currently unable to work and will require ongoing medical treatment, along with physical and mental rehabilitation as she recovers from her surgeries, Foster said.
That has left much of the family’s financial burden resting on her oldest son.
“With Carrie being unable to work currently, and her son Blake being the only source of income in the household, they need the help and love of a community more than ever,” Foster wrote.
‘A Bright Unstoppable Force’
While the fundraiser focuses on the family’s immediate needs, it also paints a picture of the woman at the center of the crisis.
“Carrie is one of the greatest lights in our very large and loud family,” Foster wrote.
She described Weston as “a fiercely loyal and loving woman, mother, daughter and friend” who has always put others before herself.
“To know Carrie is to know a bright unstoppable force with the world on her shoulders,” Foster wrote.
The fundraiser also highlights the resilience of Weston’s children.
“Her children are the most exceptional, surefooted, strong individuals you will ever meet, who all feel greatly, and wear their hearts like armor,” Foster wrote.
“To be loved by any one of them is to be loved loudly.”
As Weston prepares for another round of surgeries and rehabilitation, friends and family hope community support can help ease some of the financial pressure while allowing her to focus on healing.
