Middletown Teacher Recovering After 7 Brain Surgeries

MIDDLETOWN, CT — The community is rallying around a Middletown teacher who is on the road to recovery after suffering an aneurysm, a stroke, and undergoing seven subsequent surgeries.

Holly Warner, a teacher at Middletown High School, collapsed at the school just before the Thanksgiving break and spent considerable time in the hospital, according to a GoFundMe page.

Retired teacher Christine Salamone recently launched the GoFundMe campaign in support of Holly, who she described as a “caring teacher, friend, mother of two little boys and devoted wife” to her husband, Brian.

Salamone shared Brian Warner’s description of what happened on Nov. 23 as Holly was ending her work day and getting ready to leave to get her hair done for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

“While washing her hands in the bathroom at her high school she felt her vision go sideways and the next thing she remembers is the paramedics picking her up off the floor of the bathroom and onto a gurney,” according to the GoFundMe page. “We found out later that thanks to a couple of her colleagues who found her and enacted the schools safety plan she was able to actually make it to her first stop in Middlesex Hospital. Holly got her first of many scans and they discovered she had a bleed in her brain. By the time our youngest son (8) and I got there they had already arranged transport to Hartford Hospital where she could get the care she needed. I have never seen someone in so much pain. She truly had a debilitating headache. She could not communicate, and could only toss and turn every couple seconds with head hurting as it was.”

Doctors discovered she had an aneurysm that ruptured.

“She went into emergency surgery to place an external drain in her head to drain out the blood,” the GoFundMe states. “The following day they discovered that she had a second aneurysm that was leaking. Once again, she had to go into emergency surgery where they placed coils into the aneurysm to build up scar tissue in order to seal it shut. After this she began the road to recovery.

“Holly was in the ICU of Hartford Hospital getting the best care possible. However, even with the best care possible the recovery was incredibly hard on her. There were days where her spirits were up, but as the days went on it started to weigh on her. The doctors kept saying that she was a miracle and they could not believe she was alive.”

Holly spent nearly 30 days in the hospital and underwent five brain surgeries before being discharged. Then, two weeks later, she developed an infection and was back in the ICU for another four days after her seventh surgery removing the shunt in her head, according to the GoFundMe.

“She got a taste of recovery and then had it taken from her,” reads the post. “This was a significant physical and mental setback.”

While in the hospital, Holly was only able to see her sons for a five-minute stint in the lobby and missed her son’s eighth birthday, according to Brian.

“She missed the good mornings, and good nights,” Brian said. “She missed the holiday season with her family.

“This recovery will be a very long process. She has visiting nurses, occupational therapists, and physical therapists coming to the house multiple times every week.”

Per the GoFundMe, Holly was set to run out of sick days on Feb. 1 and would need to return to work or go unpaid.

“She is not cleared to drive due to a seizure she sustained early on,” Brian said in the GoFundMe. “This has been incredibly stressful for her healing and for our family. She needs to heal in the appropriate way with unstressful rest and relaxation. She needs to move on her own timetable and not be forced to by going to work.”

The GoFundMe campaign has raised around $28,000 as of Monday evening.

For more information, or to make a donation, visit the GoFundMe page here.

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