Last June 24, Kristen Berg worked all day, then volunteered at her church. When she got home in the evening, the 32-year-old graphic designer told her roommate, Liz, she had a splitting headache. Liz asked if she wanted to go to urgent care, but it was worse than that. “Call an ambulance,” Kristen said before passing out.
Kristen’s mom, Debbie Berg, relates the story of how Liz, who wasn’t even supposed to be home that evening, called the ambulance that got Kristen to Inova-Fairfax Hospital, five minutes from their apartment. That quick response enabled doctors to immediately begin treatment of what turned out to be a burst blood vessel in the brain, which caused a massive hemorrhagic stroke.
“Here’s the first miracle — Liz being home and getting her there in the fastest possible way. They were so close to the hospital, it probably saved Kristen’s life,” Debbie said.
Kristen was in intensive care for about a month, and had a shunt placed to keep fluid from building up in the brain. Debbie said Kristen struggled with “a lot of complications” and started rehab, but had to be readmitted to the hospital twice.
In early October, the hospital was ready to release Kristen to a skilled nursing facility, but Debbie said she and her husband, Mark Berg, a retired physician and former member of the Virginia House of Delegates (2013-15), decided to bring Kristen to their home in Winchester to care for her themselves.
In addition to Mark’s medical expertise, Debbie is a dietician, and their health care backgrounds “give us a leg up when we’re reading and researching and talking to the doctors and other professionals,” Debbie said. “There are a lot of day-to-day decisions to be made.”
Kristen receives medication and nutrition through a feeding tube; she still can’t move much independently and hasn’t spoken, but appears alert. “We got some big smiles and chuckles” when friends visited, Debbie said.
Kristen also needs assistance changing position every four hours to avoid getting pressure ulcers, as well as help bathing, getting dressed and sitting in a chair. “Everything she needs, she really relies on us,” Debbie said. Kristen’s sister, Emily, spends Fridays visiting and helping with her care.
“People that know her or don’t know her are recognizing the opportunity to care and pray. A lot of people are getting closer to God because of Kristen.”
— Debbie Berg
Kristen has been able to go out to medical and therapy appointments in a used power wheelchair the Bergs were given recently. Kristen can put her hand on the chair’s joystick controller, but can’t control it herself yet, Debbie said.
In April, she and Mark started taking Kristen around the neighborhood in the chair, as well as to a couple of parish events at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Winchester. Kristen attended Sacred Heart Academy in seventh and eighth grades. They also took her to visit Holy Transfiguration Melkite Greek-Catholic Church in McLean, where both Kristen and Emily are parishioners. Before the stroke, Kristen volunteered with the nonprofit Institute of Catholic Culture, donating her time as a graphic designer.
Kristen is making “slow progress,” Debbie said. “The changes might be small, but overall we’re in a better place than we were six months ago.”
They still don’t know why Kristen had the stroke in the first place, or if anything could have been done to prevent it. “She was an active, healthy girl,” Debbie said. “We learned that sometimes there is a cause and sometimes there isn’t, and that young people are not immune to having strokes.”
“The best thing we can do is stay grateful for the progress she’s making, and for friends bringing meals, and staying with her so we can go for a walk or go to Mass,” Debbie said.
A group of friends from Debbie’s book group, all active parishioners at Sacred Heart of Jesus, are planning a benefit fund-raising event to help support Kristen’s rehabilitation: a 30-family yard sale and bake sale May 13 and 14. “We said we’ve got to do something to help,” said parishioner Susan Angle, one of the organizers.
“There is so much to be grateful for,” Debbie said, noting that Kristen “has been touching people’s lives just by being herself.
“People that know her or don’t know her are recognizing the opportunity to care and pray. A lot of people are getting closer to God because of Kristen.”
Find out more
The Friends of Kristen benefit yard sale will be May 13, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. and May 14, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. at 153 Stonebrook Rd., Winchester. (Rain dates are May 20-21.) To make a donation, volunteer or bake, contact Susan Angle at [email protected] or call 571/438-2342.
