When Caroline Bradner woke up on the morning of Dec. 22 in Thailand, she found herself paralyzed from the neck down.
Now, after a GoFundMe campaign by her family raised over $76,000, she will be heading home to Virginia following her stint teaching kids English in Thailand.
Bradner was diagnosed with Guillain Barré Syndrome, a rare disease that causes people’s immune system to attack their nerves and can cause paralysis lasting months or even years.
“Just the day before, she started feeling weak and it became hard for her to walk,” her brother, Pierce, wrote on GoFundMe. “What started as muscle weakness in her abdomen, worsened into paralysis over the course of two days.”
Pierce started the fundraiser after Caroline’s travel insurance provider refused to pay for the cost of her flight back, which would require medical assistance and special seating.
But after the fundraiser attracted attention on social media, the travel insurance provider said it would pay for the flights, accord..