‘Journey to a new normal’: GoFundMe campaign for Mount Prospect girl waging a comeback from devastating illness

What initially began with flu symptoms turned into a fight for life for 13-year-old Presley Grimpe of Mount Prospect.

She is now fighting a battle that has cost both her legs at Advocate Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn. Meanwhile her family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the cost of prosthetics, adaptive mobility items and therapies not covered by insurance.

Her father, River Trails Elementary District 26 school board President Bill Grimpe, said she became sick with flu-like symptoms on March 22.

“We all kind of had flu in the house,” he said.

The next day, the first day of spring break, the River Trails Middle School 7th-grader said she felt better but was tired and fell asleep on the couch.

She was given Sudafed, which the family had been taking, but she soon began throwing up the water she took with the pill. After she became severely disoriented and unable to stand, she was rushed to Glenbrook Hospital.

Doctors identified sepsis, which was attacking her kidneys, liver and heart.

She was transferred by ambulance to Advocate Lutheran General in Park Ridge. As her condition worsened and doctors determined she might need dialysis and possibly ECMO — a temporary life support system for patients with severe, life-threatening heart or lung failure — she was airlifted to Advocate Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn.

The sepsis led to a loss of circulation in her legs. When surgery to relieve pressure and restore blood flow failed, doctors faced a devastating choice: Amputate both legs or lose her entirely.

“The only thing we could do to save her life was to amputate,” her father said. Her left hand also sustained damage and will require surgery.

But Presley, an active girl who has been intensely involved in orchestra, basketball and soccer, has retained her fighting instincts and her sense of humor.

When she was put under sedation at the Park Ridge hospital, she asked, “When this is over, can I get a big Dr Pepper?”

Her physical therapy sessions, her father said, have shown progress, beginning at 30 minutes and stretching to 90.

She is also thinking about her future with athletics. Her first question to the prosthetics team was whether she would play soccer again. The answer was an unequivocal yes.

Bill Grimpe said he overheard Presley asking a family friend how her friends might react to the loss of her legs.

“She turned to him with those eyes and just says, ‘They’re just going to be jealous because I’m going to have these cool legs,’” her father recalled.

Her soccer club, FC United of Glenview, wore orange armbands in her honor this past weekend — a fitting tribute, as April is Limb Loss Awareness Month.

Presley is expected to transfer to a rehabilitation facility — either Shirley Ryan AbilityLab or Shriners — before returning home, possibly by midsummer.

Thus far, the GoFundMe campaign, called her “Journey to a New Normal,” has raised more than $122,000 of its $140,000 goal from more than 800 donors.