Filling the financial gap.
Thirteen-year-old Andee was an active teen until an arteriovenous malformation ruptured in her brain in 2011, requiring emergency surgery that left her in a coma for two weeks. She wasn’t expected to ever walk or speak again.
Thankfully, the Sandy Springs resident beat the odds. Andee began talking 18 months later, and two years after that, she walked across the stage at graduation. She’s currently a student at the University of South Carolina.
To help with medical costs not covered by insurance, and in 2013, they founded Andee’s Army Child Brain and Spinal Cord Foundation in Buckhead to fill the gap for Andee’s family and others with kids who have spinal and brain injuries.
Their annual gala, Evening of Hope, funds their Patient Assistance Grant program that offers financial aid tailored to the individual needs of the patients. As in past years, donations topped $1 million.
Buckhead resident Thad Ellis III was one of three co-chairs of this year’s gala, held at Flourish in Buckhead in September, along with Sullivan Griffith and Chappell Loudermilk. “We take the use of our limbs for granted,” says Ellis. “The thought of kids like Andee who are unable to move tugs at my heart strings. With a small organization like ours, you can see where the funds go.”
ANDEE’S ARMY
404.662.9114
andeesarmy.org
@andeesarmy
