What Happened

Often when information regarding a sudden tragic event is lacking, we humans decide to make up the details as we see fit. It's not always vicious rumor mongering (though there's plenty of that). People, when trying to come to terms with something so inexplicable, make assumptions that may not be relevant. What follows is an attempt to clear the air regarding Ivy's dreadful incident.

What we know:
On July 20, Ivy collapsed while she was at work. She ran out into the parking to return a Gameboy to a kid who had left it behind in the shop. At some point before she could catch up, her heart stopped. Fortunately Ivy was discovered within minutes. Some kind people administered CPR and once picked up by the ambulance, her heart was revived and she was delivered to French hospital. After several inconclusive tests, we received the results of an MRI. It revealed that as a result of cerebral anoxia (severe lack oxygen to the brain), Ivy suffered a stroke in both hemispheres of her brain. Though it was a devastating diagnosis, the neurologists don't know how severe the brain damage is. They can only locate the areas of the brain which were damaged. Ivy's white matter has sustained the majority of the damage while the grey matter is relatively untouched. What does this mean? Damage to the white matter effects the messages being sent between various parts of the brain and brain stem. This manifests itself in a reduction in motor function. The issues with Ivy's heart have been dealt with. She now has a defibrillator to help prevent any future attacks.

What we don't know:

We don't know what caused Ivy's heart attack. It was likely a condition called Long QT Syndrome. We should find out definitively if this was the cause once we have the results of some pending tests.

We don't know how for long her heart stopped.

We don't know the extent of Ivy's brain damage.

We can't predict how much function Ivy will be able to recover, though she shows improvement everyday.