Husband Fights For Wife's Recovery After Brain Injury, Insurance Loss

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A tragic accident while on vacation left an Owings Mills woman severely brain damaged.

Jen Granek, a loving wife and mother of three, was celebrating her 40th birthday in Costa Rica when an ATV ride went terribly wrong -- she went over an embankment.

"I didn't know what I was going to find when I got to the other side of that," her husband Brian says.

In the past 14 months, Jen has undergone brain surgery and was in a coma.

At Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital, she gets speech, physical and occupational therapy several times a week at a cost of more than $25,000 per month.

Now, just over a year after the accident, part of her insurance coverage has been dropped, and Brian is refusing to give up and trying anything he can to help the woman he loves.

In a letter to the family, the company said they were pulling the therapy coverage, because they believe Jen requires custodial care only.

Brian says he's "absolutely destroyed" by their decision. "This is my best friend. This is the love of my life since we were teenagers. We grew up together basically."

Her doctor says limiting Jen's care could lead to her regression, and hinder her ability to improve.

"It's more sad than it is frustrating to see potential and sometimes -- if they did not have a family as involved and as knowledgable as Jen's husband is -- to see some people who would regress who would not have opportunities to improve," Dr. Michael Anderson says.

Granek is appealing to the Maryland Insurance Administration, but is for now footing the therapy bill for Jen, who was a "vibrant, incredibly active mom and brilliant accountant" before the accident, he says.

"She's in there, she just needs more time."

Friends and area businesses have been holding fundraisers to help the Graneks pay for Jen's treatment.

To contribute, visit CaringBridge.com or GiveForward.com.

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