Fran and Mary Alice Cannon spent the summer in Youngstown, Ohio, tending to their hospitalized 38-year-old daughter, Mary Catherine. She’s recovering from an accidental but serious head injury. Michelle Rotuno-Johnson captured the parents’ worry and hopes in the Montgomeryville-Lansdale Patch.

Mary Catherine Cannon arrived home from a May 22 dog walk when one of her canines yanked the leash. The unexpected pull tossed Mary Catherine to the driveway.

She had a headache that night, and in a nighttime phone call to her parents, she confessed she “didn’t feel right.”

Later, she reached out to a neighbor who arrived to find her on the floor.

Together, they went to the hospital, where Mary Catherine was told the driveway tumble had caused a brain bleed that was affecting her kidneys and liver.

 On May 24, doctors called her parents in Lansdale, who set out for Youngstown immediately.

“She was very frightening to see; very upsetting as a dad,” Fran said.

The brain bleed begat two other medical emergencies that nearly cost Mary Catherine her life: a liver infection and a heart attack.

“So, we lost her three times, and we got her back,” Fran said.

The Cannons are now trying to work the details on getting Mary Catherine home by air.

A GoFundMe effort has raised nearly $40,000, the campaign goal, to defray transportation costs not covered by insurance. The Cannon family has committed to donating any overage to another family needing medical-related assistance.

More on Mary Catherine Cannon and her hopes to return home is at the Montgomeryville-Lansdale Patch.