Bridgette & Andrew's future!

 

Hello Friends, 

 I am reaching out to tell you that I have recently found myself down a different path then I ever expect.

 
After a few hard years of recovering from an unfortunate incident of being in the wrong place at the wrong time in October of 2011 and having a rock smash into my face and almost kill me; I have found that more tough times are upon me.  

For the past 6 months everything in my body been changing and not in a good way. From numbness in my feet to overwhelming vertigo, to constant intense optic migraines, my body was not cooperating with me despite eating healthy, working out every day and making sure I got enough sleep. My head always hurt, my body always hurt, everything was hard to do and I was scared-- these changes were abrupt, and on the point of disabling. Going to school and work became very hard and no matter how much sleep I got; I was always tired and in pain. I often spent many days alone in my dark room, unable to move in hopes that my head would stop throbbing, that the world would stop spinning and that my limbs, especially my hands and feet, would stop throbbing.  

 But despite everything in my body hurting I thought that there was maybe a slight chance of there being a connection to my pain being from my accident in 2011. When my face was smashed by a 10lb rock being thrown through a window at a party I went to pick up my friends from, I had to undergo intensive facial reconstructive surgery. The doctor’s weren’t really sure if I was going to make, so when I finally recovered I figured that some pain just came with the gain of making it out of that situation alive. So when these pains and headaches began to occur, I went to a few doctors who found nothing conclusive and blamed it on the rock and just tried to continue on. I had made it this far, so really what could stop me now?

But then everything changed. My life twisted and out came another rock careening towards me, but this time it was different. 

 At the beginning of January, my optic migraines started getting even worse; medicine wasn’t touching them and to my shock, my vision started to disintegrate. I wasn’t able to in certain areas in my right eye. It was as if a black hole was sucking everything out of that spot in my vision. I was scared and then to my horror, it got even worse when I was away in Georgia for a weekend.  I was at a conference and I realize when I was looking at my friends over breakfast, that suddenly the black hole spots in my vision was gone, suddenly I couldn’t see at all from that eye anymore. 
 
When I went to the hospital, terrified that my corona had been detached (my at the time classes included anatomy and I was terrified of that happening), I had a lot of tests that were still inconclusive. The emergency room doctors in Georgia told me I was fine and to head home. So my conference finished, my friends drove the 12 hours back to my hometown, and I immediately went back to the hospital. I knew something was wrong. I knew that I was not fine. Not seeing out of your eye is a big deal. After more tests were ran, I was informed I had Optic Neuritis caused by the disease Multiple Sclerosis. After finding this out and finding out how much it can vary—from mild to serve—I didn’t know what to do. And that is when the doctor came back to tell me that they had also found that I had a Cerebral Aneurysm as well as multiple liaisons on my brain. 

 This news was awful. This news was unlike anything I had ever heard before (when hearing about myself). Not only did I have a could be depilating disease but also I had an aneurysm in cerebral cortex. After everything I had been through, recovering from my 2011 incident to all the other bad events that took place post that, to trying to turn my life around and be healthy and active, hearing this news wasn’t just shocking, it was devastating and unreal.

 Before all this unfolded, I had moved back home in 2013 with 4 years of art school under my belt and so much student debt I didn’t know what to do. But with a lot of guidance and prayer, I decided to go back to school and was attending full time at a local community college in hopes that I could get in to nursing school. I was also working as a PTC at a local hospital and spending a lot of my time devoted to my church community.

After hearing this news, I felt all of that crash down on me. How was I going to work and go to school? How was I going to do anything? Live my life? Be who I wanted to be? 

It has been a few weeks and I am still learning how to cope with this disease. I am still learning how to accept my fate but I know that everything happens for a reason and I am strong and I will fight it till I die.

Now, this isn’t all bleak if you just continue reading you’ll see.

With the permission of my doctors, I was informed that I can eventually continue working for as long as I am able. And though I am going to continue going back to school, everything I will be doing at a much slower rate. I was just accepted into a nursing program and will hopefully being attending in 2016.  (UPDATE- I am attending Nursing School right now at Schoolcraft College)   Though MS can develop at an unpredictable rate and my cerebral aneurysm will always have to be monitored, going to school and staying active as I can is an important thing.  Though my hands and feet are very numb and there is a constant pain in my limbs, I am going to try my best to stay strong and healthy.



Now comes your turn and you’ll ask “why did you make a GoFundMe?”  Well let me tell you.

I am seeking your help because despite my mind set and prayer to stay strong and healthy, not everything always works out as planned and I can come to terms with that by just preparing for the future to my best ability. 
I am asking help in the forms of donations and prayer in hopes that I can do a few things with my life:
Firstly after going to a private school I have accrued a plethora of debt and unfortunately I may not be able to work for very long. So I am asking to help me not be crippled by the debt that surrounds me so that I can focus everything with dealing with my crippling health.

Secondly though I went to a private school I am attending a community college and hopefully as stated before, will be attending nursing school till  2017. So I am asking for donations so that I can become a Neuro Nurse and help everyone that walks through the hospital doors.

Thirdly in the midst of everything, I found a man who shares my dreams of goats and a farm and bee keeping and potato farming and he has professed his determination to take care of me no matter what. So I am asking for help so that by the end of April 2016 we can get married and start the rest of our life together!

It is hard to ask, it really is but,  I have humbled myself and I am hoping that if you have any spare change, ANY, if you could please donated to my cause of having a brighter, lighter future.
I am not asking for pity because everyone has hard lives in their own way, but I am asking you just to spare a few dollars so that I can pay of debt, go to school and eventually get married. I am asking that maybe instead of buying that cup of coffee or pitcher of beer, you can help me be able to live my life more fruitfully and easily.


Thank you so much for spending time and reading my story. I know time is of the essences these days and I really do appreciate anything you can spare. 

Blessings

Love, Bridgette Here's some of my art