Crystal's Medical Fundraiser

It all started in January. I began falling, feeling very dizzy and forgetting about things that had just happened. My whole personality changed. I went from being very motherly to my daughter and very loving and fun with my live-in boyfriend to flat out irritated and rude with everyone. I had no motivation, and even though I had decided not to drink with my dizziness, I acted as though I was drunk. I insulted strangers, I became very rude and abnoxious and on top of that, falling became a regular occasion. I had to literally lean against the wall as I walked to prevent myself from falling. 

I'm a single mom with the help from my live-in boyfriend, but it got to the point that I couldn't even care for myself, let alone another human being. I found my daughter to be irritating at best, and much of the time when my boyfriend was home, he took charge of looking after her and making her happy. I began sleeping all day and all night, and when I was awake, I couldn't remember what I did 5 minutes ago. I was spinning out of control, but I had no idea why.

Finally, my boyfriend decided that it was time to go to the hospital. After nearly 5 days there, several falls, and about a million tests, the only thing that they could come up with was that I had a vestibular schwannoma (small tumor) in my right ear, so that MUST be the problem. I was sent home to start work at my neaw job in the next few days (which I still don't remember the first few days of). I wasn't falling, but I was still very dizzy at times and my short term memory was difficult to hang onto.

After setting up several appointments and realizing that the problem is NOT the vestibular schwannoma as originally assumed, the tests go on. Currently, I am wearing and heart monitor and have a series of tests for my heart and brain lined up over the next several weeks. 

The falling spells come and go. I've been pretty severely injured by the falls that I've taken over the past month or so. I've bruised my fase, cut my cheeck by landing on a plate glass scale in my bathroom and breaking the fall with my face, and I broke a coffee table with my forehead and have a pretty deep gash there that is still trying to heal.

In this time, counting my hospital stay before I started working when I didn't have any health insurance, I am now well over $20,000 in medical bills. I was also just recently denied for my short term disability claim, so I will not have any income to take care of bills like rent, car payments and groceries. I am not able to go back to work just yet because I'm not allowed to drive with my dizzy and fainting spells, and I refuse to break those rules since I have to drive my 4 year old to daycare which is right next to work. Even if I had a ride, with the number of times that I fall a day, not only is it embarassing to me, but it's dangerous. It's just not an option at this time. I am also on medication that makes me drowsy and a heart monitor that I have to pay attention to at all times.

I rarely ask for help. but I'm just not in any way to get evicted right now. I have zero income and it's nearly impossible to keep up with the bills. I just want to give my daughter some sort of stability and I want to find out what is wrong with me so I can start to recover.

I'm hoping for some help in paying off the doctor bills, and also helping out with the expenses like bills, medication, and helping us from being evicted. It would mean the world to us all, with the luck that I've been having, to get a little bit of help. I rarely ask for help because I'm super stubborn, but I know that this is not a time to let my pride get the best of me. I need to get better so I can go to work, and a huge part of that is relaxing and letting the stress go.

Please consider helping me out. Every little bit helps. Thanks so much for your consideration.