Stephannie's Spinal Surgery Fund
Donation protected
Help me save my spine and sanity, and keep this dancer-choreographer-actress-costumer-director from being stuck in a wheelchair and/or out on the streets.
I've recently learned that my C6 vertebra is degraded and grinding against my C5 and C7, as well as pinching a nerve that's left me with severe pain and numbness in my left shoulder, arm, and hand. The pain medication that I'm currently on has devoured my bank account, and when it doesn't put me right to sleep, it makes me vomit profusely; I've lost five pounds in six days. I need spinal fusion surgery to avoid ending up crippled - surgery is the only option - but I'm an entertainer whose day job is retail and the cost of surgery is more than seven years' pay for me!
I'm also uninsured - I don't make enough money to afford insurance, and if Medicaid will take me it won't start for another two months; two months of this pain and nausea and immobility will likely cost me my job and make me even more sick. I need a consultation with a spinal surgeon, which requires at least $230 cash up-front, and then of course the cost of surgery ($26k) - not to mention little things like paying rent, eating, and not having my car repossessed.
I'm terrible at asking for help, but I need help. As I am right now, I have to keep working even though I probably shouldn't, simply so that I can keep a roof over my head. I hurt so much that I don't want to do anything and I can't even work on the shows that I'm developing - sitting at the computer, or sitting at all, for any amount of time is nigh-impossible.
(That's me, in the red, in the musical "Orochi" that I wrote, directed, and ended up performing in, in June 2014.)
("Backstage" at a live murder mystery for Vermont Public Television/PBS, which I performed in, choreographed, and costumed in 2012.)
(Performing The Governess in "Turn of the Screw," 2013.)
Please help me get back to the stage, and remain the dedicated employee at my wonderful day job. Can you help me get this done so that I can go back to being the happy, upbeat, creative person that I can't be right now? Losing my art will destroy me more surely than this spinal radiculopathy...
I've recently learned that my C6 vertebra is degraded and grinding against my C5 and C7, as well as pinching a nerve that's left me with severe pain and numbness in my left shoulder, arm, and hand. The pain medication that I'm currently on has devoured my bank account, and when it doesn't put me right to sleep, it makes me vomit profusely; I've lost five pounds in six days. I need spinal fusion surgery to avoid ending up crippled - surgery is the only option - but I'm an entertainer whose day job is retail and the cost of surgery is more than seven years' pay for me!
I'm also uninsured - I don't make enough money to afford insurance, and if Medicaid will take me it won't start for another two months; two months of this pain and nausea and immobility will likely cost me my job and make me even more sick. I need a consultation with a spinal surgeon, which requires at least $230 cash up-front, and then of course the cost of surgery ($26k) - not to mention little things like paying rent, eating, and not having my car repossessed.
I'm terrible at asking for help, but I need help. As I am right now, I have to keep working even though I probably shouldn't, simply so that I can keep a roof over my head. I hurt so much that I don't want to do anything and I can't even work on the shows that I'm developing - sitting at the computer, or sitting at all, for any amount of time is nigh-impossible.
(That's me, in the red, in the musical "Orochi" that I wrote, directed, and ended up performing in, in June 2014.)
("Backstage" at a live murder mystery for Vermont Public Television/PBS, which I performed in, choreographed, and costumed in 2012.)
(Performing The Governess in "Turn of the Screw," 2013.)
Please help me get back to the stage, and remain the dedicated employee at my wonderful day job. Can you help me get this done so that I can go back to being the happy, upbeat, creative person that I can't be right now? Losing my art will destroy me more surely than this spinal radiculopathy...
Organizer
Stephannie Scott
Organizer
Las Vegas, NV