Help Grace DeVoe Brock Find an Answer
Grace was diagnosed with Epilepsy when she turned 18. She has lived with this condition for 10 years and is now experiencing worsening symptoms. MRIs reveal that she has new brain lesions called Telangiactasias that the doctors cannot explain or treat. She and her husband have medical bills to pay off and are wishing for financial help to allow her to receive life saving medical services at Mayo Clinic - the only research hospital that studies the type of Epilepsy that she is experiencing.
Grace is one of a small percentage of people with Epilepsy who do not respond well to seizure medications (Medication Resistant Epilepsy). She has tried every medication. They work for awhile, but soon her body stops responding to each new medication, and her seizures return. Because she ran out of options for medication, she went to Vanderbilt Hospital in July to have a surgically implanted VagoNerve Stimulator (VNS) placed, which helps to prevent Grand Mal seizures. The VNS basically works as a "brain rebooter". She must return to Vanderbilt monthly to have the frequency increased. The VNS works for awhile but - just as she experiences with her medications - her body gets used to the stimulation quickly and she ends up having another violent and disabling seizure.
Grace's VNS vibrates 288 times per day - disrupting sleep and causing discomfort to the degree that she sometimes feels like she is strangling. In addition, it changes her voice pattern - she has to hold her breath while talking and she has trouble eating. Ideally, people who have Medication Resistant Epilepsy can use VNS for a lifetime, usually needing to have it replaced every 5 years. Currently, each implant surgery costs about $10,000. However, it appears that she may not be able to benefit from VNS as others do. In July she was hopeful that the VNS would be an answer for preventing seizures and reducing medications so that she can have children and resume normal life. Unfortunately, she has only had more medications added since it was placed.
Even with the VNS and several medications, seizures come without warning. She has had dozens of seizures which have resulted in concussions - and many other seizures which have resulted in other types of injuries. She has experienced seizures while at work in the operating room, while caring for a dying cancer patient, at an airport....she has even had seizures while driving and has wrecked two cars. Grace says that having a seizure is already painful and scary, but it is also embarrassing because people don't understand what is happening when her body responds so violently. When one of her seizures results in a serious injury, she must go to the hospital for costly followup. Recently she had a seizure which made her fall face forward into a dresser. Sadly, she and her husband are having to make decisions about her care based on cost - something they normally wouldn't consider. In order to save money on hospital bills, she and her husband decided not to visit the hospital to assess her injuries. Instead they counted on family and friends in the dental profession to help her from home.
Strong epilepsy medications have side effects which are dangerous for her health. They prevent her from having children or enjoying everyday life. Sometimes the medications cause extreme mood swings or suicidal thoughts. Grace has always been a loving, upbeat and caring Christian woman - she hates the thought that she becomes "someone else" when her medications are increased. She also hates the fact that she can no longer be the independent and vibrant young woman she once was. She cannot help provide income to pay for her own health expenses because she is not allowed to work as a nurse while she has had a recent history of seizures. She cannot drive and must depend on the help of friends and family for everyday transportation needs. Each day brings the worry of an unforeseen accident or hospital trip.
Although her medical insurance helps with some expenses, her medications alone cost over $2,000 per month. She must have an MRI every 6 months. Sometimes when she has a Grand Mal seizure, she stops breathing and "codes at the house" - requiring an ambulance call, hospital trip and subsequent CT scan. With the costs of treatment, emergency medical assistance, loss of income and travel expenses to Vanderbilt, she and her husband are having difficulty affording the care that she needs.
In spite of her declining health, Grace has been able to complete a 4-year degree in nursing at Carson-Newman College in East Tennessee. She was a practicing OR nurse, and was helping patients during the COVID outbreak when she had to stop working due to this debilitating condition. She also found the love of her life, Nate Brock, and was married. Nate is a “new technology”partner in business with Cutshaw Dental Laboratory of Knoxville while they fight the battle for her health. She is trying to stay positive by learning basic lab skills to assist him, and by volunteering with the Epilepsy Foundation to help others learn how to cope with the disease. Grace has a servant's heart - she has been involved in teaching Sunday school and volunteering at Girls Inc. She is a member of the American Nurses Association and American OR Nursing Association. She was the Chaplain of her volunteer sorority Gamma Sigma. She is a graduate of Carson Newman College in Jefferson City, TN and Karns High School in Knoxville, TN.
Grace prefers to put the needs of others before her own. Even while being interviewed for this GoFundMe Page she expressed difficulty in talking about herself and her own problems. When asked what her hopes are for the future, Grace humbly asked for what most of us want and take for granted: good health, the ability to support her family, children, freedom from pain, freedom from crushing debt and freedom from the daily worry of "will another seizure come today?" Grace's greatest wish is to visit the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, to receive treatment from doctors who are the only few in the world that specialize in the particular research she would benefit from. It's very possible that brain surgery will be the cure for her, and she is hopeful that with the help of friends and family (and the support of people reading this page), she may be able to receive the lifesaving care she needs.
Grace says she is lucky to have the support of many friends and loved ones - especially her husband Nate; mother, Kimberly DeVoe; sister, Caitlin Pickett and her husband Eric; and father-in-law Dr. Steven Brock, among others. Grace also is thankful for YOUR interest in helping her to achieve the freedom to live a normal life by contributing to this page.
Let's help give Grace and her family a hopeful future!
Your donation to this fundraiser will go directly toward payment of $8,000 worth of current medical debt. If we surpass that goal, $2,000 will go toward a fund to start treatment at the Mayo Clinic.
Thank you for your time and consideration in funding her!