Fund Grace's Journey to Recovery

Hi, my name is Casey. My amazing friend Grace is a California native who moved to New York on a quest to save her life. Before this, she had endured nearly three long decades of seeking answers to why she was so sick, with no luck until recently. Grace's illness has left her incapacitated and less and less able to perform simple daily tasks. On a daily basis, Grace has to manage through terrible head fog, impaired vision, and chronic fatigue. Grace was not about to give up on her quest to get healthy but realized California was not providing the answers she needed. Leaving her family and friends three thousand miles behind, Grace embarked on a journey to save her life. Grace's research brought her to New York in January 2024. She identified a specialist who was able to diagnose her with ME/CFS and Dysautonomia.

Grace learned that people with her diagnosis often have problems with their upper cervical spine and brain stem. This part of the body controls your heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, and body temperature. Grace also learned the surgeon she had found had an excellent record working with this patient population, and he was confident he could help Grace.

One of the images, seen on the cover photo, shows a cross-section of Grace's brain and cervical spine. The scan shows uneven blood flow exiting the brain through the respective jugulars. This is indicative of high intracranial pressure. However, when the surgeon checked the intracranial pressure with an ICP bolt (photo of Grace post-procedure), he was surprised to learn that the intracranial pressure was low. Because of the low intracranial pressure, Grace is being evaluated for a CSF leak. A CSF leak is considered a medical emergency, meaning Grace could need surgery soon.

Grace has already incurred close to $20,000 in medical expenses and will be unable to work as she recovers from this procedure at Mt. Sinai. The length of recovery from surgery is undetermined, so the target amount is $26,000 as this will allow Grace to pay her existing medical bills, and be able to survive while being bed-bound, and unable to work, during her long recovery. Thank you in advance for your contribution. I appreciate your support.