Help Teyla Receive Treatment and Adapt to Life with FND

Meet Teyla.

Teyla is a 13-year-old with a passion for skateboarding and various art forms. She dreams of becoming a wildlife or marine veterinarian and recently fell in love with cybersecurity at the CyberPatriot Cybersecurity day camp. When she is older, Teyla aspires to become an influencer to raise awareness about the struggles of living with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) and other neurodivergent conditions.

Imagine dealing with intense chronic neuropathic pain, moments where you are trapped in your own body and cannot talk, move, and have seizure like activity, and moments where the pain is so excruciating you can only scream.

Your brain hit a point where there is nothing medically harmful to your body, but the brain has had enough and detached from the peripheral nervous system.

Icing on the cake: you are told for years upon years you are faking it, exaggerating, or it is attention seeking behavior -- everywhere you go: school, doctor appointments, ERs, and the local hospital.

Financial Request

We are seeking to raise $5,000 to cover the following expenses:

Thank You to Our Past Supporter, Family, & Friends

Your donations made it possible for us to be in Dallas for Teyla's initial treatment from February to May.

Without your financial support, research and guidance into relief and emergency assistance, our first stint to Dallas would not have been successful.

Your generosity provided Teyla a chance to walk and jump again, with a renewed spirit.

Our Family's Journey

Matthew and I are constantly told Teyla brings joy to others, and that she brings happiness to this around her. We worried because over the past few years Matthew and I saw her joyous light dim and flicker as Teyla's health continuously declined.

Teyla’s mental health rapidly declined starting October 2022, with a severe physical downturn in November 2023. My husband and I worry because we see that joyous light dim and flicker.

She was hospitalized at El Paso Children’s Hospital in early 2024 due to uncontrollable pain and immobility. El Paso Children's Hospital could not determine Teyla's diagnosis.

Upon Teyla's discharge, we took her to an allergist because we thought she was having severe allergic reactions in the hospital. The allergist diagnosed Teyla with Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria (CSU), an overactive histamine response even though there are no allergies.

We first had her tested for allergies when she was 5 or 6 years old, and the test came back with no known allergies. Essentially, Teyla was undiagnosed for 7 years, and her neuropathic pain and itchiness was attributed to exaggeration, sensory issues, dry skin, or acne.

In February, we traveled to Children's Health in Dallas to the Pediatric Pain Management Clinic. Dallas is a 9.5 hour drive from El Paso.

At our very first visit to Children's Health in February, the doctors immediately diagnosed her with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). They believed that if we could stay in the Dallas area for a few months for intensive treatment, Teyla could be walking in a few months and on the road to healing. We took a medical withdrawal from our college and stayed in Dallas.

FND is a neurological and psychiatric disorder that must be treated simultaneously. We discovered CSU paired with FND exacerbates symptoms. Apparently, CSU and FND have the same triggers and stressors, but symptoms differ slightly. Therefore, when one diagnosis flares up, so does the other diagnosis. The common cold can cause flareups.

In Dallas, intensive treatment brought remarkable improvements. By mid May 2024, Teyla left walking and with a renewed spirit. Her joy was returning and noticeable by others.

There are no FND specialists in El Paso, but we had a plan for continued care with Teyla's current mental and behavioral healthcare providers before we left Dallas. We would drive to Dallas every 3 to 4 months for follow up FND care; the goal was for the El Paso mental and behavioral health teams to work side by side with the care team at Children's Health.

When we returned to El Paso and followed up with Teyla's El Paso providers, we discovered the severity of Teyla's FND, paired with her CSU, and the emotional damage caused by years of being misdiagnosed created a situation that was out of their scope.

Shortly after this, Teyla's hair fell out over the course of two days. A dermatologist told us it was trichotillomania, a condition caused by external factors. In this case, the stress and damage from her seizure-like activity and immobility in January 2024. Teyla's scalp burned and itched as her hair broke off at the scalp.

The shock of her losing her hair, medical professionals stating to Teyla that she was out of their scope, and feelings of failure because she has a severe relapse added to her recent physical and mental decline. We must return to Dallas on further intensive treatment.

Challenges and Triumphs

Notable moments prior to Teyla’s diagnosis include:

Teyla's middle school frequently violated her Special Education Individualized Learning Plan, causing significant stress and contributing to her condition's exacerbation. The school's constant calls and violations of her IEP affected my job. I left my job of nine-years Feb 2023. Little did we realize that misdiagnosed FND was a root cause. I had to remove her from her middle school in January 2024 due to these ongoing issues. She is now in a Texas online public school.

Call to action

Please consider donating to help Teyla get the medical care she needs as she continues to adapt. Your support can make a world of difference in her journey towards recovery. Every contribution, no matter the size, is deeply appreciated. Please share our story with your friends, family, churches, and prayer chains.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your kindness and support.

Your generosity gives Teyla a fighting chance.