Help D.S. Falowo Create a New Home and Heal

*Help D.S. Falowo Create a New Home and Heal*

Update 1: an MRI of my spine that revealed two mild disc bulges, that a psychotherapist speculated could be the root of this mystery condition

Update 2: The gastroenterologist had me get an ultrasound and a stool test, both of which turned up nothing. This has me at a loss as I've spent almost all aid and earnings on finding out the cause for my gut sensitivity, pain and chronic fatigue.

Update 3: I'm currently waiting for a blood test on H. pylori, which is a gastrointestinal germ. My case remains a mystery. I'm still technically homeless and cannot be more grateful to all who have aided me to survive the day to day, of food and medicine, but I am still in need of great help.

My name is Dare. I’m a queer and neurodivergent artist, living in Nigeria, and in July 2023, my debut collection of short stories, "Caged Ocean Dub", entered the world to very good acclaim.

This wonderful development was followed by a series of unfortunate events: a gradual decline in health with arising co-morbidities in mind as I searched the world for healing, and eventually a domestic misunderstanding that led to a scandal in which I lost my home in Ibadan.

Afterwards, back in Lagos, I got an MRI of my spine which had begun to ache intensely and ran from specialist to specialist in search of an answer: I was finally diagnosed by a neurologist with chronic pain.

Now, I am in a small place, squatting back in my birth home with too many people and managing this pain with over-the-counter painkillers only, while feeling a growing weight at this lack of personal space.

My work in writing is continuing but not as strongly. I am currently in the editing process of a second collection of stories and this has left me in a desert of funds and aid to access and afford medicine, talk less of a new space to live in.

This fundraiser is to help me continue to survive and also move into a new home in which I can begin again and reclaim my dignity, nurture my gifts and find better health: specifically the services of an anesthesiologist, to help me deal with this chronic aches deep in my body.

It has been very surreal, coming to terms & having to accept that I live with a neuropathy, which causes me abstract disability. I want to prove to myself (and the world) that it doesn't stop me from using my mind beautifully, reaching the apex of my dreams and achieving all goals of health, freedom and a fruitful future.

Thank you as you help me rise above.

May you all know harmony in mind, soul and body.