Help For Megan Smith’s Brain Surgery and Recovery

Hi Friend! Whether you’re a family member, close friend, acquaintance or even a stranger to Megan, we thank you whole-heartedly for your consideration and generosity in helping with this unexpected emergency surgery. 

 

Megan is only 27 years old, and this news has been a shock and devastation to us all. Those closest to her love and know her for her goofy personality and sense of humor, her resilience and determination (she ran her first marathon in sleet!), her loyalty and dedication to her friends and family, her love of animals, and the kindness and compassion she shows toward all walks of life. She is stubborn and strong and she will no doubt fight through this hardship with all her might, but she will need some help along the way. 

 

Some background:

 

On Sunday November 7th, 2021 Megan was brought to the ER by her boyfriend Joe (a paramedic and a true god-send for noticing something was wrong), as she’d been having headaches for the past two weeks with little to no relief. They did a CT scan and the results showed fluid on her brain, so she was then transported to another hospital for an MRI which led to the discovery of a mass on the front-left side of her brain surrounded by the fluid. Doctors advised that the mass is likely either an abscess or tumor/cancer, and she will need brain surgery to have it removed. 

 

On Monday Nov. 8th her parents, Tom and Lisa, flew to Georgia to be with Megan and Joe to help navigate the chaos that is the healthcare system and try to get as many answers to the hundreds of questions we all have since hearing this news. After getting a second opinion by another surgeon at the hospital, Megan was transported to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia (about 1.5 hours south from where she lives with her boyfriend); they plan to perform another set of MRI’s later this week and then schedule her surgery to remove the mass that will later be tested for cancer.

 

She found an amazing surgeon who specializes in and plans to perform an “awake craniotomy”, a procedure which allows the surgeon to precisely locate the functional areas of the brain that must be avoided by asking Megan to perform tasks such as talking, counting and looking at pictures while she is awake during part of the surgery. The neurosurgeon will use computer images of the brain taken before and during the procedure and Megan’s responses to create a map of the functional areas of the brain. They will then remove as much of the tumor as possible while avoiding these specific areas; this mapping technique lowers the risk of damage to areas of her brain that could affect vision, movement or speech.

 

Megan’s MRI shows the mass located fairly deep within her brain and very close to these critical areas, but we are optimistic and confident in her surgeon’s expertise and skill set. We’ve been told she will likely be discharged from the hospital within a week after the surgery, but that her total recovery will realistically be at least a month; she will not return to work until she is fully recovered from any side effects of the surgery and subsequent brain swelling that could impact her speech and motor functions in the weeks after the procedure. 

 

Her support system has been amazing, but with the level of care she has received during her hospital stay since November 8th, unfortunately her medical bills are only continuing to grow. Our family is helping in every way they can, but she will need all the help she can get to recover her lost wages during recovery on top of the medical bills that will be coming in when everything is done. 

 

We have already received so many well-wishes and prayers for her speedy recovery and well-being, which we are so grateful for. We also recognize that this past year and a half has been particularly tough on everyone’s pockets. We are estimating Megan’s out-of-pocket medical expenses to be around $7k including her deductible for this year alone; she will likely need further treatment/therapy/follow-up procedures going into 2022, so this cost is likely going to double putting her total expenses upwards of $14,000. 

 

Any dollar amount donated to her recovery and expenses is appreciated - no matter the size - and we are so thankful to anyone and everyone that is able to help her cause.