Help Fund a Young Man’s Spinal Surgery: Micah Needs Help!

Micah is a 25-year-old underwater welder in Northern Virginia. His favorite hobbies include hiking, camping, and weightlifting. He has been dating his girlfriend Faith for five years and wants nothing more than to propose and marry her. Micah is ready to start his life. However, he sustained an injury to his spine in 2019 that is preventing him from reaching these life goals. He needs $40,000 to pay for the surgery that will finally heal him.

Micah’s Story

While working construction, Micah fell twelve feet into a solid concrete tank. At the time, the only apparent injury was a broken elbow, but within the coming months, he began noticing much more concerning side effects. Micah's back has slowly deteriorated from the summer of 2019 until the summer of 2023. For four years, he endured radiating pain from his lower back up to his shoulders and down his legs, severe nerve pain, limb and extremity weakness, and numbness. Doctors suspected he had a bulging disc, but being that he is in his early 20s, no doctor felt it was worth operating on. As the years progressed, he spent longer spans immobile in bed, and every day he spent in chronic pain.

In July of 2023, Micah awoke in especially bad pain. He managed to get to an Urgent Care where he remained lying flat on the ground waiting to be seen. Despite this extreme pain, the Urgent Care was the first of several fumbled doctor’s visits. A couple of days later, Micah woke up during the night in such pain that he could no longer move. He was ambulanced to the hospital where they still did not believe the injury was as serious as it was. A couple of appointments later, the intuition of one PA brought light to the situation. She was disturbed by the severity of Micah’s symptoms, so she called the doctor she studied under. Despite being on vacation, he instructed us to immediately rush to the ER where he would perform emergency surgery the very next morning. Had this doctor not been alerted to Micah’s case, he was certain he would have been paralyzed.

Throughout the next six months of brutal recovery and intense physical therapy, Micah’s symptoms were not only returning but increasing, yet the surgeon firmly insisted the surgery healed his back. Since this surgeon was dismissive of Micah’s concerns, we knew he needed a second opinion. Through much research and prayer, Micah found one of the world’s leading neurosurgeons to review his case. After more tests, the doctor informed us that Micah needed a second, more extensive surgery to replace two of his discs. The surgery is not only experimental but complex and requires multiple highly trained surgeons to accomplish.

This surgery is the only means by which the degeneration of Micah’s spine can be stopped. It is also the only method that will allow him to regain quality of life by continuing his profession as an underwater welder and being able to once again enjoy his favorite hobbies. Like many young men, everything that Micah loves doing requires a strong, healthy spine. Over the past five years, his loved ones have watched his physical and mental health decline drastically as this excruciating pain and continually deteriorated spine have prevented him from enjoying everything that gives him joy in life.

It has now been over a year since the doctor urged Micah to schedule this surgery. However, his previous surgery completely drained his finances, and on top of the medical costs, he was unable to work for four months. Micah’s doctor was touched by his resilience to keep working through his excruciating post-surgery pain and his eagerness to start a life with his girlfriend. For this reason, he has already generously taken thousands of dollars off the total cost. Nevertheless, the primary obstacle preventing Micah from receiving this surgery is the remaining $40,000 it will cost out of pocket, including his basic living expenses while he is out of work for another four months. For well over a year, we have tried everything in our power to raise the funds, from working overtime to searching far and wide for grants, and nothing has come of our efforts. Micah now needs the additional funding and many prayers to make this happen!