Medical Treatment for Stephani the Paramedic

Stephani needs our help after a whole year of awful.
You probably know Stephani from 14 years of doing the medical tent at Motion Notion or Astral Harvest,
Reign Bough Fiddle, the last two years of Fozzyfest or Freezerburn. If you ever needed first aid, a talk by
the fire, a bunch of sarcasm, food or a hug, or any kind of help at a music festival then you’ve probably
met her. Maybe you know her because you worked with her in EMS, or maybe you know her through
Cam, her husband or maybe you don’t know her at all but she’s spent her whole life going without to
take care of other people, and I’m trying to return the favor. You might have met her if you called 911
or if you run marathons or took a CPR course or an EMR course maybe?
Stephani has MS and in October 2019, woke up disabled. Like, couldn’t walk, sometimes paralyzed,
needing a cane and a lot of help disabled. Turns out she has damage to her brain stem (that’s a really
important part of your brain, google it if you don’t know) and 13 lesions on her cervical spinal cord (the
most important part of spinal cord)
2019 was a pretty crappy year for Stephani financially. Some of the raves she worked didn’t feel like
paying their invoices after Stephani and her medics had already worked really long shifts with very little
sleep and in the cold and rain. (You all remember last summer, right?) Stephani also caught pneumonia
from a patient and battled it the rest of the festival season, which might have
contributed to her brain breaking. (MS is an autoimmune disease) She and the other medics
resuscitated a full-on dead chick at Astral in 2019 and got her awake and breathing again. They did
more than just hand out Band-Aids and wrap ankles, although those are important too.
Not getting paid for all her work last year put her company, and her, in big trouble. If you don’t plan
festivals you might not know, but anytime a festival asked for a reduced rate or a discount, Stephani
gave one. She just wanted people to go home okay so she never made much money being a paramedic
at the festivals. 2019 she didn’t make any money. The transmission blew in her car last summer because
it’s a 15 year old car. In January of 2020, she had to cancel her and Cams benefits because she couldn’t
pay them anymore. In March, they officially diagnosed her with MS after waiting 6 months for an MRI
because she couldn’t afford to get a private one right away. Now the MS doctors want her on a
medication that costs about 28, 000 a year.
In March of 2020, we all know Covid happened and every event was cancelled. Stephani had been
hanging on because her event contracts started up again in June and she’d be able to get by another
year if she was really really careful. Now thanks to Covid her company Elite is going to make no money
this year and neither will she. The events for 2020 had all put down deposits that are non-refundable
but she returned every single penny of every deposit so no one experienced undue hardship even
though the money would have been very helpful, just because she’s a good person. For right now, she’s
not sure how she’s going to even renew her paramedic license in the fall let alone pay for medical
treatment that will help her be less disabled so she could work again. She can’t afford physiotherapy or
a special leg brace that would help her stand or walk longer than 20 minutes and not have to use a cane.
She’s gone of all her meds because she just can’t afford them. Ever met her on a Monday morning?

Now imagine her unmedicated plus she has a long cane/stick. Jokes aside, 2019 pretty much ruined her
and 2020 isn’t any better.
Cam (her husband, you might have met him too) is also a paramedic and has been working two jobs
since October to pay the bills on his own. He recently found an article about a new treatment for MS
that’s recently approved in Canada. It cost 20,000 bucks. It includes a 14 wek intensive treatment plan
in Calgary, so she’d have to travel to the city 3 times a week for 14 weeks but it includes the device and
physiotherapy at a neurological rehab clinic and then she also does more rehab using the device at
home the other days she’s not at the clinic for two hours. They’ve had good results with people who are
more disabled and older than Stephani. She was in pretty good shape before October 2019 so the
Doctor in charge thinks she’s got a great chance to get good results but she can’t afford the treatment,
any medications, physiotherapy, nothing at this point. The price for the device and treatment program
goes up at the end of August and the longer she has disabilities the harder it’s going to be to get better.
I get that everyone is hurting right now financially but if you can contribute any amount I know it will
help a lot. Stephani has always been there for me when I needed her, and I know she’s been there for a
lot of people over the years but she doesn’t really ask for help back.

Any little bit helps and adds up. Thanks in advance. Please share so Stephani can get the medical
treatment she needs as soon as possible. She’s been waiting for help since October.