Help me get through Brain Surgery

Kate Songer is organizing this fundraiser.

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hey friends/family,

soo life threw a curve ball at me these last 6 months! many of you may know I constantly get these short severe headaches when I strain, bend down, sneeze, cough, laugh, etc. I constantly brushed them off as not drinking enough water, not sleeping well, or an iron or vitamin deficiency. turns out they were no joke! I have a Chiari Malformation (type 1, meaning the adult form), which essentially means my cerebellum is herniating out into my spinal canal. each time I had a headache, more or less my cerebral spinal fluid was getting jammed and creating pressure (no bueno). at this point, I feel like a walking headache, getting anywhere from 5-15 headaches on an average day, and more if I'm doing a strenuous activity.

in the MRI scan, if you identify where the cerebellum is, you'll notice brain tissue that slopes down into a cone like shape (called the cerebellar tonsils), also where there's a yellow line in the image. this is where the compression occurs and can also cause all sorts of other neurological issues. on average, the herniation can be 5mm to 12mm, I'm extra lucky with a fat 20mm herniation, but no syrinx (fluid build up in my spinal cord).

in my case, surgery is really the only treatment. it's a rather serious operation, that actually only is successful 80% of the time (20% resulting in other complications, infection, or just no improvement of symptoms). my surgery is scheduled Dec 17th, leaving me only a couple weeks to prepare. recovery time is approximately a month, which leaves me without work and still a lot of things to pay. I've listed them below:

Rent: $300

Neck Pain Relief Pillow: $50

Help with Loan Payment: $100

Help with Food for 4 weeks: $150

I'm trying to keep it realistic, I don't need much to get by but it would be really nice to not drain my savings on brain surgery. I'm extremely lucky that I discovered I have Chiari while still on my mother's insurance, yeehaw.

I've posted other links and videos so people can see what I have going on in my brain! also, if you EVER hear of someone complain about frequent short headaches, back of their head, use the term "migraines" a lot, tell them about Chiari, and give them my number if they have any questions. Chiari is uncommon, but odds are you know someone with it, occurring in 1 in every 1,000 people. I don't want anyone to have to go through this process alone - it's scary and there's still a lot of uncertainly about surgery and techniques.

tremendous thank you for the support of my friends and family to get through this. if anyone has any cool half shaved hair style recommendations please let me know!

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