Screws In Her Brain Stem

Note: The currency is in Norwegian money, if you want to donate.  

1 US dollar: 10 Nok

1 Euro: 11 Nok

1 British pound: 12,40 kroner

Kari must raise 1,550,000 NOK ($150,860 USD) by August for essential neurosurgery to remove screws that are pressing into her brain stem. She’s in constant, torturous pain.

She was a caregiver. Now she needs care — essential neurosurgery she cannot afford!

Each of Kari’s injuries compounded into life-threatening instability in her neck. Kari fears for her life — fears she won’t be available for her two boys much longer.

She has neurosurgery scheduled in the USA, but she is forced to fundraise to afford it. Please help this amazing, sweet spirit. She has a huge heart. She needs your help.



WHAT HAPPENED…

Kari is a single mother of 2 bright boys. She worked a leader in physiotherapy, managed teams in hospitals and worked with large companies to educate, treat and prevent injuries and illness.

Tragically, she was injured in an attack at work.

She was concussed and the injury also damaged the ligaments in her neck. Despite a long history of seeking the best care available, she became completely disabled by instability in her neck.




Unknown at the time, Kari has an underlying condition called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a genetic disorder that causes weak connective tissue. When a chiropractor used heavy force to rotate and adjust her head, this further ruptured her weak ligaments, causing her head to become dangerously unstable. With EDS, these injuries cannot heal themselves.

The only hope for her was neurosurgery. Sadly, Norway’s health system will not operate on ANY patient with idiopathic neck pain – even with this life-threatening instability! She had to find help abroad – at her own expense.

Through a long, gruelling effort to survive, Kari has been through several surgeries already to stabilise her neck. Each one at her expense, and at the limitations of the surgical techniques. 

Kari endured a series of bad luck. After one surgery, she developed an infection in her bones from an implant. Another surgery replaced those implants; however, another problem developed.

Now, screws are pressing into her brain stem!



The hardware holding her skull is loose also. The slightest movement causes a horrific cascade of pain and dysfunction. These symptoms are very dangerous symptoms create a life-threatening situation!


The SLIGHTEST movement of her head can trigger horrible symptoms.

--  “I can barely breathe and I feel I am choking. I can`t even talk or move until this feeling passes.”

--  “It’s scary when my entire throat mouth and tongue go into spasms. I am afraid I will choke.”

--  “My jaws, my tongue, all inside my mouth, vibrates with nerve pain.”

--  “Muscle spasms pull  across my facial bones.”

--  “The migraines are so dramatic. I feel very faint, nauseous like my head is exploding.”

--  “Numbness in my arms and legs is very scary.”

--  “When I lose sensation in my back, I’m afraid to move.”

--  “My vision goes black when I’m at the toilet due to lack of blood flow to my brain.”

--  “My skull clicks in and out of position, across a gap in the loose hardware.”

--  “The nerve pains are horrific, like daggers stabbing my face, ripping into my skin with a sharp pain to the bones. This goes down both arms, elbows and into my hands as well.”

 

These injuries have wreaked havoc on Kari’s life.

Her bright career as a healthcare worker was stolen from her with compounding injuries and illness. In recent years, she’s become very isolated and housebound, often bed-bound, living permanently in a neck brace to minimise her pain. She lives in fear for her life – every day.

Kari’s community of friends are other neck injury patients online. Several have lost their lives due to the complications with instability.

To keep up hope, Kari has been a strong advocate for better care, and she continuously shares her loving spirit with genuine kindness, support and friendship. She dreams of future travel with her boys, walking along a beach, and visiting her nearby family.

She has a chance.

In the last several years, a small group of specialists (most of them in the USA) have been focusing on EDS patients’ needs. Kari has sent her MRI images to a few of these surgeons who believe they can repair the damage.

Kari has a surgery waiting for her in August (pending, of course, travel restrictions with the Coronavirus). This couldn’t come sooner! She’s living in fear of her life every day!

She needs your help to raise funds for this neurosurgery.

Kari must raise 1,550,000 NOK ($150,860 USD) for travel expenses and the surgeon’s fee. She’s come this far alone, trying her very best to survive for her boys.

She desperately needs corrective surgery to remove those screws pushing into her brain stem, and to finally stabilise her neck. 

Please support sweet Kari, this former healthcare worker, who needs your help now. To help fund her life-changing surgery, please make a donation and share her story.  She is very grateful for ANY help, no matter how small the donation.