Hayley's Medical Bills

As many of you know, Hayley has been through such an ordeal in the past two years with her health and, like me, I know many of you want to be able to do something, but just aren’t sure what. I randomly thought of the idea of a gofundme a few weeks ago as a way for you guys to help if you’d like. She has had and unfortunately continues to have medical bill after medical bill – so this is just an easy way for all of us to help make a difference . ☺

This is our friend’s story:

In March of 2021 her symptoms began. Hayley started having headaches so severe that she went to the ER, but was sent home after being told it was just a regular migraine and a UTI. She wasn’t even home a full day before she was back in the ER again and this time with a diagnosis of meningitis. After being admitted for several days on many medications, she was finally discharged home and was feeling slightly better. Once home, she followed up with her doctor and he thought right away that she wasn’t just dealing with meningitis, but something called intracranial hypertension (too much fluid on the brain). This causes many symptoms including: double vision, migraines, dizziness, nausea and blindness….just to name a few. He started her on medication right away and because losing weight can also improve symptoms, she began that journey as well. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, it was clear that the medication wasn’t working so an MRI of her brain was ordered. The results showed that a large vein had collapsed. It was decided then that she needed a stent placed to try and open the vein. We hoped this would improve the flow and her symptoms.

Unfortunately the stent didn’t yield positive results and she continued having symptoms even despite losing 100lbs. The next step was a shunt placement. These are very commonly placed in patients with intracranial hypertension. Over the course of nine months, she had to endure many more procedures and medical tests, and unfortunately several revisions to her shunt. The pressure in her head still remained high and she was miserable. Medications didn’t even provide relief.

It was time for a second opinion and in her research, she found a surgeon at Baptist Hospital who is world renowned for his specialty in intracranial hypertension. At her first appointment with him in September, he did his own work-up of her which included his own angiogram and spinal tap. The spinal tap results came back double what it should’ve been. This made him suspicious. The pressure in her head was still high even with a shunt in place and that didn’t make sense. After reading the images that he ordered, it was obvious that her shunt was broken, so in November of 2022, she went in for yet another revision. Almost exactly a month after that procedure (which included a craniotomy and a whole new shunt system), she ended up with an infection. Hayley became very sick very quickly and after a 13 day hospital stay, she was discharged back home.

The following February of 2023, she had her shunt placed back on the left side of her brain, yet high pressure symptoms continued. Another spinal tap. Another very high result. At this point her surgeon believed she would likely need another shunt. One wasn’t going to be enough to control the pressure in her head. She went back to the hospital in March to have another shunt placed on the right side of her head. Unfortunately, symptoms still continued. The shunts were doing their job, but it still wasn’t enough to control the pressure. Hayley had yet another spinal tap and again the results were abnormally high. Two shunts were now placed and her symptoms were just as severe as they were without any. After meeting with his colleagues and bringing Hayley’s case up in many meetings, her surgeon decided he would go in and place a third shunt. This June, she went back to the OR yet again for this procedure. Three weeks after the operation and she still didn’t have any improvement. Yet another spinal tap explains why: the pressure in her brain is still too high. Not only that, but the valve on the new shunt has malfunctioned and the settings couldn’t be adjusted. Sadly, this was going to require ANOTHER revision surgery in July.

She had her revision surgery and was discharged home. Things were hopefully looking up. However, as of today, Hayley is currently admitted to the hospital with sepsis. Her shunt became infected only a few days after she was discharged which resulted in high fevers and vomiting. She’s been on IV antibiotics for a little over a week and has ultimately had surgery yet again to remove one of the shunts that seemed to be the source of infection in her blood stream, brain and brain fluid.

Despite all of this, she’s miraculously continued to work full time and obtain her BSN. She still tries to live her life just like everyone else. This has taken such a huge mental, physical and financial toll on her. Every little bit helps if you feel like donating and if you don’t, that’s okay too!