Vision for Vanessa

Vanessa is a loving single mother of three girls,  two of which are adopted. She is a teacher with over twenty years of experience.  Best  of all for me, she is a friend.

 I met her three years ago, at work. I had just started my transition into teaching. She  helped me to get assimilated with the classroom, policies, and the hundreds of duties the job demands. I found myself consistently seeking her for guidance and advise. She is a wealth of knowledge in the field of elementary education, an asset to our students, staff and community at large. 


She has dedicated her career to helping her students and colleagues unselfishly and with a smile. If she got a nickel for each time she helped another she could have made a fortune. But like most people know, one doesn’t get into teaching for the money. Which brings me to my purpose in setting up this campaign. 

Vanessa was diagnosed with a severe case of Iritis  a few years ago. It is a disease that causes inflammation of the eye and loss of vision. To reduce the inflammation she was getting steroid injections which is causing increasing pressure in her eye. To help lower the pressure in her right eye, an immediate glaucoma surgery is necessary. It has been scheduled for January 14th, 2020. She currently has 20/600 vision in her left eye. She has what they call 4 foot finger counting vision. She sees big things but not small details like fingers, they become unclear. The doctors are trying to avoid that fate in her right eye. 

Speechless, I listened as she filled me in on the latest update of her office visit and the costs associated with it.  Her insurance policy has a $5,000.00 deductible and a 20% copay. Total costs are approximately $6500 plus the costs of prescriptions. Her out of pocket for the surgery is more then the insurance portion.  

She would have have to take FMLA leave from work and will be loosing a portion of her income.  

I really had no words of comfort for my friend whose vision is diminishing and because of the necessary surgery she will be put in a situation of financial hardship. My heart ached for her especially since I myself am a single mom on a teacher’s salary with no means to make any significant impact financially. So I thought of the next best thing, to reach out through social media and ask for help. 

All funds will be used to pay for all medically related costs and offset the loss of income as she recovers.

If you can spare anything, maybe skip a cup of coffee and donate to help her fund out of pocket costs and alleviate some of the stress. It would be greatly appreciated.