Danny Polaris' Priapism Recovery Fund
Donation protected
I've now been out of hospital for almost two weeks. I was in hospital for two weeks. It's been a month of pain and self-discovery and difficult lessons.
Now I'm feeling a little bit better each day, I've taken over the maintenance of this page.
What happened?
I was suffering with a potentially life-threatening priapism for more than 10 days. Now my condition is stable, but I was in a lot of pain and lost a lot of blood. Things were touch and go for those first 10 days, but I pulled through.
People have called me brave and inspiring for helping to raise awareness about priapism: A misunderstood, painful and dangerous condition that is affecting men across the world, increasingly more each year, as erection-enhancing drugs become more easily available for mis-use.
I don't feel especially brave or inspiring - I just take each day as it comes and try to make the the most out of the situation I'm in.
From personal pain to healing others
During this period, I've never felt so much physical pain in my life. I'm also still coming to terms with the mental trauma that almost losing my penis has caused.
What happened to me could have been totally avoided, and I will always live with the very stupid decision I made to let a nurse inject an erection-enhancer into my penis.
It's made me look at my whole reason for being alive, and has lead me to a less selfish path.
My main goals are:
To get physically and mentally well again, with help from a psychotherapist and psychiatrist.
Travel to/from the UK/Germany to see specialists and for further surgery and treatments.
Aid my healing with alternative therapies, acupuncture and reiki.
To train as a Reiki Master so I can earn an income from teaching reiki and healing others with reiki. The course fees are £1000 with the London Reiki Academy.
I will train my first 10 students of Reiki 1 free of charge (course fees are usually around £200), as a way of saying thank you for donations, and as a way of paying forward.
Longer term goals:
To volunteer with refugees in Athens and the Greek islands, spreading healing, and training charity workers in reiki techniques.
Main costs:
Flights to/from UK/Germany
Berlin rent (570 euro per month)
Getting set up as a freelancer
Costs of living while recovering
Reiki Master training
Mobile phone (stolen at CSD)
Back story: Updated
It's now over a month since the initial priapism, and I"m still in pain every day. The painkillers make me pretty sleepy, so I find it harder to get basic things done.
The day I left hospital, I found out that I had lost my job. I'm not well enough to return to a full-time job yet, but I have started to look at volunteering work as well as freelance writing.
More details of the medical stuff:
A priapism is an erection that will not go down and as a result can be agonizing painful. Danny's particular kind has serious complications, such as potentially life-threatening blood clots and this is currently what Danny is fighting. He's scared and traumatized but is being brave and optimistic. We are unsure how far his insurance will take him. Especially regarding aftercare and rehabilitation. He's also in a financial black hole from missing out on freelance writing work and performance work. We don't know yet if he is able to keep his new job.
He will need counselling / psychotherapy, alternative therapies and further operations in the future for reconstructive surgery. This fundraiser is for things to make Danny more comfortable, like a mobile phone (he had his basic Nokia phone stolen at Berlin CSD), drinks, snacks and alternative therapies like reiki and acupuncture to aid healing and for travel costs and passport renewal costs for his parents in case they need to come to Berlin to help him when he leaves hospital.
Any donation is welcome. Let's get him back on his feet!
Now I'm feeling a little bit better each day, I've taken over the maintenance of this page.What happened?
I was suffering with a potentially life-threatening priapism for more than 10 days. Now my condition is stable, but I was in a lot of pain and lost a lot of blood. Things were touch and go for those first 10 days, but I pulled through.
People have called me brave and inspiring for helping to raise awareness about priapism: A misunderstood, painful and dangerous condition that is affecting men across the world, increasingly more each year, as erection-enhancing drugs become more easily available for mis-use.
I don't feel especially brave or inspiring - I just take each day as it comes and try to make the the most out of the situation I'm in.
From personal pain to healing others
During this period, I've never felt so much physical pain in my life. I'm also still coming to terms with the mental trauma that almost losing my penis has caused.
What happened to me could have been totally avoided, and I will always live with the very stupid decision I made to let a nurse inject an erection-enhancer into my penis.
It's made me look at my whole reason for being alive, and has lead me to a less selfish path.
My main goals are:
To get physically and mentally well again, with help from a psychotherapist and psychiatrist.
Travel to/from the UK/Germany to see specialists and for further surgery and treatments.
Aid my healing with alternative therapies, acupuncture and reiki.
To train as a Reiki Master so I can earn an income from teaching reiki and healing others with reiki. The course fees are £1000 with the London Reiki Academy.
I will train my first 10 students of Reiki 1 free of charge (course fees are usually around £200), as a way of saying thank you for donations, and as a way of paying forward.
Longer term goals:
To volunteer with refugees in Athens and the Greek islands, spreading healing, and training charity workers in reiki techniques.
Main costs:
Flights to/from UK/Germany
Berlin rent (570 euro per month)
Getting set up as a freelancer
Costs of living while recovering
Reiki Master training
Mobile phone (stolen at CSD)
Back story: Updated
It's now over a month since the initial priapism, and I"m still in pain every day. The painkillers make me pretty sleepy, so I find it harder to get basic things done.
The day I left hospital, I found out that I had lost my job. I'm not well enough to return to a full-time job yet, but I have started to look at volunteering work as well as freelance writing.
More details of the medical stuff:
A priapism is an erection that will not go down and as a result can be agonizing painful. Danny's particular kind has serious complications, such as potentially life-threatening blood clots and this is currently what Danny is fighting. He's scared and traumatized but is being brave and optimistic. We are unsure how far his insurance will take him. Especially regarding aftercare and rehabilitation. He's also in a financial black hole from missing out on freelance writing work and performance work. We don't know yet if he is able to keep his new job.
He will need counselling / psychotherapy, alternative therapies and further operations in the future for reconstructive surgery. This fundraiser is for things to make Danny more comfortable, like a mobile phone (he had his basic Nokia phone stolen at Berlin CSD), drinks, snacks and alternative therapies like reiki and acupuncture to aid healing and for travel costs and passport renewal costs for his parents in case they need to come to Berlin to help him when he leaves hospital.
Any donation is welcome. Let's get him back on his feet!
Fundraising team: Danny Polaris' Priapism Recovery (2)
Danny Harrop-Griffiths
Organizer
Berlin, Berlin
Mariana Ungaretti
Team member