****UPDATE 07-17-2016: No longer accepting Donations****



Thank you for visiting my GoFundMe page!



My name is Bev. I'm married, love my family, and my sweet little dog, Jackson!!



I have a brain tumor (tumor meaning mass) and it needs to come out ASAP.



I've been dealing with many doctors who haven't helped me. I found a surgeon, Dr. Shahinian, down in California, who will help me, and is the best at minimally invasive brain surgery. He's awesome and works at the Skull Base Institute, where he has developed a technique that's safeish with fiber optic cutting things and video cameras. They can go around the lobes of the brain to extract this thing, without damaging the grey matter.



Here is an interesting video clip from The Doctors TV show of this procedure by Dr. Shahinian, and a little girl's battle with her pineal cyst:

http://www.skullbaseinstitute.com/video-the-doctors-pineal-tumor.htm





I have what appears to be a pineal cyst that was 9mm back in december. We won't know if it is truely a cyst or cancer until it is out, because there is no way to test for that, since it is enclosed and inside the brain. I don't know how big it is now, but will update once it's either removed or another MRI is performed. It's probably bigger because I'm having simple and complex partial siezures now, when I wasn't in December.



Here's what I've been suffering with for the past 7 months, with the symptoms progressing over time:

-chronic severe migraines

-light sensitivity

-noise sensitivity

-burning and/or stabbing and/or electrical pains in random body parts

-feeling like I'm falling randomly

-messed up speech

-messed up cognition

-insomnia

-memory issues

-siezures

-muscle jerking

-feelings of broken bones

-tasting things through my foot

-stabbing pain in left eye

-peripheral vision disturbances and occaisional vision loss in spot of my left eye

-peripheral vision disturbances of right eye

-screaming fits from pain

-bouts of extreme fear, rage, sadness, and even joy (I like when the bouts of joy happen, but it's not very often unfortunately)

-severe convulsions that are tight, and painful and feel like charlie horses on steroids

-temperature difficulties (I keep burning my hands when I wash them with too hot of water, because i am not feling how hot it is)

-extreme fatigue

-crying and screaming only hurts my head more and puts more pressure, so I cant even have a pity party about it without more pain

-I'm running into things all the time, and have a bunch of bruises all over from how clumsy and jerky my motion's been.

-losing hours of every day either not being mentally present, or being unable to sufficiently communicate. Much of my days are filled with these mental spells, and it's getting worse every single day.

-Trouble sleeping

-all my senses are misfiring, crisscrossing, and lying to my brain right now. It's absolutely terrifying, uncomfortable, and painful.



So, basically this has been the worst thing I've ever had to deal with in my life, and all of this has been a wretched half of a year of extreme suffering. If i didn't know it was fixable, I would not ever burden the people around with with the honest truth that I've been absolutely msirable and hating my life the past 7 months, and have debated whether or not it is worth it. Now that I knwo this can be fixed, I don't feel it's all in vain, anymore, and I havbe hope again. This is fixable, and that is super super awesome, I;m just really giddy about this surgery. I can't even describe it. I'm going to be normal again. It's amazing.



I will be going to the Skull Base Institue to see Dr. Shahanian, who will take care of me and get me back to my old self who can enjoy life without a bunch of pain and crazy alteration of sensations. Unfortunately, insurance doesn't cover the surgery, as it is out of network. There are no surgeons in my network that perform this surgery, so we are stuck with the cost of the whole surgery out of pocket.



I have never been a fan of asking for money, but I can assure you that your donation will go towards a good cause. It will end my suffering, through removal of this 9mm cyst/tumor, and When I am better I will do the following:

-become a volunteer ombudsman to advocate for physically and mentlly vulnerable patients.

-go back to school to be a physician assistant who will rock n roll patients all the way back to good health and happiness with genuine kindness and support, and a functional medicine approach.





I cannot wait to get better. I am so excited to be and feel myself again, it's just going to be incredible!!!



Thank you so much for any spare money you give here. It will be truely and deeply appreciated by me and my family, and I will be put to good use for the community when I am well! It's going to be awesome, and I'm really excited.



Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me. I will do my best to give back as much as possible in every way that I can when this is over.



Thank you so much.



Sincerely,

Bev















