Autumn Recovery Fund
Donation protected
After battling for years to find answers, Autumn was diagnosed at 27 (2007 – her daughter Jaedyn was 4) with an invisible, incurable disease called Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (AKA Pseudotumor Cerebri which means "false brain tumor")
This condition causes her body to have all of the symptoms of a brain tumor, including constant crushing headaches that never go away, hearing issues, vision problems and the threat of permanent blindness. Autumn has fought through countless lumbar punctures, 6 surgeries:
(LP shunt Dec 2007, New LP shunt Jan 2008, VP shunt March 2008, cervical disc replacement Nov 2014, VP shunt revision Oct 2017, VP shunt removal May 2018) - 3 of them brain surgeries - and still managed to balance being a mother, wife and small business owner.
Unfortunately, there is no cure for Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension and the average life span of a VP shunt is about 8 years. The average occurrence of removal (and thus another surgery to place a new shunt) due to post operative infection is quite high. Repeated brain surgeries are just part of life now.
After just being able to get back to work from her second brain surgery in October, she had emergency brain surgery due to infection in the brain on May 27th.
Today marks her 4th brain surgery. Meanwhile, bill collectors are still calling about bills from the October surgery, and their family is nearly maxing out credit cards to meet basic needs.
Finances have already been a major struggle over the past 18 months but now they are also facing the piles of medical bills combined with being out of work for an undetermined amount of time. The mounting stress is not a good recipe for recovery. Being self employed, there is no vacation pay or sick pay. Autumn doesn't qualify for short term disability insurance due to this being a pre-existing condition.
Shunt infections are associated with higher rates of revision, recurrence of infection, ventriculitis, meningitis, and encephalitis, and often with greater mortality rates (Winston, Ho & Dolan 2013). Complications include loss of intelligence quotient (IQ) and increased seizure risk
Shunt infection rates per patient range from 10% to 22% and around 6.0% per procedure, with 90% of infections occurring within 30 days of surgery
This condition causes her body to have all of the symptoms of a brain tumor, including constant crushing headaches that never go away, hearing issues, vision problems and the threat of permanent blindness. Autumn has fought through countless lumbar punctures, 6 surgeries:
(LP shunt Dec 2007, New LP shunt Jan 2008, VP shunt March 2008, cervical disc replacement Nov 2014, VP shunt revision Oct 2017, VP shunt removal May 2018) - 3 of them brain surgeries - and still managed to balance being a mother, wife and small business owner.
Unfortunately, there is no cure for Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension and the average life span of a VP shunt is about 8 years. The average occurrence of removal (and thus another surgery to place a new shunt) due to post operative infection is quite high. Repeated brain surgeries are just part of life now.
After just being able to get back to work from her second brain surgery in October, she had emergency brain surgery due to infection in the brain on May 27th.
Today marks her 4th brain surgery. Meanwhile, bill collectors are still calling about bills from the October surgery, and their family is nearly maxing out credit cards to meet basic needs.
Finances have already been a major struggle over the past 18 months but now they are also facing the piles of medical bills combined with being out of work for an undetermined amount of time. The mounting stress is not a good recipe for recovery. Being self employed, there is no vacation pay or sick pay. Autumn doesn't qualify for short term disability insurance due to this being a pre-existing condition.
Shunt infections are associated with higher rates of revision, recurrence of infection, ventriculitis, meningitis, and encephalitis, and often with greater mortality rates (Winston, Ho & Dolan 2013). Complications include loss of intelligence quotient (IQ) and increased seizure risk
Shunt infection rates per patient range from 10% to 22% and around 6.0% per procedure, with 90% of infections occurring within 30 days of surgery
Organizer and beneficiary
Aurora Daley Olmstead
Organizer
Bethel, CT
Autumn Thomes
Beneficiary
