Help Keith Heal at Home from Brain Surgery

HEY! My name is Keith, aka Fashion Daddy Papi Chulo, and in the last year I have survived the loss of my major client, the permanent closure of my agency, a life-threatening brain aneurysm, two major brain surgeries, as well as a protracted and rigorous recovery that is still ongoing. Graciously, I am asking for your help through a real rough patch. 

As of August 2019, I had been a freelance fashion stylist and art director for the last thirty eight years. That month, close to a year ago today, My biggest client, with whom I have worked consistently over the last three years, filed bankruptcy, which resulted in my being let go. This single client represented over 75% of my total work income. It was a devastating loss that caused me crippling financial insecurity and anxiety. Worse, this past June, the agency that had represented me for the last twenty five years, my beloved utopianyc, permanently shuttered and closed due to COVID-19. It was one of the saddest days of my life. Yet this is not why I have started this GoFundMe campaign. 

Here is my story:

On the evening of Tuesday, April 28th, in the midst of quarantine due to COVID-19, I suffered a severe catastrophic brain aneurysm in the dining room of my home. Over the course of the next day, the excruciating pain did not subside, but rather became debilitating. Reluctantly, upon my cherished mother's advice (a registered and retired nurse), I necessarily sought immediate medical treatment. Alone and scared in the ER, I was shocked to learn that though I realized I had much to be grateful for, my brain aneurysm had created a 1 cm tear in the Circle of Willis that had bleed into my brain and nearly cost me my precious life. 50% of the people who suffer this traumatic brain injury die immediately or within the first 24 hours. I thank God that I was one of the lucky ones, a miracle, and that I had survived. 

On the morning of May 4th, after a difficult sleepless night in a silent and desolate ICU, I had my first major emergency brain surgery to save my life. I was rushed up to the Neuro-IR where I had a cerebral angiogram and coil embolization to fill the aneurysm, stop the bleeding, and stabilize my condition. The complex and delicate surgery lasted for five hours and was considered a great success. I was then placed in the only non-COVID ICU for four days of 24 hour observation, and thereafter transferred to regular care for the following two days before being happily discharged. While my surgery and recovery went as well as could be expected and I am very blessed to be alive, I was shocked to learn at my follow up examination that I would indeed need a second brain surgery. This entire experience had already been so traumatizing, but by the grace of God, I held on and faced my next challenge. 

The second surgery occurred on June 16th, where a pipeline stent was placed in the artery at the junction of my aneurysm in order to strengthen the first surgery. It, too, was a qualified success. Thank my guardian angels. I am so very grateful to the entire team at Bellevue Hospital, from my surgeons, medical doctors, neurological team, all the wonderful nurses, and every Bellevue staff member who extended to me their hearts and compassion, providing for my survival and post-operative healing. I am forever in their debt. 

Today, I am continuing to recover one day at a time, one moment at a time. It is neither easy nor linear, but I am gradually improving bit by bit. Simple daily life on life's terms, such as showering, cleaning and cooking, can ofttimes be a challenge, but I bravely soldier on. I sometimes face other difficulties which include cognitive and psychological disabilities; as well as long-lasting symptoms such as lethargy and fatigue, emotional and physical volatility. I am fighting and will continue to fight my hardest for a full recovery in my new normal. But I also realize, as my doctors have told me, that this process of recovery will most likely take months upon months, if not years. 

I am launching this GoFundMe Campaign in the hopes of spiritually healing from my surgeries and staying in my own home and not overwhelmed or paralyzed by financial insecurity. To do so, I must tackle the large outstanding bills I have accrued due to my lack of employment, serious illness, and subsequent back rent. As of today, I have many several thousands of dollars that I need to pay to my landlord. I will face present and future socio-economic precarity due to a lack of opportunity to work, as my clients and agency are quite simply no more. It is very possible, I will never be able to work again in the career I have spent my life dedicated to, that is, fashion and design. I am calling upon all the angels out there, whomever has anything to share in this time of my great crisis and need, to please help me along my way to wellness. 

Upon the success of this campaign, I will immediately start to:

• Pay back rent to my landlord to avoid eviction

• Continue to pay my rent each month (Brooklyn, New York) so I can plan the next chapter in my life.

• Stay in my current apartment where I have lived for the last 32 years.

• Help in the recovery from my future necessary hernia operation as soon as my neurology team allows me to have the surgery.

• Help in the recovery from major dental surgery that is necessary.

• Give me the financial respite I need to apply for SSDI and other programs to help me in the next chapter of my life.

• With any and all remaining funds, I hope to support my basic needs and related costs of living—such as food, electricity, gas, medical expenses, transportation to and from my doctors, as well as any required physical/psychological therapies and treatments to help me achieve the most complete recovery I can. 

Though my situation is very urgent, I am so very grateful for any help anyone is able to offer. It is my heartfelt goal and desire to fully recover as much as I am able to give this new reality. I truly hope to live my fullest, happiest, best, most recovered, most generous life with all the precious time I have left on the earth. 

Any donation, no matter how small, will be deeply appreciated by my humbled heart. I cannot thank you enough for your kindness, generosity and support, as well as the continuing hope, faith and love of Higher Power.

with light and love,

Keith T. Pollick