My mother, Sara Nelson ,went to the hospital after days of pain. She had weakness and loss of function in her left arm as well as pain, numbness and immobility and her neck after numerous tests and several hours later, a spine specialist at Vanderbilt advised her they needed to perform emergency surgery. Without it, Her vertebrae will continue to crush on her spinal cord, resulting in permanent damage and her being paralyzed.

My mom has worked so hard to get where she at is that today she’s 45 years old and has overcome addiction. Coming up on June 12, we celebrate nine years of sobriety. She worked really hard to get where she’s at today. Her job allows her to assist others who have also struggled with addiction and help guide them to the road of recovery as well.

She is grateful for her employment, but had to take unpaid leave of absence because of the surgery on March 17. It’ll take 4 to 6 weeks for her to return back to work, but she is unsure of when she will fully recover.

The surgery required consisted of a complex cervical discectomy. They remove bone from her hip and fuse it in her neck after removing her C-5 vertebrae and disc.

A cage and pins were placed to repair the damage to her spine C4-C7 and take the pressure off of her spinal cord. We pray the surgery will return function to her left arm total cost of the surgery hospital stay and doctor visit is already surpassing $300,000.

Both her and her husband had to pay for the medical bills out of pocket because of the lack of insurance and unsuccessful

financial assistance.

The surgery went without any complications, and is now on a long journey of healing. Please give if you were able to any and everything helps. Thank you all so much.