Help McKenna Struntz Pay for Surgery

Hi, my name is Kelly, and I’m fundraising for my friend McKenna. We have worked together for several years in Provider Relations. She is one of the best people I know, and I’m hoping you can help change her life. She lives in North Branch, MN with her husband Austin and son Levi.

McKenna Struntz suffered a life-changing injury only three days after her 16th birthday. While in gym class playing a game of “capture the flag” she collided with another student. As soon as she hit the floor she blacked out. This injury caused two breaks in her left cheek bone. She was initially sent home with a surgical consult scheduled for two days later, and they did not look for a brain injury. A couple days later during her surgical consult the surgeon noticed her symptoms, including drooling and not being able to sit properly. Two days later and four days after the injury she was diagnosed with a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).

The consequences of McKenna’s TBI were life changing. She was no longer able to read and developed photophobia (light sensitivity) and photophobia (sound sensitivity). She had horrible pain in the back oh her head, and the assumption was that she had a neck injury. It wasn’t until a year later that she received her proper diagnosis, occipital neuralgia.

With this diagnosis McKenna was given few options for treatment. The most promising option was a then experimental surgery to implant a nerve block stimulator. The stimulator works by sending electrical impulses to trick her brain into thinking there is no pain. In order to qualify for her initial surgery, McKenna had to work with pain management to try shots and alternative treatments to prove the stimulator was necessary. The surgery was approved by her insurance. Just before she turned 18, nearly two years after her initial injury, McKenna had her first nerve stimulator implanted.

For the first time in years, McKenna had relief from her pain! She went from being bedridden most days, only able to sit up briefly, and only being able to wash her hair once a week to having her life back. Five years after the injury, she learned to read again, was able to take off the sunglasses she had to wear due to the photophobia, completed her GED, got a job, and went to college.

Through this ordeal, McKenna married the love of her life, Austin. After a lot of pain, prayers, and struggles, they welcomed her miracle baby, Levi, to the world earlier this year. McKenna and Austin had to work closely with her neurologist to make sure her body could handle a pregnancy. The fight to bring him to the world took several rainbows.

The battery if McKenna’s nerve stimulator does not last as long as it may with some others using this treatment due to the severity of her pain. A stimulator battery typically last 5-12 years, and she has never come close. Her first lasted 2 years, second 4 years, and third a year and a half before they needed replacement. Every time her body needs a new stimulator battery, she steadily regresses to the point where she is a shell of herself due to the constant pain.

Around five months into McKenna’s pregnancy with Levi, her stimulator stopped working like it was supposed to and the pain steadily progressed. Her doctor wouldn’t be able to do anything surgical while she was pregnant, which was a risk McKenna accepted as she embarked on her journey towards motherhood. Due to her pain and her body not understanding what was going on, Levi was identified a having fetal growth restriction, meaning he was in the bottom 10th percentile for fetal growth. Her pregnancy was very closely monitored in case they’d have to induce early. Luckily, they were able to wait until 38 weeks gestation before she was induced, however Levi’s body was that of a 33 week old gestation.

This is what McKenna and Austin had prayed for. McKenna knew she was meant to be a mother. She had never been as happy or felt love like they did when Levi was born.

In December 2022, during her third trimester, she met with her doctor to start a plan for her battery replacement surgery. In April she was able to get in and her doctor submitted the necessary documentation to her insurance. In June the initial claim was denied. Her doctor assured her they had never had an insurance appeal denied, but this was not the case for McKenna. After 2 appeals in June, a 3rd in July, and a 4th in August, insurance has still denied her claim, deeming it medically unnecessary.

To get battery reports on her stimulator, her battery will randomly turn off to collect the data. She doesn’t know when this will happen, so there is always a cloud of anxiety knowing it can happen at any time. When the battery dies or is shut off she is essentially paralyzed. The pain causes her to drop to the ground, she can’t talk, and her breathing is labored. Once, this happened while she was alone with her son, but luckily he was in a safe place.

For several months, McKenna has been unable to work at her job, which she loves, as she is very skilled in working with providers who help Veterans with their disability evaluations. More importantly, she is missing out on important milestones with her miracle baby. All she wants is to be able to provide for her family and be more available to be the best wife and mother she can be.

McKenna’s condition is so serious that it’s called the suicide disease. People can’t die from this pain, but it is so severe, many sufferers feel there is no other way to escape the pain. In her early years of the condition, she was in a support group where regularly, sometimes weekly, they would have another sufferer in the group take their life.

Please give to this fundraiser so McKenna and her family can pay the $46,000 out of pocket for this surgery. These funds will go directly to McKenna to pay for the surgery. She is back to the point where she is mostly in bed or on the couch due to the pain. She is back to washing her hair once a week in the sink because it feels like she is getting stabbed in the head multiple times when she does so. If I could describe McKenna in one word it would be Sunshine. She is full of so much kindness, optimism, and love. Her faith has taken her a long way, and she needs your help taking her life back.