Berick’s Eye surgery and recovery

I am fundraising on behalf of my brother-in-law Berick. Christmas morning, there was an awesome idea for a gel blaster war among members of my family. Berick participated and was unfortunately a casualty. He was hit in the eye and immediately lost vision. There was little pain and he covered his eye, deciding to wait a few days to see if his eye would heal on his own.

A week later, in the middle of the night, he awoke to severe eye pain requiring a trip to the emergency room. The pressure and swelling in his eye had drastically increased, changing the shape of his pupil and it was decided he would require surgery. After given medicine to decrease swelling, there was no improvement. His surgery will still occur, requiring relief of the built up pressure in his eye. However, this means the surgeon is going in blind, making the surgery more risky. There will be two surgeries, the first to remove the damaged lens, the second to replace the lens with an artificial one. The hope is this will restore his vision, but the swelling is problematic.

Both Berick and his wife, Emily, work as independent contractors meaning no work, no pay. They also did not have medical insurance at the time of Berick’s injury. Both Emily and Berick will need to take several days off. The money raised will go toward covering the medical bills.

Emily and Berick are still in the hospital and would like some privacy at this time. I will post updates as they come.

Knowing Emily and Berick, they would likely not want a gofundme, which is why this was started without their knowledge. However, any donation would be greatly appreciated.

Update #2: Berick is doing well. He is no longer in pain. His eye pain was unmanageable with morphine and other pain meds at the hospital. Swelling has come down and doctors said it’s a good outlook. His next surgery is likely to happen sometime next week. He will need glasses for that eye.

Update #1: Berick just got out of surgery. Emily said she’s with him now and he is so much better! It’s night and day from how he’s been the last 24 hours.

Surgery went very well, no extra things necessary. They still aren’t 100% sure what the retina status is and we’ll learn more tomorrow. Overall, very pleased with the surgery, Berick’s pain levels, and his overall demeanor.