Be the light in Vals dark

Close your eyes. Now try to take a sip of your drink or get up from the chair with your eyes closed; how difficult was it? I think we can all relate to having the feeling of being in the dark and how scary that can be. I never considered it literally until my sister Val called me a few weeks ago to tell me she was going blind. "No big deal Val, you can have one of my eyes," I told her bluntly while thinking anything could be fixed and refusing to believe that this could be serious. Another call and I would realize that they found a mass on her brain, and they don't know what it might be.

After calling my brother Brad and making him stay on the phone with me (while he was at work) so I could weep and throw up every terrible fear out loud, we booked a flight so I could hold Val during this life-altering experience.

No one tells you that when you are going blind, you first have to go to your primary doctor so they can tell you to see an optometrist, then an opthalmologist who wants you to see an imaging doctor who sends you to consult a neurosurgeon who doesn't have any answers but thinks a neurologist will... and that's just the first opinion. Valerie goes to a doctor every week now; even with insurance, each visit exceeds $300 and has put incredible strain on my sister and her children.

I am asking for your help. Please consider donating to my sister Val and her family to alleviate her medical costs as she navigates this new handicap, and the doctors can figure out what this thing on her brain is.