Brianna Walz medical bills

Hello everyone! My name is Tija, friend of Brianna’s. As some know, she is going for brain surgery in December. She thanks you all for your prayers and well wishes, but this is going to come with a large medical bill of $30,000 Canadian, not including flights and accommodations to Spain. If you can help out, she would greatly appreciate it!

Here is her story “As most of you might know vulnerability is not my favourite hat to wear so bear with me. To start at the beginning in October of 2021 after a few scary medical episodes, and many trips to various doctors I was diagnosed with a condition called Chiari Malformation Type I. A condition where the lower part of the brain (cerebellum) pushes through the opening at the base of the skull, into my C1 vertebrae. Along with this condition comes a laundry list of symptoms that have progressively gotten worse – and will continue to get worse over time – over the last year, the most prominent ones being daily migraines, chronic neck pain, blackouts, loss/blurred vision, chronic nausea, and numb limbs – which will all eventually lead to paralysis.

My medical journey over the last 12 months has been a long one, where we have tried multiple pharmaceutical and physical interventions, but none seem to give relief, and all are but a Band-Aid for a larger problem that can only be fixed by surgical intervention. There is a surgical option that can be done in Canada – known as a decompression – but it is a very invasive brain surgery and has an extremely long recovery time, with no guarantee it will give substantial or permanent relief.

Fortunately I have been accepted to get a much more succesful surgery overseas. This surgery is performed by world class surgeons at the Institute de Chiari in Barcelona, Spain and was developed over 30 years ago after they realized there was a better, faster, and safer way to help people with my condition. The surgery itself is roughly $30,000 CAD, plus the cost of flights, lodging, and prescription medications I will need to take home with me from the hospital – all considered a private out of pocket expense.

Although I might be good at hiding how I feel day to day this condition has greatly affected my quality of life. Since September 2021 I have been unable to do any physical activity – often things as simple as getting out of bed in the morning are a challenge –, which has always been a large part of my life. I have also had to take a significant amount of time off of work due to flare ups, appointments, and extra rest days (some weeks I am unable to make it through a full work week and need an extra day to rest). It has also had an impact on my social relationships as I often miss out on events with family and friends because I have a bad migraine or am too tired and need to rest.

All that being said I have had the biggest support system through the very small amount of people that I have told. They have helped me through the very rough and low places this condition has taken me, and now I am asking for any help you can give to help pull me all the way back out. Back to the active, loving, annoyingly social butterfly I love to be.

But seriously if you made it this far thank you so much for anything and everything, it’s more appreciated than you know, and will be truly life changing for me.”