Howdy, my name is Connor and I am fundraising to receive back surgery that will give my wife and I our lives back.

If you would like the bullet points instead of the full story, please scroll to the bottom.

On June 3rd, 2022, I was injured during an athletic training accident which left me with a severe L5-S1 disc herniation. This is where the disc in between your vertebrae tears and the insides of the disc shoots out. Think of it like squeezing a jelly donut. This in turn puts pressure on my spinal nerves coming from that disc. This pressure causes weakness and intense pain that radiates across my lower back, down my legs, and into my feet. This has left me with the inability to walk more than a few steps even with a cane, to sit, and without the ability to do normal functions. I have been bedridden for the past 15 months. This has not only put me in a bad situation but as I have lost the ability to work, has put immense pressure and stress on my wife, Marybeth, to provide for us on a high school teacher/coach's salary.

I initially was getting better throughout that summer, but as my last semester of college started, I had one professor who would not accommodate my medical needs (in the Kinesiology department of all things). This was despite my being registered as handicapped by the state and the university as well as being on file with Student Disability Services and the Dean of Student's office. My physician and physical therapist both sent paperwork to said professor specifically as well, but I was told by the powers that be at Texas Tech that the power is ultimately with the professor and there was nothing they could do. Because I was now being forced onto campus, my condition rapidly worsened from September through October. I was able to get back into physical therapy at the beginning of November, where I was treated through mid-January. I was then told by my PT that conventional methods had failed and my MRI imaging showed my disc was beyond his help. I was recommended to go with the Texas Back Institute for surgery as they are highly skilled and decorated in their field, as well as pioneers in spine surgery and spine technology.

Under the care of Dr. Bosita and the Texas Back Institute, I am receiving treatment. Before jumping into fusion surgery, he wanted to run more diagnostic tests to see if he could locate the main source of pain. Updates are below!

We are asking for $12,000 to cover the cost of pre-surgery testing and the surgery. The amount is broken down as follows:

*The costs of these expenses are verified through the individual billing departments in which they will take place.*

My wife and I want to thank you in advance. As you have read, there have been many hoops to jump through over the long course of these past 15 months, but God has been faithful and unwavering in His provision over us. Now that we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, we ask for your partnership and support to get us through to the end.

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

Update One:

Thanks to your generosity we completed the CT of his lumbar spine on Friday, April 14th! The results will be in his surgeon's hands by that Monday and they will confirm that his spine is free from other injuries and will be able to handle the prosthesis. Also because of your generosity, we have been able to schedule the pre-surgery psych evaluation for April 25th. More updates soon!

Update Two:

Dr Bosita wants to run more tests to make sure fusion surgery is going to work. I have completed an epidural spinal injection procedure. This is where they injected a steroid medication into the epidural space in my spine, hopefully providing relief. This didn't help, meaning the disc might not be the main pain source. A few weeks later, he completed a facet joint injection procedure. Here, they injected medication into the facet joint to try to see if that's the pain source. This helped minimally, meaning the facets might be the main villain here. More info coming soon.

Update Three:

I am now, for the time being, in the hands of TBI's head physiatrist, Dr Patel. He will be exploring my facet joints. He has completed a medial branch nerve block procedure. This numbs all the nerves on the outside of the facet joints. This had EXCELLENT results and I now qualify for a surgery called a rhizotomy. They will give me the night night juice and burn off the nerves around those facet joints, hopefully removing pain. This is temporary relief, and will hopefully provide complete relief for six months to three years. The goal, should this work, is to push the fusion as far back as possible. If i get pain relief for longer than those six months at least, this surgery can be repeated. If it doesn't work, we have exhausted every option and its time for a fusion. Hopefully, this first surgery does the trick. Surgery is tomorrow (9/26/23) , please be praying! Update soon.

Update Four:

The time has come. The previous surgery has failed and it’s time for fusion. Dr Bosita will be performing an Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion or ALIF. My preop will be on November 16th, running all my tests including EKG, DVT sonogram, blood work, etc. The actual surgery is scheduled for November 27th. I will spend 1-2 nights in hospital, PT will start at 2 weeks, feeling pretty good by 4-6 weeks, and full fusion somewhere between 6-12 months. Please be praying for us as this is my first major surgery. Thanks for all the help and support. We’ll see y’all on the other side.