Cyrus' Concussion Treatments

Hey everybody, my name’s Cyrus. I live in Oakland with my awesome dog Ruby. Before the pandemic I was a bartender at a fancy whiskey bar in San Francisco. If you’re reading this it’s because of my friends deciding to put a fundraiser together for my medical expenses.

It started March 28th, 2019, when an accident at the bar I worked at resulted in a major concussion. One bad day can really change the rest of your life.

I worked on healing as best I could, with vague info, few answers, and fewer specifics from doctors. The insurance company shot down approvals for a specialist even within their network. Even with a lawyer, I’ve struggled to get the help I needed to heal within the work comp system .

Around September 2021, after a lot of research and asking around, I found a concussion specialist in San Francisco. Unfortunately, they do not take insurance, and it's not cheap. After a barrage of not-cheap tests, we were able to hone in on the parts of the brain that weren't healing, and assess some other things getting in the way of healing. Discoveries included fused vertebrae in my neck, mold poisoning, EBV, and Lyme disease-all hindering the brain's healing process when it comes to concussions. All of which can be treated. It's going to take meds, supplements, and some lifestyle changes.

And I've had a few treatments, and funny thing, I feel better. And I want to keep going and doing the things that are working, especially after years of things not working. I could feel the treatments for my body and brain working.

So it’s times like this were your life is truly at a crossroads. Do you treat all the problems in your body at the cost of all your savings and financial security or do you try and hold on to your money and hope that one day you’ll be able to figure out a way to afford the one doctor that can heal you without giving up your financial security? After going back on forth on that one for a while, I decided to push all my chips to the middle of the table and proceed with the treatments. Which are roughly a thousand dollars a week, sometimes more.

Among other things, I decided to sell off my record collection to help pay for treatments, and that's how this all came to the attention of my friends.

So my good friends in the Noise Brigade (Bosstones fan group) saw this and decided to help raise funds for my medical expenses. To which I’m truly humbled and grateful for. It means a lot, more than I have the words for, that people who I’ve never met in real life would want to come together to help me. I’m overwhelmed with gratitude that even writing this piece was really difficult for me.

So if you’re reading this and feel like helping, I want to say thank you, I’m truly grateful to you who are helping out someone in their time of need. Whether you know them or not. If you can’t help I totally get that too. Maybe just share this post. Either way, thanks for reading my story.

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Organizer note:

Hi, I'm Angi, one of the people involved in helping Cyrus. Concussion and brain injury stories hit me right in the heart because I have my own concussion story starting 5+ years ago, and my own friends put together a GoFundMe for me. Among other things, it covered important treatments not covered by insurance like vision therapy, it kept my car running while I couldn't work, and had a huge impact on me and my outlook through the worst of it. So when I saw Cyrus post about selling his record collection to cover medical costs, I wanted to do what I could to help alleviate his financial stresses and maybe keep a little of his favorite vinyl.

The goal here is set for 6 weeks of treatment to begin with, at approximately $1300 / week.