DANNY PHILLIPS, Double Brain Trauma, The Thorn in His Side

Meet Danny:
Danny is a hard-working, humble man who is deeply loved and highly respected by all who know him. Due to increasing complications with his health, he is unable to continue employment. Out of love for Danny, his co-workers have initiated this fundraiser on his behalf.

Their hope is that others would join them in financially supporting Danny as he continues his journey to wellness. Danny has suffered from Epilepsy, and Occipital Neuralgia and ATypical Trigeminal Neuralgia for a long time. The combination of seizures, chronic nerve pain in his face and head, have rendered him unable to continue to perform his employment duties as a Whatcom County
Maintenance Specialist.

Danny is married to Heather Phillips and has 3 children, Dylan (18), Maddison(16) and Justin(14). They live in Lynden, WA. Heather is self-employed and runs her own salon business. Dylan works at Bramble Berry in Bellingham, WA. Maddi works at Snydar Farms and she and Justin both attend high school at Lynden Academy.

The Backstory:
At age 12, Danny suffered a Basiler Skull Fracture and broken ribs in a snow skiing accident. He was life-flighted to a hospital where he was put into a medically- induced coma. He suffered internal brain bleeding and a collapsed lung. Danny’s heart stopped and they shocked him back to life with a defibrillator.

In 1993, he had a Tonic-Clonic (Grand Mal) seizure. Neurologists diagnosed him with epilepsy and prescribed various medications to control the seizures with limited success. Seizures came more often and in 1999, the doctors deemed him unsafe to drive and withheld his driver’s license. Despite escalating seizures and multiple trips to the emergency room, Danny continued to work full-time by riding his bike to and from work.

After multiple imaging procedures, tests, and a week of induced seizures during Telemetry Monitoring, surgeons discovered a walnut-size area of scar tissue in his left temporal lobe. They were optimistic that removing this area of scar tissue would minimize seizures. So exactly eleven years after the original skiing accident, on March 14, 2000 Danny underwent a Partial Temporal Lobectomy. After nearly 9 hours on the operating table, the surgeon successfully removed the scar tissue.

Many years post-op, Danny’s seizures were minimal. He remained on anti-seizure medication, returned to driving and maintained full-time employment as a residential contractor. By late 2002, the year that his firstborn son arrived, he began to have what doctors originally misdiagnosed as migraines and cluster headaches. The head pain came more often and became more severe. At the time, Danny and his family were living in the rural and remote mountains in California. Due to his pre-existing medical conditions Danny’s medical insurance options were limited. He was a patient of Kaiser Permanente and all their medical facilities were 3 hours away. Danny spent many days seeking medical intervention and relief from the pain that plagued him.

In 2006, the lack of convenience to medical specialists got to be too much for Danny. He moved his family up to his wife’s hometown, Lynden, WA where they continued to tirelessly research other avenues to try to help Danny.

Years went by with no new resolutions. He began to suffer from shock-like feelings in the temporal lobe (surgery area) as well as feelings of extreme pressure and stabbing. The pain sensations differed day to day. Some days it was “a hot ice-pick piercing the side of his head.” Other times he’d say it felt like someone was holding his head to the ground with a boot and digging their heel in. Other times it felt “like someone had hit him in the side of the head with a
baseball bat.” Still other days, he says “it felt like contractions on the back of his eyeball-like someone was trying to pull his eye out through the back of his head.”

In 2015 many years after receiving a diagnosis of Neuralgia. he had a nerve stimulator placed inside his chest. It has a lead that goes up through his chest and lays over the occipital nerve located at the base of his skull at his neckline. The stimulator has a remote control which enables Danny to change the frequency or patterns of the electrical currents directed at the nerve. This device does not heal the nerve damage, but rather masks the pain signal as it travels to the brain. It has provided him much relief concerning the pain in the back and left side of his head
when he is not in a “flair-up.” While it does not completely eliminate all of his pain, oftentimes it “takes the edge off.” Because it has a shelf life, by 2025 the device will need to be removed and replaced.

In addition to those pain symptoms listed previously, the nerve pain has now migrated to his face. His diagnosis for this is ATypical Trigeminal Neuralgia. Breezes on his face, cold beverages, frozen foods, teeth brushing, shaving and even haircuts can trigger “flair-ups” or severe pain in his face. Sometimes it is extreme jaw pain which makes it difficult for him to talk and eat. All of these pains continue to this day in one form or another.

Years of experimentation and hundreds of medications, supplements and countless procedures both holistically in western medicine have been tried. After consulting with a neurosurgeon and specialist at the University of Washington in 2019, Danny was told that his best option is to get another lead for the neurostimulator and have it placed over the trigeminal nerve. This expert
said while there are various other invasive procedures out there that many people have tried with extremely limited, if any success. Danny is pursuing this option now.

In 2020, an unfortunate change has came with his epilepsy. His seizures have been more extreme and more often. For years, they rarely happened and when they did they would only bother him in his sleep. They are no longer limited to sleep times. Seizures leave him exhausted, having difficulty with speech and unable to process things mentally with any clarity. For safety sake, Danny has even voluntarily given up driving.

The Costs:
He is currently receiving Paid Family Medical Leave from the state. This pay only lasts for 12 weeks. Beyond that Danny is hoping other county employees may be willing to donate some of their unused sick-leave or vacation time. He has already applied for state disability but unfortunately, it is uncommon that the individuals who have the diagnoses he has are granted disability on the first attempt, if at all. The majority of those who had to hire a lawyer and appeal the process a number of times before they were successful in their case. The associated costs in lawyer fees are estimated at up to $6000.

Danny is also in the process of pursuing the second stimulator lead as recommended as it seems to be the only viable option he has left to treat his pain. He is hoping that he will be able to have this procedure done before his current insurance expires. A rough estimate of Danny’s co-pay for this procedure is $20,000.

How You Can Help:
Everyday Danny has done his best to put one foot in front of the other, to go forward and provide for his family and to love and serve those around him. Even in daily pain, he tries not to draw attention to himself or ask for sympathy. It has been extremely difficult for Danny to admit or accept that he is no longer able to work to support his family.

Danny’s family would really appreciate your prayers and support during these difficult times. Adjusting to daily expenses without a steady work income is going to be a major adjustment for the Phillips family. But together they trust that God will continue to be faithful in providing for them in ways they never imagined. Maybe you’d be willing to be part of his provision for them.

Thank you for helping raise funds for Danny’s potential upcoming medical procedure and lawyer fees associated with permanent state disability. Additional monies will supplement their modest daily living expenses.

On behalf of Danny and his family, thank you for considering how you might be part of their journey. They are overwhelmed with gratitude for all of your support. Thank you for being a huge blessing in their lives!