Hafa Adai, everybody!

 

For those who don’t know me, my name is Ariya Limtiaco, and I am a full time employee at USDA, musician, church choir member, and was supposed to graduate with my BS in biology in Spring of 2026; however, life threw yet another exam that I couldn’t study for.

 

For the past few months, I’ve been dealing with some very debilitating health issues. In December of 2024, I sustained a concussion and whiplash injury from a surfing accident. A few months later, I had another whiplash incident when I blacked out while driving. Back to back whiplashes caused a major irritation in my occipital nerves. I was recently diagnosed with occipital neuralgia - a very disabling neurological condition where the nerves in your head are compressed and irritated. It is very difficult to diagnose because the symptoms are broad and not obvious to someone who isn’t experiencing it. MRI scans cannot detect it either.

 

Some of the symptoms I’ve experienced with this condition are: blurry vision, stabbing and shooting pain across my head, tingling sensations, dizziness, hearing problems, and extreme fatigue; all having a major impact on my physical and mental health.

 

Through all of this, I’ve been prescribed different meds and tried conservative methods to cut the pain down, however there has not been any lasting improvement. The only thing that marginally helps is an ice pack (there are not enough ice packs in the world for me!). It gets hard to sleep because I’m so restless from the pain.

 

Never in my life have I felt so isolated, sad, and in so much pain. The level of enjoyment in my life has become little to none. My daily hobbies, like working out and being with my friends, and my typically busy life, have been majorly impacted. The spunky, excited, bustling, happy me has become the complete opposite.

 

This is by far one of the most traumatizing experiences I’ve ever been through.

 

That being said, I am still exploring my options here on island, however if the care plan is not optimal, I will be pursuing a special nerve surgery in San Francisco to hopefully get me out of pain permanently. Early intervention is most ideal for this treatment.

 

I am humbly asking for your thoughts, words of encouragement, prayers, and, if possible, financial assistance to help me on this journey, as this surgery will be costly. Unfortunately, we are still working with my insurance company for eligibility of coverage. The estimated cost breakdown for the upcoming procedure is: $13k for the surgeon fees, $3-6k for anesthesia and surgical center fees - totaling to about $20K.

 

I plan to pursue this special surgery in September of 2025 to get me to a better baseline and start healing.

 

Overall, I want to thank my wonderful partner and his family, my family, my God family, my friends, coworkers, bosses, and my wonderful band mates for supporting me throughout these past few months. I’d also like to thank all of you for the inafa’maolek and love. This has been a very heavy situation for me, but also a constant reminder that we are never alone. Now is the time to put everything in God’s hands and his people. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. Any donations, love, words of encouragement, or prayers are appreciated more than you know.

 

Bula Guinaiya,

 

Ariya Limtiaco