After 20 years of chronic back, shoulder, and neck pain, along with what she’d call an emotional burden and unwanted attention by creepy old white men, our girl Shannon is finally getting a breast reduction!

The pain and the need must be real because insurance is actually covering the majority of her surgeon’s fees. We’re all delighted and joyfully shocked!

If you’re curious about how that happened, she fully dedicated herself to going through many steps and hoops and is happy to share the process with you.

Although some of PT and testing to qualify for the forthcoming surgery were covered by insurance, her out-of-pocket expenses so far have not been cheap.

There is a portion of the upcoming procedure that will not be covered by insurance, an estimated $3,053. She’ll also be on the hook for at least some, if not all, facility and anesthesia fees. We’re not sure what that amount is yet, likely more than $2k, so anything helps!

Her surgery is on November 13th, and this amount is due by October 30th!

As you probably know, Shannon manages indie rock bands and writes for freelance clients, two fields that come with invoicing delays and income uncertainty. She lost one of those freelance gigs recently, and her big one that pays her baseline living expenses just cut the retainer in half.

Needless to say, it’s not the best time for a big medical expense, but she has to thread the needle between work travel for recovery downtime. She needs this, though. Even the medical “community” has deemed it so. And we need it, because seeing our friend in constant pain and unable to enjoy many of the things she loves - exercising, running, dancing, standing at concerts, jumping for joy - sucks.

She’s highly uncomfortable asking friends and family for money that she can’t return, and wanted me to express her deepest gratitude and how literally anything helps! She doesn’t expect to meet our goal and is preparing to cover whatever we can’t.

Lastly, her recovery will be pretty gnarly. The very BEST case scenario is:

She’s all over the subreddit, and there’s a lot of fatigue that comes in waves, and the unexpected can happen. We’ll need a care plan! If you’re willing to watch Enzo, walk him, make meals, etc., let her or me know! We’re pretty worried about the Enzo thing for the first 2 weeks, considering he insists on sitting/lying on top of her 80% of the time, especially if she’s hurt, sad, or doesn’t feel good.

Thank you for loving and supporting Shannon. She gives us - and the music community at large - so much of her time and physical and emotional space, happily so. Let’s show her how much her health means to us, if you’re able to!