Donate to Holly's Healing and Family Support

Dear friends, family, and kind supporters, my best friend Holly needs some support for her current journey. Holly is one of the most hardworking, loyal, generous people I have ever met. She would do anything to help someone in need, and so that is what I am doing for her. She has worked as a hairstylist for ten years, and as a single mom, she needs our help financially to cover her basic living expenses, rent, and other travel expenses due to a major invasive neck surgery that she recently had to have unexpectedly - and another one in three weeks.

On March 13th, Holly woke up and her entire left arm and three fingers on her left side were numb and tingly, and in so much pain. She was seen at St. Pat's ER where they did an MRI with and without contrast. The MRI showed the disc at level C6-7 was completely blown bilaterally, compressing the nerve root, and pressing into her spinal cord, causing severe myelopathy and radiculopathy, and her reflexes are all diminished on the left side.

The MRI also showed a mass extending between the hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage.

From St. Pat's ER, she was sent to meet with their on-call surgeon the next day. After meeting with their neurosurgeon, the neck surgery to fix the discs was put on hold due to the mass, and further exams were needed to evaluate the mass. She was sent to Missoula ENT to meet with another specialist. She underwent another MRI, X-rays, blood work, and a nerve conduction test, which did in fact show C6 was completely compressing the nerve that runs down her arm. In the meantime, Holly continued PT, but the pain and numbness never went away completely. The neurosurgeon said there was a 50/50 chance she will never get feeling back in her fingers, and she may never get any of her reflexes back.

This was Holly's preoperative diagnosis:

1. C5-6 and C6-7 degenerative disease

2. C5-6 and C6-7 stenosis

3. Bilateral C6 & 7 foraminal stenosis

4. C6 and 7 radiculopathies and myelopathy

After all the further medical testing and meeting with both of her surgeons to come up with a plan, she checked into St. Pat's on May 27th in Missoula for a C5-7 Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion.

On July 16th, Holly will go through another invasive surgery called the “Sistrunk procedure” to remove a mass they found in her neck. She will need to have a drain tube out of her neck for two weeks. The ENT surgeon will remove the mass and send it in for biopsy.

In the meantime, she is in a neck brace until September, a total of 12 weeks. She has a very hard and long road to recovery, followed by weeks of physical therapy.

Holly is currently unable to work due to these circumstances, and for the foreseeable future, we are unsure of where this will take her.

Thank you for taking the time to read Holly’s story. We greatly appreciate anything you can do for her at this time. Prayers are also appreciated.