Fund Darren’s surgery for chronic Migraine

Hi my name is Darren and I am fundraising to help fund my surgery for chronic migraine which I live with on a daily basis. I am a registered Nurse and have spent many years of my career in both the NHS and looking after the elderly in care homes.

It all started about 12 years ago - I have always had problems with my ears and sinuses as a child needing multiple surgery on them all, so when I developed facial pain I thought it was just a repeat of one of these problems. However after having further sinus surgery it was evident the pain would not go away. This took me down a long journey of exploring medication after medication. To date I have probably tried around 15 different types of medication, none of which have helped.

Many of you will know what a migraine feels like. An excruciating, often debilitating pain that can last for hours or even days which often puts you out of action and makes you feel very sick. For most people you may get one at worst once a month, sometimes only once a year.

Unfortunately for me this is a daily occurrence. When an attack happens it can last up to 3 days causing significant excruciating pain across the face and head, often forcing me to lie down in bed or on the sofa and not able to achieve much more. Even when there is not an attack it takes several days for the muscles and nerves in the head to recover. However for me my muscles and nerves never get this option to recover, and before this time is up I get another attack. At best I can get migraines 6-7 times a month, at worst I can get them every single day. I cannot express to anyone how draining it is to live with pain on a daily basis, and for many of you who have never experienced a migraine you may never know how painful it is to even have just one migraine attack, let alone multiple within a month.

Unfortunately to make it worse there is no cure or treatment for chronic migraine within the UK. There is medication and other options are being explored however none have had an effect on me, not even any painkillers help relieve the pain.

There is however one possible solution, but frustratingly it is not available in this country. I was put in touch with a plastic surgeon who has been undertaking surgery for migraine for the past 20 years but in Germany, and apparently has had great success with this after also undertaking it for several years in the USA where it is now a readily available procedure. I have had several consultations with this professor and he believes I will be a good candidate for the surgery but I will need to travel to Germany in the new year to have this done. As it is not available on the NHS I have no choice to find it privately and due to the extent of my migraines I need to have multiple surgeries and the cost will total around £11,000.

I know I have been able to keep this a secret from many people, only recently opening up about it, but I hope you will understand how this condition affects my daily life, and I would truly appreciate and welcome any support you are able to give me, no matter how small that may be.

I have provided a link to the website for the surgery centre so you can assure yourselves that it is legitimate.

Thanks all for reading and for your support, and here’s hoping the surgery will be a success if I get to have it, and I can eventually live my life pain free!

https://www.migrainesurgery.co.uk/uk/