Hey, for those of you who don’t know, my name is Gray, and I’m an anime artist on twt/tumblr!

Throughout the past year, I’ve been struggling with my physical health, going in and out of the hospital, out of specialty appointments, urgent care visits too many to count, and things all came to a head when, recently, I was admitted to the hospital for what was (at first) abdominal pain that had quickly spiraled into something worse.

Originally, I’d gone to the hospital due to my inability to eat — at that point, it had been over a week since I was able to stomach anything solid, and though I tried to push through it the best I could, I couldn’t handle it on my own anymore and decided to go. Night sweats, fevers, vomiting, diarrhea, the inability to eat without vomiting, dizziness, weakness, and so, so much pain. My blood pressure and heart rate were both through the roof, and the dizziness had become so much that I couldn’t do anything but lay down and wait for it to stop.

At this point, I was placed in a room (not admitted yet, but there was a lot of concern).

This was when the dizziness had shifted into a sort of bed-spins style situation. My eyes couldn’t focus on anything for more than a second before I’d have to shut them because I felt like I’d vomit if I didn’t. I couldn’t concentrate, and speaking was difficult. My arm, my leg, the side of my face, all of it went numb.

I was having a stroke, for the first time, and it was terrifying.

I was admitted immediately, brought into a room, and thrust into so many tests that I don’t know if I could name them all. I was placed on a morphine drip, given routine nausea medication to help abate the need to vomit, and anxiety medication whenever the fear started to eat at my confidence and left me feeling faint and awful.

Since admitted, I experienced several transient ischemic attacks, which occurs when blood flow to the brain temporarily stops. It would resolve itself within a few hours, but doctors kept me because they were afraid I’d have another big one.

So, while in the hospital they had to target both what could be the cause of the strokes alongside the issue I had with my inability to stomach food, and living in America, you know that it comes at a cost.

Emergency room visit: $3,176

Echocardiogram (to check on my heart, to make sure the stroke did not do it damage): $6,194

CT scan abdomen with and without contrast: $15,413

CT scan head without contrast: $3,240

MRI scan brain with and without contrast: $11,463

Ultrasound of the abdomen: $3,176

Comprehensive blood panel: $1,386

Morphine drip: $2,250

This doesn’t include any fees, being fed, other medications that were given (ones I take at home, that they had to supply), physical therapy, occupational therapy, etc. These are just the bits I can’t afford to keep up with.

Because I do not have steady income, and because I cannot work at a brick and mortar place right now due to these health concerns, I am asking everyone for help. If you can’t donate, sharing would be just as helpful. Anything is helpful. Anything would be really appreciated.

Thank you so much.