Donation protected
“Put Fallana on the phone, NOW”
“Hi mommy”
“hi baby, I love you. Forever.”
“I love you too, when are you coming home?”
“I hope soon my love”
My mom was internally bleeding out, her pulse was getting weaker every second until she almost flatlined. When we spoke on the phone for those brief couple of minutes my mom was dying, I had no idea… I knew something was off because it sounded like she was struggling to breathe, and her voice was groggy. Had my mom died this would have been our last conversation… Even though she is alive, she is not able to live and enjoy life. This deprived me of an “average childhood” and her of a healthy, painless, average life.
My name is Fallana, I was nine years old when my life changed for possibly forever. I had just scored an A on my test in school. My mom picked me up and took me out for celebratory frozen yogurt. We took it to go and began to drive home. My mom tried switching lanes before the unimaginable happened, which changed us forever. Before I knew it, I was covered in my frozen yogurt and my mom in a panic. A lady coming out of procedure and shouldn’t had been driving, pulled out and was almost incoherent. My mom got out and checked on me as her first priority, but I really should’ve been watching over my mom. I had large bruising but my mom… Little did we know what was about to come and we couldn’t not have imagined what the next years would hold for us. My childhood was robbed from me. I never got to experience a “normal childhood”.
I quickly learned we take a lot of precious moments and activities for granted… Having mother-daughter time consisted of doctors’ appointments, hospital visits, but my favorite were the ones outside of medical attention, movie nights. Even though occasionally it physically hurt my mom to sometimes snuggle with her one and only little girl. There were no bike rides, not a lot of driving, anything that really required any sort of physical movement suddenly did not become an option for her. The pain wore my mom out even still to this day. Shortly after she would pick me up from school, she would heat me up dinner and then head to bed. My mom wasn’t in good shape to work, but she still worked 60 hours a week to ensure I was taken care of and happy. I wasn’t always happy because I saw what my mom was going through, but I still had to be strong for her. I soon picked up responsibilities that a child shouldn’t have to at a young age.
Results came back and not only did she have an aneurysm that almost took her life, she also had a rare spinal disease Tarlov Cyst. She had and still has several cysts entangled in her nerves along her cervical and sacral. These cause excruciating pain, limiting her from nearly all physical activities. Even at 20 years old I am still struggling to understand how much this affects her, because as a healthy individual I take for granted all the little things we as humans don’t think about such as turning your head to make eye contact, lifting things above your head like when your reaching for something a grocery store, sitting at a computer desk, driving, these are very few activities that she needs assistance with. We take these actions for granted. If my mom completes just one of these actions, her pain from one action can affect her anywhere from a week to several weeks. Just for turning around to make eye contact with someone.
One of the worst parts about the whole thing, this was the women’s third accident in 6 months because she kept driving after her procedures. When I turned 18, I attempted to sue for my mother sake of overwhelming medical bills for the several procedures and surgeries she had to endure. When we spoke to the lawyer, he said that the incident happened 9 years ago, and the chances were slim it would hold up in court due to possible lack of memory. But I don’t think he understood how this trauma of near-death experiences would stick with me forever.
My mom can only get one cyst done every two years and she has several left. There is only one surgeon in the United States that is able to perform this surgery, based off just that this surgery will be costly. The surgeon wraps her cyst around her nerves in hopes to give her some relief. Because this surgery is performed on her spinal cord nerves the risk are high, not just death but paralysis and many other horrible complications.By the Donations that are received, the money will go towards flights, 2 week stay for follow ups with doctor, meals, prescriptions, medical bills and expenses.
My mom has given me everything possible to ensure I live a healthy and happy life. So, I am writing to you to please, please, please help out in any way you can whether it is sharing this with someone or a donation.
Anything helps.
Thank you.
“Hi mommy”
“hi baby, I love you. Forever.”
“I love you too, when are you coming home?”
“I hope soon my love”
My mom was internally bleeding out, her pulse was getting weaker every second until she almost flatlined. When we spoke on the phone for those brief couple of minutes my mom was dying, I had no idea… I knew something was off because it sounded like she was struggling to breathe, and her voice was groggy. Had my mom died this would have been our last conversation… Even though she is alive, she is not able to live and enjoy life. This deprived me of an “average childhood” and her of a healthy, painless, average life.
My name is Fallana, I was nine years old when my life changed for possibly forever. I had just scored an A on my test in school. My mom picked me up and took me out for celebratory frozen yogurt. We took it to go and began to drive home. My mom tried switching lanes before the unimaginable happened, which changed us forever. Before I knew it, I was covered in my frozen yogurt and my mom in a panic. A lady coming out of procedure and shouldn’t had been driving, pulled out and was almost incoherent. My mom got out and checked on me as her first priority, but I really should’ve been watching over my mom. I had large bruising but my mom… Little did we know what was about to come and we couldn’t not have imagined what the next years would hold for us. My childhood was robbed from me. I never got to experience a “normal childhood”.
I quickly learned we take a lot of precious moments and activities for granted… Having mother-daughter time consisted of doctors’ appointments, hospital visits, but my favorite were the ones outside of medical attention, movie nights. Even though occasionally it physically hurt my mom to sometimes snuggle with her one and only little girl. There were no bike rides, not a lot of driving, anything that really required any sort of physical movement suddenly did not become an option for her. The pain wore my mom out even still to this day. Shortly after she would pick me up from school, she would heat me up dinner and then head to bed. My mom wasn’t in good shape to work, but she still worked 60 hours a week to ensure I was taken care of and happy. I wasn’t always happy because I saw what my mom was going through, but I still had to be strong for her. I soon picked up responsibilities that a child shouldn’t have to at a young age.
Results came back and not only did she have an aneurysm that almost took her life, she also had a rare spinal disease Tarlov Cyst. She had and still has several cysts entangled in her nerves along her cervical and sacral. These cause excruciating pain, limiting her from nearly all physical activities. Even at 20 years old I am still struggling to understand how much this affects her, because as a healthy individual I take for granted all the little things we as humans don’t think about such as turning your head to make eye contact, lifting things above your head like when your reaching for something a grocery store, sitting at a computer desk, driving, these are very few activities that she needs assistance with. We take these actions for granted. If my mom completes just one of these actions, her pain from one action can affect her anywhere from a week to several weeks. Just for turning around to make eye contact with someone.
One of the worst parts about the whole thing, this was the women’s third accident in 6 months because she kept driving after her procedures. When I turned 18, I attempted to sue for my mother sake of overwhelming medical bills for the several procedures and surgeries she had to endure. When we spoke to the lawyer, he said that the incident happened 9 years ago, and the chances were slim it would hold up in court due to possible lack of memory. But I don’t think he understood how this trauma of near-death experiences would stick with me forever.
My mom can only get one cyst done every two years and she has several left. There is only one surgeon in the United States that is able to perform this surgery, based off just that this surgery will be costly. The surgeon wraps her cyst around her nerves in hopes to give her some relief. Because this surgery is performed on her spinal cord nerves the risk are high, not just death but paralysis and many other horrible complications.By the Donations that are received, the money will go towards flights, 2 week stay for follow ups with doctor, meals, prescriptions, medical bills and expenses.
My mom has given me everything possible to ensure I live a healthy and happy life. So, I am writing to you to please, please, please help out in any way you can whether it is sharing this with someone or a donation.
Anything helps.
Thank you.
Organizer
Mesha Aurianivar
Organizer
Cave Creek, AZ