Gina's Journey with AVM

I had the privilege of working with Gina, as her daughter's third grade teacher. Gina volunteered in our classroom regularly and was positive, exuberant, and full of kindness. Her passion for helping others and unwavering love for her family were evident immediately.
What touched me the most about Gina was her approach to helping children understand her facial differences. Whenever an inquisitive student would ask Gina what happened to her, she would approach them with a smile on her face and a valuable lesson to teach from her heart. Gina's beauty radiates from within and graces anyone who has the privilege of knowing her.
Gina has battled with Arteriovenous Malformation since the age of 12. Although, it took many years of misdiagnosis and life threatening tests to finally discover the nature of this beast, with help from 4 different physicians, her PCP, a myofacial plastic surgeon, an ENT, and a cardiologist, they finally diagnosed her correctly and found an interventional radiologist who was willing to try to kill her AVM .
She was sent to John Hopkins for a series of five procedures to shrink the malformation. Initially, it was smaller! Unfortunately, it steadily grew new feeds. Now 13 years later, her AVM is larger than ever. It causes chronic pain for her. Gina and her cardiologist found a neurovascular surgeon at Mount Sinai, in New York City who was willing to take on Gina's case. He has performed one embolization on Gina, however the AVM remains very vascular. Gina will require multiple, risky surgeries to kill off the feeds.
As you can imagine, this has been an emotional journey for Gina and her family. The medical and travel expenses are mounting, and I would love nothing more than to alleviate that burden on them. I have asked Gina to set humility aside and accept our donations, love, and prayers as she navigates the journey ahead. Thank you!