Hi, my name is Steve Ashford (Acro Steve in my Industry), and I'm a professional Acrobat and Acrobatics / Tumbling Coach.

My year started with a surprise Invitation from Cirque Du Soleil to audition as an acrobat.

I trained extremely hard to put my reel together and get in the best shape of my life.

My hard work paid off as I got accepted and set myself up to leave for Montreal in July this year.

Preparations continued, and after tolerating some nagging back pain, I decided to undergo CT scans and an MRI. The results were a bit grim. The scans revealed that I have a severe disc protrusion, resulting in the compression of my left L5 nerve root.

The pain eventually got to the point it was so debilitating that even my everyday quality of life greatly diminished.

I informed Cirque of my predicament, and they were sympathetic but rightly deemed it necessary to cancel my contract.

The next step in my journey was to see a neurosurgeon. After many months of trying different options, I am now looking at a Lumbar Discectomy. This procedure involves removing part of the disc that is pressing on my nerves in the lower back. This surgery costs around $17,000 - $20,000 and is not covered by my insurance with Bupa, so I have started this Gofundme.

Currently, my life seems to be on pause, and I am trying to take steps to move forward and return to work and, ideally, training.

I'm not the sort of person that likes unloading my problems on other people, but I genuinely am quite desperate. Please Help me