Sabrina's ON Surgery Fund

Background and the Condition:

My wife, Sabrina Crane Rivera has suffered from Migraines since she was a very young.  Up until around six years ago, they were pretty normal migraines.  Following a botched spinal tap, multiple blood patches and 6+ weeks of recovery, Sabrina's migraines started changing.  After numerous specialist visits and ER visits, we had a diagnosis: she has Occipital Neuralgia.

Occipital Neuralgia is a condition in which the greater and lesser occipital nerves located in her head are somehow damaged.  The causes are mostly unknown but are often attributed to head trauma. ON also does not always present itself immediately so it's hard to determine the exact cause and timing. In a nutshell what happens is the damaged nerves misfire and begin to swell, the muscles surrounding the nerves react by contracting around the nerves, essentially strangling the nerves, which causes the nerves to continue to misfire and swell.

Due to the constant pain, Sabrina is unable to get out of bed most days; at her worst she is unable to turn over or move at all. As a result, we are generally not able to make plans, and she cannot exercise or work. Due to months of being immobile, secondary side effects like nausea and blood clots are beginning to manifest. Additionally this also causes morale to sink, so at this point we're both having a hard time holding it all together.  The longer she has to deal with this the more painful and expensive it gets.


The Treatment:
We were fortunate to find Dr. Ducic of the Plastic Surgery, Nerve and Headache Institute over two years ago.  Dr. Ducic performs a procedure known as Nerve decompression and excision. The procedure involves making two 3/4-inch incisions at the base of the skull to where the nerves connect at the brain stem. Excess muscle and scar tissue is cut away to relieve tension and create space for the nerves to heal; nerves that are too damaged are excised, or removed completely. Sabrina has already undergone decompression of the greater nerves and excision of the lesser nerves in January of 2013. This provided her with almost two years of relief.  

Unfortunately her greater occipital nerves started to flare up toward the end of August last year.  Due to a number of factors outside of our control, our insurance refuses to provide coverage for the surgery, even after two rounds of appeals. They said that the procedure is still considered experimental and unproven, despite over thirty years of clinical studies and research. Insurance has also refused to cover any other treatment options. Nerve decompression and excision of the occipital nerves have provided sufferers a 80% success rate.

What I'm asking for:

Since we will have to pay up-front out of pocket, we have to pay the entirety of the $17k costs upfront - and that's the self-pay option with significant discounts. We do not have that kind of money laying around. Full disclosure, we are currently buying a townhouse but are still a little ways out from closing. Because of that I am unable to take out a loan or we risk losing it; Sabrina is unable to take out a loan due to her inability to work to repay a loan.  Our only option is to wait upwards of a few months to get a loan or to ask for help.  Friends and family who know Sabrina and I know how stubborn we are and that we have a hard time asking for help.  Please know that doing this is not easy for us and any help you can provide is deeply appreciated.  Thanks for reading and your support.