If you know me, you know I am someone who tries to always show up. A person who will give it their all, and give until it’s gone.

I show up for my ECSE students pouring patience, creativity, and fierce advocacy into the children who need it most. I show up for my church community, teaching Sunday school and trying to live out my faith in steady, meaningful ways. I show up for my family — especially my nephew, Jouniyor, and my niece, Bryanna — who know me as the fun, loving, always-present Tete who cheers them on and holds them close.

But over the past season, I have been fighting a battle most people cannot see.

I live with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH), a neurological condition that causes dangerous pressure around my brain. This illness has led to 21 total days of hospitalization alone this year, countless medications, and ongoing therapy appointments to help me cope with both the physical pain and the emotional weight of chronic illness. Daily headaches, vision disturbances, and exhaustion have interrupted the life I love.

And still — I keep trying to showing up.

I long to return fully mentally and physically to the classroom without pain. I want to teach, to laugh with students, to sit on the carpet for children’s time during Sunday School without the pounding pressure in my head. I want to be fully present for Jouniyor and Bryanna — to attend games, competitions, celebrations, and everyday moments without worrying about worsening symptoms or potential vision loss.

There is hope. A recommended medication has been shown to place IIH into remission in 80–90% of patients and could prevent invasive brain surgery, such as shunt placement. A one-year supply would give me the opportunity not only to avoid surgery, but to pursue sustainable weight loss that research shows can significantly reduce symptoms within the first three months.

Your donation is not just funding medication. It’s funding for gas for appointments, needed daily medical supplies, nutritional coaching.

It is helping protect my vision.

It is helping me return to my students.

It is helping me stay active in the lives of Jouniyor and Bryanna, and the family I’ve created. Most of all, it is giving me a real chance at remission — and relief.

The total cost for treatment without insurance (which has been denied) will be close to $5,000 for the an entire year and will have to be paid in one payment there is not a monthly option.

Thank you for standing with me. Every gift, every prayer, every share of this page moves me closer to healing.

With gratitude,

Amanda-Tete-Ms.Funk

#MsFunkStrong