- P
- A
Last year was a tough year for many people. Things started out OK but, quickly went to hell for a lot of folks, including my sister April.
2020 began on a positive note. April was able to visit with her family in Minnesota for a long weekend at the end of February and returned home to Virginia to start a new job with the TSA on March 1st.
She barely got 2 weeks in before everything was shut down for the pandemic. The TSA had no work for her so she was “laid off” due to no one traveling. They just didn’t need the workers. Luckily, they did continue to pay her and she was able to keep her insurance. This turned out to be a good thing as shortly after her layoff she awoke one morning to a black spot in her left eye. Her husband took her to the emergency room and April’s anxiety took over. She was told it was a neurological issue, then a detached retina and a few other things as well. They set up an appointment to fix the detached retina but then realized that wasn’t the problem.
They suggested she go to either Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia or John Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore for more diagnosis as they believed it was serious and they didn’t have the right type of staff for what they thought it might be.
The problem turned out to be Ocular Melanoma, an extremely rare form of cancer that affects the eye with an incidence of 5 per million adults. She chose John Hopkins as it was closer to their home in Virginia and they could get her in quicker to start discussion of various treatments. It was out of network for her insurance but, she found her doctor very comforting, and that is a very important aspect of any treatment for a serious medical issue.
The treatment they chose was a radioactive plaque to be “sewn” to the outside of her eye (inside the socket so it was not seen) near the tumor. It was left in for 5 days. She wore a lead patch over her eye to ensure that others around her would not be affected by the radiation. She was supposed to stay 5 feet away from her husband also. That is hard to do in a small one-bedroom apartment.
When the plaque was removed and her eye was tested, it was shown to have worked. The tumor shrunk and April’s cancer is considered to be in remission at this time. There is still a tiny, inactive, part of the tumor behind her eye.
Her eyesight was affected (she is legally blind in her left eye) but otherwise, things were going well. She was able to go back to work, for the most part, in July. She and Alan bought their first house in October. April’s mother, Kathy, was able to drive to Virginia to bring her things she had kept (but left in Minnesota), to make her house a little homier. When Kathy left Virginia to come home on Halloween things were as good/normal as they could be.
About a week before Christmas, April started having a lot of unbearable pain. She was in and out of the emergency room, and because of COVID restrictions she spent most of that time alone and full of anxiety. COVID restrictions at that time did not allow anyone to be in the emergency room with you. Alan was a trooper, sitting in the car waiting for some kind of an answer. She was sent home from the ER and then went to her regular doctor. The diagnosis was glaucoma, which is one of the side effects of the melanoma treatment. The scar tissue caused by the radioactive plaque would not allow the fluid/pressure in her eye to release. This has caused Closed Angle Glaucoma.
The treatment for this kind of glaucoma (there are several types) is laser iridotomy. This surgery makes a small hole in your iris to help the fluid start draining to relieve the pressure and ultimately, the pain. April has stated that the laser iridotomy was tried twice in December but did not work. That procedure is done while the patient is awake and is very painful. It just wasn't happening. They did a Cyclophotocoagulation, CPC for short, the first week of January. April felt better for a while but, the pressure started to build again, and this procedure was repeated on the last week of March, 2021.
The doctor will not do this surgery a third time. As Kathy said, you can only drill a hole in a ball so many times before it deflates.
The next step is for Enucleation, (removal of the eye). This is outpatient surgery. She will have to have an implant for 2 to 3 months to keep the shape of the socket, allowing her body to heal from the trauma. Her prosthesis (glass eye) will be inserted after this healing process. She will most likely have to have an eyelid adjustment along with the removal process and, we hope, healing will be complete.
The purpose of this GoFundMe campaign is to help April offset the many mounting expenses. She has been unable to work so far in 2021. The government (at least the TSA) does not have short term disability so that is not an option, and she has one working eye, so full disability is also not an option. TSA requires 2 working eyes that can be corrected to 20/20 and she no longer has this now that she is permanently blind in her left eye.
She is currently under medical review by the TSA and we all know how the government moves (slowly). She is trying to be patient because she needs her health insurance. Moving to Alan’s insurance is not an option at this time because it’s more expensive and doesn’t cover as much as her current plan. She needs to work and bring in some money so financial pressures can be relieved.
April has very high anxiety normally, and it has been heightened by this ordeal, which has been very trying on her mental health. She doesn’t really talk to people (even her family) about her struggles with this. She posts on social media sometimes to get it out of her head but then she either deletes the posts or makes them private because she doesn’t want people to look at her differently.
We realize April is not the only person suffering from this. We just want to try to help her the best we can.
If you can give anything to help ease the financial and emotional weight on her, we would be greatly appreciative.
If you can’t give anything, please say a prayer for her. April has stated many times that the small act of saying a prayer truly touches her because people, whether she knows them or not, are taking the time to think and reflect and send her good thoughts.
Thank you – Ashlee Streich
2020 began on a positive note. April was able to visit with her family in Minnesota for a long weekend at the end of February and returned home to Virginia to start a new job with the TSA on March 1st.
She barely got 2 weeks in before everything was shut down for the pandemic. The TSA had no work for her so she was “laid off” due to no one traveling. They just didn’t need the workers. Luckily, they did continue to pay her and she was able to keep her insurance. This turned out to be a good thing as shortly after her layoff she awoke one morning to a black spot in her left eye. Her husband took her to the emergency room and April’s anxiety took over. She was told it was a neurological issue, then a detached retina and a few other things as well. They set up an appointment to fix the detached retina but then realized that wasn’t the problem.
They suggested she go to either Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia or John Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore for more diagnosis as they believed it was serious and they didn’t have the right type of staff for what they thought it might be.
The problem turned out to be Ocular Melanoma, an extremely rare form of cancer that affects the eye with an incidence of 5 per million adults. She chose John Hopkins as it was closer to their home in Virginia and they could get her in quicker to start discussion of various treatments. It was out of network for her insurance but, she found her doctor very comforting, and that is a very important aspect of any treatment for a serious medical issue.
The treatment they chose was a radioactive plaque to be “sewn” to the outside of her eye (inside the socket so it was not seen) near the tumor. It was left in for 5 days. She wore a lead patch over her eye to ensure that others around her would not be affected by the radiation. She was supposed to stay 5 feet away from her husband also. That is hard to do in a small one-bedroom apartment.
When the plaque was removed and her eye was tested, it was shown to have worked. The tumor shrunk and April’s cancer is considered to be in remission at this time. There is still a tiny, inactive, part of the tumor behind her eye.
Her eyesight was affected (she is legally blind in her left eye) but otherwise, things were going well. She was able to go back to work, for the most part, in July. She and Alan bought their first house in October. April’s mother, Kathy, was able to drive to Virginia to bring her things she had kept (but left in Minnesota), to make her house a little homier. When Kathy left Virginia to come home on Halloween things were as good/normal as they could be.
About a week before Christmas, April started having a lot of unbearable pain. She was in and out of the emergency room, and because of COVID restrictions she spent most of that time alone and full of anxiety. COVID restrictions at that time did not allow anyone to be in the emergency room with you. Alan was a trooper, sitting in the car waiting for some kind of an answer. She was sent home from the ER and then went to her regular doctor. The diagnosis was glaucoma, which is one of the side effects of the melanoma treatment. The scar tissue caused by the radioactive plaque would not allow the fluid/pressure in her eye to release. This has caused Closed Angle Glaucoma.
The treatment for this kind of glaucoma (there are several types) is laser iridotomy. This surgery makes a small hole in your iris to help the fluid start draining to relieve the pressure and ultimately, the pain. April has stated that the laser iridotomy was tried twice in December but did not work. That procedure is done while the patient is awake and is very painful. It just wasn't happening. They did a Cyclophotocoagulation, CPC for short, the first week of January. April felt better for a while but, the pressure started to build again, and this procedure was repeated on the last week of March, 2021.
The doctor will not do this surgery a third time. As Kathy said, you can only drill a hole in a ball so many times before it deflates.
The next step is for Enucleation, (removal of the eye). This is outpatient surgery. She will have to have an implant for 2 to 3 months to keep the shape of the socket, allowing her body to heal from the trauma. Her prosthesis (glass eye) will be inserted after this healing process. She will most likely have to have an eyelid adjustment along with the removal process and, we hope, healing will be complete.
The purpose of this GoFundMe campaign is to help April offset the many mounting expenses. She has been unable to work so far in 2021. The government (at least the TSA) does not have short term disability so that is not an option, and she has one working eye, so full disability is also not an option. TSA requires 2 working eyes that can be corrected to 20/20 and she no longer has this now that she is permanently blind in her left eye.
She is currently under medical review by the TSA and we all know how the government moves (slowly). She is trying to be patient because she needs her health insurance. Moving to Alan’s insurance is not an option at this time because it’s more expensive and doesn’t cover as much as her current plan. She needs to work and bring in some money so financial pressures can be relieved.
April has very high anxiety normally, and it has been heightened by this ordeal, which has been very trying on her mental health. She doesn’t really talk to people (even her family) about her struggles with this. She posts on social media sometimes to get it out of her head but then she either deletes the posts or makes them private because she doesn’t want people to look at her differently.
We realize April is not the only person suffering from this. We just want to try to help her the best we can.
If you can give anything to help ease the financial and emotional weight on her, we would be greatly appreciative.
If you can’t give anything, please say a prayer for her. April has stated many times that the small act of saying a prayer truly touches her because people, whether she knows them or not, are taking the time to think and reflect and send her good thoughts.
Thank you – Ashlee Streich