Hi, my name is Gina and I'm fundraising on behalf of my child Rei. He desperately needs life saving neurosurgery that is unfortunately not something that can be done in Canada. I've helped him write something to you all.

"Hey everyone!

My name is Rei.

Life is a beautiful gift. It’s a chance to dream about who you are and to know that ‘you’ matter. It’s having the feeling that your life has purpose and meaning and that through your chosen actions you have made an important difference in the world. This is how I’ve always tried to live my life.

I grew up always trying to be the best at whatever I did. School, work, sports, clubs, singing, academics. I had a plan to graduate high school and go off to university to get my degree and leave a mark on the world.

Unfortunately my life took a hard turn at age 18.

In playing rugby I had sustained multiple blows to the head that season. But our final game I was hit and suffered a concussion that changed the course my life would take. I was diagnosed with post concussion syndrome a few months later after trying everything to get back to a space where I could continue schooling. Unfortunately even with the numerous specialists nothing was working.

Over the years since, i have stayed home seeking out the help of any specialist i could find. I did everything they asked of me but never found any relief of symptoms. I wanted to push past this and to build my life, already feeling like i was being left behind. So I pushed and went back to school a few times, found work at different places but always ended up worse than I began.

I was fortunate enough to find community in Toronto and was working in my dream field of veterinary medicine. This whole time trying to go throughout life with a smile and never show those around me how much I was suffering. I was experiencing daily debilitating headaches and migraines, light and noise sensitivity, issues with my eyesight due to my spine injury, and my mobility issues got worse the harder i pushed through.

In 2019 I was working full time and catsitting on the side when I got hit yet again in the head. After this I was completely housebound. It all felt again like i lost my life. Growing up a military kid I struggled to find a sense of belonging. Now i was losing the one place i had built as a home in my adult life. In 2021 I had to move back home with my parents because it was becoming impossible to live on my own.

Since moving back i have unfortunately lost all sense of self.

As of late I have been dealing with symptoms pointing to brainstem compression which has left me feeling truly terrified. I now experience symptoms of what feel like electric shocks down my back and limbs. My hands, arms, legs and feet all go numb and I have a very difficult time to move them at all. This has now completely affected my mobility. My nervous system and my autonomic system are no longer able to regulate. My heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, swallowing, and eyesight as well. My GI system has also been affected so I am no longer able to digest most foods. I now struggle to even be able to communicate many days.

Obviously living somewhere with stairs has been terrifying to say the least to just be able to cook for myself, help with my animals or any simple life tasks. I’ve been bedbound for the past 3 years now. Going from being an athlete, a student, a carer to someone who cannot feed or properly care for themselves… to say it’s devastating is an understatement.

While the pain is severe, I’ve experienced it for so long that I don’t even remember what it is to be at peace with no screaming pain. I have made searching for help and answers my full time job. I’ve gone to any specialist that I could find and have been repeatedly turned away because “they just don’t know” what is wrong.

I could go on and on with my symptoms list but the gist is that my body is breaking down and can no longer communicate properly. I’ve been trying to push forward and reconnect to that sense of meaning and purpose about my life and to hang onto the hope that someday the medical community would be able to help me somehow.

As you can imagine losing the ability to have my autonomy has left me not really knowing where I belong in this world anymore.

I continued to seek out specialists. Through many different communities online, much of my own research and compiling all the help that i had received over the years I’ve finally found someone that deals with complex spinal injuries and finally was able to suspect the deeper and far more dangerous prognosis something called ‘Cranialcervical and Atlantoaxial Instability’.

Due to the decade plus of damage, my spine simply can no longer heal itself.

Unfortunately that help in Canada doesn’t exist. There isn’t even the ability to get the proper diagnostic tests here as we don’t have the machines to do so.

For years I’ve felt that for any real possibility of easing my symptoms I would somehow have to access out of country care. Unfortunately this procedure is not funded by the government so paying for it would have to come out of pocket.

All I’ve wanted my whole adult life has been to have a future. To be able to work, to have a family, and help those around me, allowing me the ability to feel meaning and purpose to my life. My dreams have had to have been realigned to the hope of being able to walk again on my own, and have my body returned to the feeling of calm and peace. I have learned over time to deal with the constant excruciating pain, but my body is giving out.

My only hope now is to access care at the Teknon Medical Center in Spain, a specialized hospital that deals with these complex spine injuries. With world renowned surgeons and the technology to be able to assess my injuries I can then know if they can help me survive this.

I’ve recently had a consultation with Dr Oliver at Teknon and he believes that all of my symptoms make perfect sense with the diagnoses of CCI and AAI. Hearing him believing me after all of these years left me in tears at the end of the appointment.

The cost of testing is approximately 10k with the surgery being much more. Being on disability benefits makes this impossible to fund on my own. I can promise you that I will do everything in my power to save every cent that I can to pay for it on my own. My parents have exhausted their own resources helping me any way they could.So this is why I am here today, reaching out to all of you.

I am someone who would rather help you heal your own pain than ever ask for help. My greatest wish is to return to the simple place of being physically able to participate in everyday life. Just to walk my dog down the street, hang out with friends and tell them my stupid jokes, enjoy the time with my family, and hopefully along the way help a stranger feel lighter, and return to the feeling of the joy of being PRESENT in body, mind and spirit! I’ve missed countless birthdays, celebrations, family events and now with an answer being so close I can envision a day where I can be a part of the lives of those I love.

If my story resonates with your heart please help me to make my dream come true. Any and all help is greatly appreciated from the bottom of my heart and would mean the world to me!"