I am a dear friend of Chris's mother, Lisa Reid, and love the boy myself.

Chris is a 22-year-old who was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome when he was 12 years old. Over the years, his Tourette's was relabeled as Treatment-Resistant Malignant Tourette's Syndrome, in which his motor tics became extremely self-injurious, consisting of constant punching to his face, stomach, head, and groin. The only time Chris gets any relief from this is when he's sleeping. This has led to complete blindness in his left eye from traumatic punches to the eye, detaching the retina twice, as well as numerous traumatic wounds to his knuckles and face from punching at his teeth.

Chris is unable to attend school full-time but attends college part-time online. He works part-time at Walmart, bringing groceries to people's cars. He cannot do things such as drive, and the tics are so severe that Chris needs to wear prescription safety glasses, a mouth guard, and gloves 24/7, even while sleeping. At very severe times, he has to wear boxing headgear to try to prevent injuries. In 2022, Chris underwent five surgeries (four eye and one ear surgery) for uncontrollable self-inflicted injuries. His medical bills over the years have been horrible, but until now, Chris's parents have managed to keep up with them (many with payment plans). His mom is a nurse practitioner, and his dad a contract worker.

For the past year, Chris and his parents have been fighting with United Healthcare for approval of a revolutionary brain surgery with the placement of a Deep Brain Stimulator (DBS) that has been shown to dramatically improve involuntary tics in order for individuals to live a productive and high-quality life. These individuals are able to function normally, drive, work full-time jobs, go to school, and live on their own. Many have gotten married and had families of their own. Chris's nine specialists that comprise his DBS team, along with his psychiatrist, his eye surgeon, and his wound care specialists, predict that with this surgery, further permanent disability can be prevented just by the placement of this deep brain stimulator.

Thanks to his parents' persistence, and after three denials, an external review by neurosurgeons, neurologists, and other specialists outside the insurance company was conducted, and it was determined that the surgery was an absolute necessity in order to prevent further permanent disability and improve quality of life. This forced United Healthcare's hand and led to the approval of this revolutionary surgery. This surgery is only available at Baylor University Hospital, located in Houston. Chris and his parents now have to face a second struggle, and that is the overall cost of this surgery and pre-imposed care. There will be deductibles to be met for MRIs under general anesthesia, CT scans, the actual surgery implanting the device, surgeon fees, anesthesia fees, hospital fees, and having the device programmed every two weeks for the six months to a year following the surgery.

Chris and his family live in Dallas, so there will also be significant travel fees; gas, hotel, and food involved with the commute from Dallas to Houston numerous times, as well as the loss of wages for the time off his parents will need.