Clara's Story:

In 2021, our youngest sister, Clara, began experiencing episodes of seizures and neurological symptoms that were eventually traced to a 2.5 cm meningioma located deep within her brain. Just a few weeks prior to the scheduled surgery to remove this tumor, Clara and her husband, Jeff, found out they were expecting their first child. Because the necessary brain surgery wasn't safe during pregnancy, she postponed the surgery and carried her daughter to term while managing seizures, double vision, dizziness, and cognitive difficulties.

After giving birth and while her daughter was only four months old, Clara finally underwent brain surgery in July of 2023. Although the tumor was successfully removed, the recovery left her with significant, lasting visual, vestibular, and cognitive complications. According to her neuropsychological and neuro-vision evaluations, Clara was struggling with significant vision and cognitive challenges that affected nearly every part of routine daily activities.

These challenges included double vision, difficulty coordinating both eyes, and reduced peripheral vision in her right eye, which made routine tasks—and especially driving—unsafe. Her depth perception problems made it hard to judge distance, which affected coordination and moving safely within her own environment. Light, motion, and even reading triggered dizziness, eye strain, and overwhelming visual fatigue. Clara faced slow processing speed and memory difficulties—particularly with sequencing, numbers, and keeping track of time—as well as challenges with spatial reasoning and visual-thinking tasks. This all led to severe cognitive exhaustion that worsened throughout the workday, causing Clara to experience ongoing vestibular symptoms, including dizziness and motion sensitivity consistent with brain injury-related dysfunction.

Despite seeing multiple specialists, Clara was repeatedly told that her vision "looked normal." In-depth neuro-vision rehabilitation exams, however, showed major impairments that explained why she had been struggling so significantly for nearly two years. Her doctors concluded she had Acquired Traumatic Brain Injury, Binocular Vision Disorder, Diplopia (double vision), Vestibular Dysfunction, and visual distortion of size and shape.

These deficits were deemed treatable—but only with intensive neuro-vision rehabilitation.

Why Clara and her family need help:

The specialized neuro-vision therapy Clara has needed and continues to participate in is out-of-state and not covered by insurance. She must travel several hours weekly, cannot drive herself due to vision loss, and has been unable to work because of her symptoms.

The financial strain of weekly travel, out-of-pocket therapy, time away from work, medical expenses, and caring for their 2-year-old daughter continues to be overwhelming. Clara and Jeff have worked incredibly hard to stay afloat, but the costs of continued therapy, piling bills, and travel are more than they can manage on their own right now.

Why Your Support Matters:

Prior to beginning her weekly specialized therapy, Clara was estimated to be operating at only 40-60% of her previous functioning level. Clara is so motivated, hopeful, and working tirelessly to regain her independence. Her doctor and therapist are pleased with her progress and believe that with consistent, ongoing treatment, she can meaningfully improve her vision, clarity, eye coordination, depth perception, balance, reading and processing speed, ability to return to safe driving, and ability to return to work.

All donations will go directly towards past and ongoing medical treatment and bills so she can continue working toward regaining her independence again. Your support—whether through donations or sharing her story—means more than you can imagine.