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Please help us support Karissa in her fight against Brain Cancer.
Read her story below.
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Hi, my name is Karissa. I am not typically a “Go Fund” me person, but rather I am a very independent person and try to take on the role of a helper rather than the receiver. However, after multiple conversations and words of encouragement I have decided to give this “Go Fund Me” thing a shot.
My story is complicated and yes at times unbelievable, but it’s true and these past eight months have been quite the roller coaster… And yet it has only just begun.
I will start from the beginning of February 2016 when my body turned me into a prisoner, and no one could understand what was going on. I was given basic tests, and nothing came about. I was told it was anxiety and then sent on my way.
I went from a healthy 24-year-old who loved to bake, make other people smile, and worked hard at everything that I did. I quickly became someone who was having muscle spasms, trouble speaking clearly and difficulty using my hands at times. I was living in a body that I knew was failing but no one wanted to believe me.
Fast forward to late August 2019, my whole life changed. I was preparing for a Colonoscopy which turned into the past eight months of my life; a blessing and nightmare in disguise. The Colonoscopy triggered a grand mal seizure. It was initially seen as dehydration from preparing for the Colonoscopy, so I was sent home. It was not until eight days later when I was at work and suffered another seizure, that the diagnosis I fought for years to hear finally made sense… I was diagnosed with a Grade II and Grade III Glioma tumor that had been in my brain for possibly five to ten years. I was devastated, yet for the first time strong because the diagnosis I fought to hear was finally here. All of this time, all of the doctors who thought I was an attention seeking young adult with anxiety were wrong. I was not crazy, I was right, I was sick and needed medical treatment.
At 26 I never thought that I would hear the words, stage two or stage three Glioma, let alone chemo and radiation all in the same sentence. It may have taken years to receive my diagnosis, but I was given the “Dream Team” of neurosurgery. In late September, we embarked on my first 10-hour surgery; an awake craniotomy to remove the two tumours that destroyed my brain. I recovered and five days later I went home. Everything was going well until I noticed a small infection starting two weeks later. This infection led to a pretty rigorous second surgery, followed by an emergency surgery three hours later due to fluid build-up. This was just the beginning of what turned into a long stay at the hospital and way too many complications to list. I never imagined being in the hospital for months, having multiple complications and having days wondering if I was going to make it through this alive. After three surgeries and many, many seizures, I was left with very little mobility in my left arm and leg. I had to learn how to walk again and had to gain strength back in my hand. A PICC line was inserted into my arm in order to administer the strong antibiotics directly into my bloodstream.
Surgery number four came and went. I now had a 12-inch scar on my thigh and part of the muscle in my brain. The doctors thought by placing a muscle graft in my brain the fluid build-up that started would subside, but it didn’t. I was escorted off to surgery number five to address the ongoing issue of excess spinal fluid. A lumbar drain was inserted with the hopes of reducing the pressure within my head so that the muscle graph would heal. The lumbar drain was my best friend and my worst enemy; it took a toll on my body. For two weeks the lumbar drain was working well, the doctors were happy with the results and were moving towards removing the lumbar drain. Then. It stopped working. It was late December by this point. Surgery number six was scheduled, I was wheeled in, and 12 hours later it was over. I spent Christmas in the hospital; it wasn’t fun but with the nurses decorating the hospital floor, family and friends visiting with decorations for my room and Christmas goodies, it turned out to be an okay day.
On December 28th, I was released. Surgery number six did the trick. I was on the road to recovery and it felt so good to be home, to sleep through the night with no alarms, no beeping machines, no Code XYZs on the hospital PA system. It also was scary. And exhausting. And a huge adjustment. The doctors were monitoring my antibiotics on a daily basis, I had regular incision checks and PICC line checks. I thought coming home I’d be able to bounce back as easily as I did the first time I came home from the hospital in September. I thought walking, being independent and the use of my arm would easily come back, but it didn't. Being home taught me that I valued my independence more than I noticed. I became dependent on others and it was and still is not how I pictured my life at 26-years-old. I struggle with this a lot. It was a hill that took six surgeries, 11 weeks in a hospital bed, two tumour removals and multiple seizures a day to build. It was a hill that I was going to overcome!
With recovery came the plan towards beginning chemo and radiation, both of which can affect fertility. In mid-January, I had to decide if I wanted to fly by the seat of my pants and hope that one day when I wanted to have children things would work out, or endure the daily hormone injections to save a few of my eggs with hopes it would be successful when the time was right. I began hormone treatments and two weeks later I had a procedure to freeze my eggs.
Then on February 10th, I received a call from my oncologist. The recent MRI showed that the tumor had grown back in the exact same spot, my motor cortex. On February 12th, I went into my seventh surgery; my second awake craniotomy in order to hopefully regain function on my left side. The lumbar drain was re-inserted as a precaution and it actually worked this time; it was removed on February 23rd and I was released on February 25th! I was so excited... But maybe it was too soon.
That night I ended up back at the hospital. The next day, surgery number eight was scheduled to insert a permanent shunt in my brain in order to manage the continuous excess spinal fluid build-up. This had to have been the most painful recovery. March 4th I was released from the hospital, and I have been home since. I scheduled all my follow-ups, started Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy (with complications and miscommunications of course because that is the theme to my story).
If you are still reading, then I thank you for going this far and hearing about my journey. It has been eight crazy months. I went from being a normal 26-year-old working and going to school, to having eight surgeries in seven months (five of which happened in a four-week span), shaving my head, losing almost all function in my left arm and leg, moving back home to my parents, going through fertility treatments, and now starting radiation. It’s been eight months of thanking my support systems, trying to laugh through the bumps, learning to love my scars, and face my fears. It has been really hard. Financially, the cost of all of this is terrifying. I am lucky to have some coverage through OHIP, but it is minimal. The bills are adding up, I am no longer working and have been battling with EI since September. I have been out of school for over six months, and I will soon have to start paying back my student loans even though I have been out of school for medical reasons.
So, there it is... My life these past eight months. My new reality. A future full of unknowns, follow-ups, and medical bills. These past 8 months have turned mine and my family’s life upside down. As I mentioned at the beginning, I am not one to ask for help or immediately turn to “Go Fund Me” support. I am an independent woman and try to be more the helper rather than the receiver, but soon I will become stuck in a troubling financial situation. I am very aware that right now everyone has had to be more stringent on their wallets due to COVID-19 and many people are also facing financial difficulties! So, I thank you all for reading about my story and any monetary donation that you can make towards my current and upcoming medical bills, especially during this difficult time for everyone, would be greatly appreciated.
Love,
Karissa Carlson & family
https://www.facebook.com/groups/715527112301401/
https://www.instagram.com/kaayc16/?hl=en
Read her story below.
**************************
Hi, my name is Karissa. I am not typically a “Go Fund” me person, but rather I am a very independent person and try to take on the role of a helper rather than the receiver. However, after multiple conversations and words of encouragement I have decided to give this “Go Fund Me” thing a shot.
My story is complicated and yes at times unbelievable, but it’s true and these past eight months have been quite the roller coaster… And yet it has only just begun.
I will start from the beginning of February 2016 when my body turned me into a prisoner, and no one could understand what was going on. I was given basic tests, and nothing came about. I was told it was anxiety and then sent on my way.
I went from a healthy 24-year-old who loved to bake, make other people smile, and worked hard at everything that I did. I quickly became someone who was having muscle spasms, trouble speaking clearly and difficulty using my hands at times. I was living in a body that I knew was failing but no one wanted to believe me.
Fast forward to late August 2019, my whole life changed. I was preparing for a Colonoscopy which turned into the past eight months of my life; a blessing and nightmare in disguise. The Colonoscopy triggered a grand mal seizure. It was initially seen as dehydration from preparing for the Colonoscopy, so I was sent home. It was not until eight days later when I was at work and suffered another seizure, that the diagnosis I fought for years to hear finally made sense… I was diagnosed with a Grade II and Grade III Glioma tumor that had been in my brain for possibly five to ten years. I was devastated, yet for the first time strong because the diagnosis I fought to hear was finally here. All of this time, all of the doctors who thought I was an attention seeking young adult with anxiety were wrong. I was not crazy, I was right, I was sick and needed medical treatment.
At 26 I never thought that I would hear the words, stage two or stage three Glioma, let alone chemo and radiation all in the same sentence. It may have taken years to receive my diagnosis, but I was given the “Dream Team” of neurosurgery. In late September, we embarked on my first 10-hour surgery; an awake craniotomy to remove the two tumours that destroyed my brain. I recovered and five days later I went home. Everything was going well until I noticed a small infection starting two weeks later. This infection led to a pretty rigorous second surgery, followed by an emergency surgery three hours later due to fluid build-up. This was just the beginning of what turned into a long stay at the hospital and way too many complications to list. I never imagined being in the hospital for months, having multiple complications and having days wondering if I was going to make it through this alive. After three surgeries and many, many seizures, I was left with very little mobility in my left arm and leg. I had to learn how to walk again and had to gain strength back in my hand. A PICC line was inserted into my arm in order to administer the strong antibiotics directly into my bloodstream.
Surgery number four came and went. I now had a 12-inch scar on my thigh and part of the muscle in my brain. The doctors thought by placing a muscle graft in my brain the fluid build-up that started would subside, but it didn’t. I was escorted off to surgery number five to address the ongoing issue of excess spinal fluid. A lumbar drain was inserted with the hopes of reducing the pressure within my head so that the muscle graph would heal. The lumbar drain was my best friend and my worst enemy; it took a toll on my body. For two weeks the lumbar drain was working well, the doctors were happy with the results and were moving towards removing the lumbar drain. Then. It stopped working. It was late December by this point. Surgery number six was scheduled, I was wheeled in, and 12 hours later it was over. I spent Christmas in the hospital; it wasn’t fun but with the nurses decorating the hospital floor, family and friends visiting with decorations for my room and Christmas goodies, it turned out to be an okay day.
On December 28th, I was released. Surgery number six did the trick. I was on the road to recovery and it felt so good to be home, to sleep through the night with no alarms, no beeping machines, no Code XYZs on the hospital PA system. It also was scary. And exhausting. And a huge adjustment. The doctors were monitoring my antibiotics on a daily basis, I had regular incision checks and PICC line checks. I thought coming home I’d be able to bounce back as easily as I did the first time I came home from the hospital in September. I thought walking, being independent and the use of my arm would easily come back, but it didn't. Being home taught me that I valued my independence more than I noticed. I became dependent on others and it was and still is not how I pictured my life at 26-years-old. I struggle with this a lot. It was a hill that took six surgeries, 11 weeks in a hospital bed, two tumour removals and multiple seizures a day to build. It was a hill that I was going to overcome!
With recovery came the plan towards beginning chemo and radiation, both of which can affect fertility. In mid-January, I had to decide if I wanted to fly by the seat of my pants and hope that one day when I wanted to have children things would work out, or endure the daily hormone injections to save a few of my eggs with hopes it would be successful when the time was right. I began hormone treatments and two weeks later I had a procedure to freeze my eggs.
Then on February 10th, I received a call from my oncologist. The recent MRI showed that the tumor had grown back in the exact same spot, my motor cortex. On February 12th, I went into my seventh surgery; my second awake craniotomy in order to hopefully regain function on my left side. The lumbar drain was re-inserted as a precaution and it actually worked this time; it was removed on February 23rd and I was released on February 25th! I was so excited... But maybe it was too soon.
That night I ended up back at the hospital. The next day, surgery number eight was scheduled to insert a permanent shunt in my brain in order to manage the continuous excess spinal fluid build-up. This had to have been the most painful recovery. March 4th I was released from the hospital, and I have been home since. I scheduled all my follow-ups, started Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy (with complications and miscommunications of course because that is the theme to my story).
If you are still reading, then I thank you for going this far and hearing about my journey. It has been eight crazy months. I went from being a normal 26-year-old working and going to school, to having eight surgeries in seven months (five of which happened in a four-week span), shaving my head, losing almost all function in my left arm and leg, moving back home to my parents, going through fertility treatments, and now starting radiation. It’s been eight months of thanking my support systems, trying to laugh through the bumps, learning to love my scars, and face my fears. It has been really hard. Financially, the cost of all of this is terrifying. I am lucky to have some coverage through OHIP, but it is minimal. The bills are adding up, I am no longer working and have been battling with EI since September. I have been out of school for over six months, and I will soon have to start paying back my student loans even though I have been out of school for medical reasons.
So, there it is... My life these past eight months. My new reality. A future full of unknowns, follow-ups, and medical bills. These past 8 months have turned mine and my family’s life upside down. As I mentioned at the beginning, I am not one to ask for help or immediately turn to “Go Fund Me” support. I am an independent woman and try to be more the helper rather than the receiver, but soon I will become stuck in a troubling financial situation. I am very aware that right now everyone has had to be more stringent on their wallets due to COVID-19 and many people are also facing financial difficulties! So, I thank you all for reading about my story and any monetary donation that you can make towards my current and upcoming medical bills, especially during this difficult time for everyone, would be greatly appreciated.
Love,
Karissa Carlson & family
https://www.facebook.com/groups/715527112301401/
https://www.instagram.com/kaayc16/?hl=en
Organizer and beneficiary
Karissa Carlson
Beneficiary