Help Support Dorothea in Her Recovery

Four years ago, Dorothea was an active, happy Zumba teacher. She loved dancing - it was the one thing she couldn't see living without. One day during a class, she realized her legs had started to slow down and refused to move like they should. Finding no explanation, it became bad enough she had to give up teaching, and she embarked on a four-year-long search for answers and help. She saw a neurologist, a nephrologist, a neurosurgeon, and a movement specialist. She was tested for everything from MS to myasthenia gravis. Every major part of her body - her brain, heart, spine - got an X-ray, MRI, or CT scan. She was given nerve induction tests, EKGs, EEGs, echocardiograms... Meanwhile, her feet slowed more and more often until she often had to use a wheelchair. One morning a year ago, she got out of bed and a searing pain shot down her left leg; from then on, her mobility was limited even further by intense nerve pain. She finally learned she had a cyst impinging her spinal cord. She found a neurosurgeon at the Cleveland Clinic who could do a minimally invasive procedure to remove it and hopefully relieve the pain; after several delays, it was finally done last Wednesday, October 16. She is now in recovery, the pain not quite gone yet, and hoping but not knowing whether the procedure will have also restored her legs to their once normal movement. Unfortunately, her search for getting her movement back resulted in a high cost: her medical bills now total more than $10,000.

Unable to work during this journey, and now finding herself on her own and facing a divorce, she needs help. I hope you will find it in your heart to help Dorothea. Any amount would be greatly appreciated.