Help Elspeth Heal from TBI and Spinal Injury

I am running this GoFundMe for my daughter, Elspeth, now 16. She was severely injured and rendered chronically ill by two traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) when she was 12. This is Elspeth in 2017, modeling for her photographer mama.

Next, in 2018, for her 5th grade graduation:

And this is Elspeth after two TBIs in 2019 - both due to responsible adults' negligence or outright endangerment, both at kids' camps. From then on, our lives have been a series of scenes like this:

It has been a nightmare. It has taken four long years to find doctors who understand: TBI caused mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), which unmasked, we think, a previously hidden connective tissue disorder, causing all havoc to break out in Elspeth's body. We're in the process of proving that theory now - and trying to stop the downward spiral. To date (October 2023) we've diagnosed and at least partially treated, all TBI-caused:

Just when we think we're nearing the end of the tunnel, we find it's just a bend - to more tunnel. Recent (summer 2023) diagnoses include pelvic compression syndrome and abdominal vascular compression syndrome, which have her sitting in bed like this - headphones on, eyes closed - for two weeks out of every month, and give her near-constant nausea that makes eating enough just to maintain her weight a challenge. All of this stems from those two 2019 TBIs.

Elspeth has been too sick to keep up with school this entire time, heartbreaking for a kid who still remembers looking around her kindergarten class thinking, "Forget these art projects; teach me how to get a career!"

All funds raised go straight to Elspeth's medical expenses and associated travel/testing/diagnostics/therapies, and to supporting our family as we stand by her and figure all of this out. I estimate Elspeth's medical care has cost at least $20,000 out of pocket each of these last four years. That was the total in 2022, when I last claimed it on my taxes (which, for some reason, you can't do every year). I have been unable to work and further my fledgeling photography business - first, to care for Elspeth and research answers; then, due to LongCovid in myself and her brother, Aslan. Hopefully that last is changing, but debt is piling up fast against our social-security/pension fixed income.

Thank you for seeing us. Grateful for every gift and share.

Charity Feb