I live by myself and I am my own sole source of income with no financial help from family. I do not have vision insurance, so any financial support during this time would be greatly appreciated.

On Friday, June 1st, 2024, I was out eating when I noticed a black curtain going across my vision and in the matter of a few hours my vision had gone completely black in my right eye. I was rushed to the Emergency Room where they did a CAT scan, ultrasound, and an EKG to determine what the reason was for my vision going. They told me that my retina had detached from my eyeball. There was no opthamologist on site, so the next day I went to a different ER to get a second opinion. At this location they did another ultrasound before confirming what the other ER had said. They did some vision tests and determined that the retina was so far detached that I required emergency surgery. They told me that I needed to wait until Monday to wait to see the opthamologist that they referred me to. After determining that my retina was detached at the second location, he had to refer me to an eye retina specialist. I went to see the specialist on the same day and was told that I would need to come back the next day to get my surgery to reattach my retina. He also determined that I had a hereditary condition called lattice degeneration. This is a common peripheral retinal degeneration that is characterized by localized retinal thinning and can cause retinal holes, tears, and detachments. They found 5 retinal holes in my damaged eye.

The procedure I had done involved a silicone oil bubble on the damaged eye, where in 3-4 months I will have to go back to get another invasive surgery which involves removing the silicone oil bubble. The surgeon hopes that by the 6 month mark I will have most of my vision back, but this depends on how well it's healing. I will also be having eye surgery on my left eye as a preventative measure due to my newly diagnosed condition.

I've been told that for the next 2-4 weeks I am limited on self-mobility because I cannot legally drive. So getting things for myself and doing any chores or errands will be difficult for me because I live alone and do not have family in the same state. I have an appointment coming up on Friday, June 14th, where I will be told when I can resume some normal activities, hopefully driving! I know at a bare minimum that I will not be able to work for the next 2-4 weeks (my employment requires me to lift more than what the doctor says I can and to do more strenuous activities), but this may be extended depending on the follow-up treatment that my surgeon determines.

All donations will be going towards the surgery bills, my rent, and uber rides.