In early 2017, my younger sister, Jeannette, was the victim of a brutal domestic assault. She was held against her will, beaten, and repeatedly choked until she lost consciousness. We are lucky she survived. When she was finally able to escape and get help, her body and spirit were damaged, but we believed that with time, both would heal.

Fast forward to early 2019. After going round and round with doctors for over a year about some excruciating pain in her neck and back and radiating to other parts of her body, she finally got an MRI which showed she had a disc in between C5 and C6 that was flattening her spinal cord. The doctor suspected it could potentially be early stage Myelomalacia in April of 2019. Myelomalacia is a serious injury which requires a much longer time to accurately diagnose, but even suspecting that is a serious issue. Because of the severity of the injury, she was scheduled to meet with a neurosurgeon to address the issue ASAP. The neurosurgeon advised she had gone from moderate to severe stenosis and flattening of her spinal cord. Her disc extrusion had gotten worse just in the weeks between the MRIs and the doctor told her he was surprised she was even alive.

She was told she needed emergency surgery because right now, even one wrong move or fall could paralyze or kill her. Since she had nobody to take care of her on the island, the next day, in early May, she flew with a neck brace to California close to my sister Audra where the doctors at Stanford were able to propose a surgery that would save her vocal chords. They went in through the front of her neck, removed the disc, shaved the bones on the side, and fused metal plates. The recovery was brutal, and she was in a collar for months that triggered some PTSD of her assault. After the surgery, the pain was getting worse and not better, but the doctor's couldn't give her answers.

Her doctor back on Maui ordered a year and a half of bedrest hoping that her spinal cord would be able to heal itself, but the chances of that were very slim. Once time had passed without any progress, he was finally able to diagnose myelomalacia. Myelomalacia results from acute trauma and is sort of like a celery stalk that gets damaged, where the rest of the stalk looks fine, but slowly the damage will spread, similar to the way the acute injury will travel on the spinal chord and as the damage spreads, it can affect different nerves (and thus bodily functions) along the way. Since her injury is so high up, it is closer to paralyzing her diaphragm than her legs. Everything from her injury site and below is affected.

Over time, she has been diagnosed with bursitis, carpel tunnel, several forms of arthritis, fibromyalgia, and ankylosing spondylitis. The bursitis is the most painful, with the fluid affecting her knees, shoulders, and hips. When it flares, she cannot move the joint at all. Since the surgery she has met with countless specialists, had countless tests including multiple MRIs, and tried multiple pain treatments. Her pain treatments have included many different types and dosages of medications, suprascapular nerve ablation, trigger point steroid and non-steroid injections in her neck and lower thoracic (doctors have advised that her kidneys and bones can't stand any more steroids), and ketamine infusion which is a 4 hour procedure intended to dull the pain receptors in her spine, yet she still lives with chronic pain. She cannot stand or sit for long periods of time, which prevents her from working. She tried to get a flexible job with a local company that was very understanding of her condition, but has only been well enough to work around 12-16 hours total. She is now on disability from the state, but that provides just over $300/ month which doesn't go far with living expenses. The steroids, bedrest and limited mobility have caused weight gain, and the extended rest has made her body weak. A visit to the grocery store requires hours of recuperation.

The only option her doctors have given her for further treatment is stem cell treatment. Unfortunately, this treatment is not covered by her state provided insurance, and after everything that she has been through the last two years, along with not being able to regularly work, she is tapped out. She was able to negotiate with the facility for almost 20% off the treatment she needs, but the cost still comes to $9700, with the possibility of a second treatment needed at an additional $3,000. They were able to schedule her for treatment on October 16. The doctors say this is literally her last hope.

Jeannette has been fairly private with her story and her current condition, but she has realized she needs help if she has any hope for a more normal future. We have had $4300 committed from family and friends, but she needs help to raise the rest. I am going to keep the total requested at the total cost in case they would prefer to donate through the site. Every $10 gets her closer to the treatments. We're all holding out hope that this will help her physical body, but also help bring back some of the spirit she lost during the assault. She needs to have hope for her future and her quality of life. Thank you!

Stem Cell Institute of Hawaii