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Hello and welcome to this, my humble GoFundMe page. If you've made it this far, I have to assume you know how these sorts of things work. Ok. I'm going to tell you why I am asking for your money now.
"But doctor, I am Pagliacci!"
I'm Keely, and I'm a licensed massage therapist with 7 years of experience serving the Gainesville community and specializations in disability and chronic pain. Ironically (in the Alanis Morrisette way, because it actually isn't ironic at all and logically follows pretty well), I am also disabled and live with chronic pain. My own lived experience inspires my work -- I understand viscerally the impacts of pain on one's day-to-day, and how critical pain management interventions are to quality of life.
Unfortunately, the very experience that makes me uniquely qualified in my field is also making it challenging to continue offering support. My own disability has worsened precipitously over the past few months, and I need to cut my hours significantly in order to make time for medical treatments and recovery. Regrettably I cannot clone myself, so I must wait patiently as I am subject to a relatively slow-moving healthcare system and government assistance program bureaucracy, even as my care team does their best to expedite my treatment.
With the double trouble of cutting my hours and increased medical costs, I'm asking my community for financial support to carry me through a difficult and uncertain month or two while I, quite literally, get my legs back under me.
"Literally? But you still have legs. What even is your disability?"
- I am 20 years post-op and 4 surgical revisions deep with an extensive 12 vertebrae spinal fusion from T4-L3, performed due to idiopathic scoliosis. These fused vertebrae form a solid shaft of bone that does not articulate, flex, bend, or rotate like a typical, healthy, unfused spine.
- Over time, this puts a great deal of stress on the remaining unfused vertebrae beneath the fusion site, and also results in nerve compression, as well as muscular atrophy and hypertonicity along the spine.
- I have been living in 9 out of 10 pain daily for roughly five months, and the pain continues to increase. I spend much of my time outside of work in bed, immobilized. My job, as much as I adore it, is very physical and unfortunately exacerbates my pain.
- But the pain isn't the main problem. I have grown used to pain, as many living with chronic pain do, and have pushed through it for many years. The real problem is my rapidly declining ability to move/walk/sit or perform even basic Activities of Daily Living (simple chores, personal hygiene, etc.) with any consistency due to worsening muscle spasms and nerve compression.
^Removed spinal hardware after 4th surgery, 2020
"Is your disability really that bad? You seem fine to me."
- It definitely is :)
- But thank you for noticing, I am super good at masking B)
- Here's a zine I made about my pain and disability almost exactly 6 years ago! Back then, my daily pain was only at about a 6 or 7 out of 10 :')
"What is my money going toward?"
- Living expenses that would typically be covered by the hours I have to cut (Food, rent, transportation, keeping my business doors open, etc.)
- Medical expenses (May or may not be covered by insurance: Doctor visits, imaging, medication, various treatments and therapeutic interventions.)
- ̶M̶y̶ ̶M̶i̶k̶u̶ ̶H̶a̶s̶t̶u̶n̶e̶ ̶v̶i̶r̶t̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶g̶a̶s̶h̶a̶p̶o̶n̶ ̶m̶a̶c̶h̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶a̶d̶d̶i̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶
I love my job and eagerly await returning to my clients, but in the meantime I have to do the one thing I pretty much hate most -- pausing my care for others so I can stop being a hypocrite and take care of myself. By donating, you would be directly funding my ability to manage my pain and disability, recover my lost function, and to return to doing what I do best as soon as humanly possible.
Thank you thank you thank you prayer emoji prayer emoji
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