Back in August 2019, my wife Keri had surgery to put a metal plate and bone grafts in her neck to try to prevent further damage to her body as the discs had deteriorated in her neck. The doctor said that the surgery wouldn't fix the problem but prevent further damage. She was diagnosed with Spinal Stenosis Of Cervical Spine With Myelopathy. I started a GoFundMe back then to help her get by after surgery through her recovery.

Fast forward to late 2022. She started having more nerve problems like before, but worse. She had gone from needing a cane to walk, to a walker and then using a wheelchair most of the time. On a good day she struggled walking with a cane, and good days are few and far between. Some days, she couldn't even get out of bed.

She hasn't been able to work since December 2022, and as of March 2023 I am out of work as her full time caretaker. Her surgery was on April 25, 2023 to put a plate in the back of her neck to try to help the problem. The rehab did not go as planned and she now needs a wheelchair to get around outside of the house.. And now she has some memory issues, we believe caused be the prolonged damage to her spinal cord. She applied for SSDI in March 2023 but as of February 2024 she still hasn't been approved.

As a traveling Massage Therapist, this was disastrous for her, and she will never be able to work again.

If you can assist her in any way, it would be amazing. Until SSDI approves her, she has no income coming into the house.

Thank you for looking

This photo doesn't even show how far down the suture goes.

I am leaving the original text of the first GoFundMe below so you can get more of the story. Thanks to the generosity of the public and her Convention family, she got $1500-ish dollars in the first one, and that helped pay her bills back in 2019.

<<Hi, my name is Scott and my wife Keri is about to undergo a big surgery on her neck and will be out of work for a few months.

Like many of you, the pandemic hit us hard. We are both self employed. I am a convention promoter so my work stopped, and Keri is a traveling massage therapist. So her work was stopped for a majority of the pandemic. She only about 3 months ago was able to start to take clients again and get a few corporate clients, but not to the levels she had pre-pandemic.

Keri has been having problems for quite a while where she would lose feeling in her hands, feet or even major parts of her body (a complete side of her body freezing up or losing feeling.) All of these things are not good for a traveling massage therapist.

A few months ago she was seen by a Neuro-Surgeon and when he did a MRI he found that her spinal cord is being compressed by her C5/C6/C7 vertebrae. The diagnosis is "Spinal Stenosis Of Cervical Spine With Myelopathy." They have to go in and insert bone grafts in between the vertebrae and screw her vertebrae together with a metal plate. The recovery time is 4-6 weeks, before physical therapy.

If she sleeps wrong, sits wrong or sneezes too hard it can compress more and cause instant pain and loss of use and feeling. Every day is a crap shoot as to whether she will have a good day or a bad day.

Being self employed, we don't have anything to fall back on and she will possibly lose the corporate clients that she currently has (at best only for the recovery time, worst she will be replaced permanently).

So we are asking for help to keep us afloat. Her surgery is on September 20th, and it will be along road of recovery ahead for us.

We hope that people can help us out however they can.

Below is a photo of the damage.>>