Help Lacey Heal from Brain Surgery Complications

This is Lacey.

Two years ago, right out of the blue, she was diagnosed with a grade 4 astrocytoma brain cancer. This completely flipped our world upside down when this happened, but we managed to fight through it. After two major brain surgeries, a year of chemo, six weeks of radiation every day, a lot of travel back and forth to hospitals and doctors, and way too much time bedridden and away from family, things finally got cleared up. For the most part, 2024 has been on an uphill path of recovery and healing.

Once the middle of October got here, though, things really took a turn for the worse. She started having seizures again, and only after a clear MRI scan five weeks earlier, we were informed of a new tumor growth. It was decided by the doctor that two days later, she would be going right back into surgery again for another major craniotomy to try and take out this new tumor. On Oct 31st, she had surgery, and at that point, everything seemed to go well. But after a couple of weeks, she woke up one morning with no feeling in her right side. She couldn’t walk, couldn’t stand up on both legs, she couldn’t raise her right arm or even squeeze my hand with hers. The doctors thought it was swelling of the brain from surgery, so there was an adjustment in her medication, and we gave it another week to look for improvement. A week went by, and nothing, so it was back to the hospital for another MRI. Come to find out, another surgery was going to have to happen. This time, the section of the skull that was removed for the first two surgeries had to be taken out and disregarded altogether. The skull and the metal screws were causing a serious infection, and that’s what happened to her right side. So now there is a big piece of mesh where the skull used to be and about a 5-inch long incision that has been sewn back together for the 5th time now. The doctor said there is so much damage from infection and radiation that he is just hoping this heals back together, or else there is going to have to be some plastic surgery in the near future to close up the area of the head that has been operated on.

She is back home now as of Saturday, December 7th, and has a PICC line in her arm that runs all the way into her heart. Three times a day, I have to give her an IV antibiotic on top of a bag full of other pills to take orally. She is a fighter, and she is going to get through this, but besides the physical issues and the cancer, the day-to-day life for everyone living has taken a huge hit as well. Somehow, since Oct 18, 2022, I have managed to keep everything going and keep all the bills paid for us, go to work every day, and be by her side 24/7 to make sure she gets everything she needs and goes wherever she needs to for doctors and hospitals.

Hurricane Helene hit us pretty hard financially. We got off great compared to others in the Carolinas, but we took a hard hit as well. Then, a month later, cancer decided to show its ugly face again, and things have just gone downhill since then. I haven’t ever lost anything from not being able to pay for it, and I’m not going to now. I have managed to keep the daily life bills paid and food on the table, but there have been a couple of emergency hospital visits, appointments, and scans that our new insurance won’t cover. Some of these things have to be paid before further treatments can be done. I know people get in here and ask for money for the dumbest things and just try to live off of somebody else’s hard work, but this isn’t the case. I’m just trying to cover a few medical expenses that insurance wouldn’t cover and possibly just be able to breathe for a few days and not be so stressed out. If this doesn’t raise a dime, it’s fine. I really don’t know how this works, but a friend of mine told me to try it and see what would happen. Thank you to everyone that reads this, and if you find it in your heart to send a few bucks, great. I really appreciate it.