Help Nick Overcome Rare Health Complications and Make Rent

To preface, this will be a fairly long summation and detail a bit about the health problems that have led me to making this GoFundMe... I usually would not ask for money like this, but right now I am out of options. Thank you for even reading this far, and if you want to read more, I implore you to take 5 minutes and do so as it helps me out immensely :)

The majority of those who I expect to be reading this probably know me from insta and various places on the internet as the producer moniker "s1ckk0," aka Nick. Others may know me as Nicholas or Nicholas Sebastian. Regardless of where you find this or how you know me, I would like to formally introduce myself as Nicholas "Nick" Sebastian Berry.

I am a 25-year-old guy from Georgia, born and raised in Athens but residing in Atlanta for roughly the past two years. I've lived mostly in this state all my life, aside from a brief period when I essentially ran away to Florida at 17-18 but that's not relevant to this story. I’ve only really been out of state for vacation once every couple of years and would like to see more of the world like my older brother at some point.

For a little more about me, I have been in a committed relationship with my better half for three years as of next month on the 10th. I have two lovely kitties named Kiwi and Omen and have held a fairly stable job as the lead of my department over warranty claims and technical services for two years at a company that makes luxury bath products. I have even attempted to return to college as a sophomore to finish my degree in Industrial Engineering at KSU (Kennesaw State University).

Some of the things I enjoy doing in my spare time are are making music/rap beats, writing, playing card games, playing other video games, and watching scary movies.

Outside of the virtual realm, I enjoy hanging out with my partner, going on hikes/walks, hitting the gym, trying new foods, cooking, and seeing new places around Atlanta.

While I hadn’t always prioritized my health and well-being, this year, I made a serious effort to improve things for my future and family. I had cut back on drinking, quit nicotine entirely, and quit smoking/vaping anything at all. Unfortunately, this improvement is also where things took a turn for the worse. Upon my return to college for my second semester this summer, I began to get a bad cough and pains around the left side of my chest that were followed with general flu/covid symptoms.

What started as what I hoped would be a passing illness or COVID turned out to be an arduous and frustrating battle with my health. It peaked when I was running a fever of 104.5 and coughing so hard I was throwing up. When this happened, Ana immediately took me to to the emergency room where I was diagnosed with possible pneumonia. While my fever and other symptoms slowly went away, my cough did not and chronic, persistent chest pain did not.

Persistent on multiple tests and X-ray visits was a 7x5 cm mass in my left lung. While my doctor first thought this was just a really bad case of pneumonia, multiple failed antibiotic and steroid treatments, costly specialist visits, and other tests quickly ruled that out...

At this point and with no clear answers, I could only start to presume I had some form of lung cancer.

In September, I underwent a biopsy for this mass as the symptoms were still strong and only masked by copious amounts of RX Hydrocodone syrup and other opiates. On the night of the biospy, my pain and symptoms came back so bad I was immediately back at the hospital in the ER again. There, it was determined via a CT scan that what I had was thankfully non-cancerous but I had a terrible Pseudomonas infection that was more than likely the root of all my pain and suffering.

The mass itself was deemed to have been there since birth possibly, and a form of extralobar pulmonary sequestration where a third lung will grow off of one of your lung lobes and try to form all on its own. It is relatively rare from my understanding with only less than 1.5% of the population have this disease/ailment/whatever you want to call it. Typically it is removed during birth...

For me, however, with all other forms of treatment exhausted at this point, the last option was surgery.

At this point in time I was just grateful that what I had was not cancer, and that it could be removed from my body. I was so overjoyed that I essentially had what I am viewing as a second chance at life and hope to live again and enjoy the things that I miss. I still am grateful to have that chance and I will be even happier when I can put all of this behind me for good and enjoy my life again.

My surgery came on the 8th of November so approximately 10 days ago at the time of writing this post. I was only projected to be in the hospital 3-5 days which is more than manageable financially, emotionally, and mentally for most people.

Unfortunately, I have had major complications following surgery that have required me to be in intensive thoracic care almost around the clock and drastically pushed this leave date back. The most major is what is known as a chyle leak. Essentially, a chyle leak is where your lymphatic system has been cut or damaged (usually following a surgery like this) and lymph fluid drains into certain parts of your body. Luckily, I am in enough care where it is not deemed as deadly and it is being managed but it still a serious and rare complication that I have been dealing with since the surgery.

Every day in this hospital is a struggle for me emotionally and mentally. I have tubes coming out of my chest and IV's in my arms that really prohibit my mobility right now. I can't even get up to go to the bathroom to brush my teeth/wash my face without having a nurse help me. I also have a catheter in as the medication I am on for pain has severely slowed down my ability to have a proper bowel movement/pee. As of right now as well, I can't even have solid foods and am only permitted to have clear non-fat liquids. This was only after not have anything by mouth (not even medication) for 4 days.

I am seriously trying the best I can to maintain hope I will leave soon, but at the time of writing this there is still no definitive date on when that is.

My family is visiting me when they can, and so are my friends and partner which has really helped me not go insane while being here and I really appreciate them for that. I know it's rough taking time out of a busy schedule to commute to Atlanta to see a sick man in a hospital, but I am very grateful for every moment they spend with me while I am here.

With luck I might be discharged with the chest tube and catheter bag this week sometime, but I may have to undergo another surgery to stop the chyle leak... at the very least, I will be undergoing another procedure which may or may not stop it that requires incisions and surgical ducts closed up through another catheter tube put in my chest. Time will tell and I will know more tomorrow as to how my doctors want to proceed, but right now I am still honestly in the dark.

As far as how I am recovering, everything else has really been fine except for this chyle leak which I have no control over. I have pushed through the pain for walking and getting exercise in here and have even stopped my pain pump today, going back on oral pain pills without having a solids diet yet. I just have to hope and pray that my body responds well to the liquid diet and any other treatment my doctors want to try so I can finally go home.

These medical challenges have drained me physically, emotionally, and financially. I’ve used up all of my sick and vacation time and have been without pay during this hospital stay as I don't qualify for temporary disability for this because I didn't click the box on insurance sign-ups last year. I can see how this is my fault, but who would have ever thought you would be in a hospital for 10 days? You live and learn I suppose, and I fear that I may just fall victim to the capitalistic system that I was born into.

With rent coming up, medical bills and future dr's visits happening when I do finally leave, and other expenses coming, I'm reaching out for any support and help that anybody reading my plea and struggles can offer me. I have a small emergency fund that was reserved for Christmas this year which I can dip into, and I have requested a $400 loan from my job but it will not be close to enough right now for anything aside from my rent. My credit cards are almost maxed out as they have been during these hellish 4 months, and I went through the little normal savings I have. My girlfriend works but only part time and her income does not even come close to mine as I am the primary breadwinner. Additionally, most of her check had to be used on groceries and pet supplies and medical bills for her and I so it is pretty much gone now.

I am aiming to try and raise $1500 to give me a little bit of peace of mind right now. I am not sure how close to this I am going to get and this is a last resort, but I am pretty much out of options at this point. Every contribution will help me out and relieve this financial burden I have after being out of work for this long. It will also help me recover without having to worry about the stress of if I will make rent or not when I am finally out of here.

Even if you can't donate to me, just reading this and sharing it will help me out more than you know. I appreciate everyone taking the time to even do that more than I can put into words right now.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for any support you can offer during this struggle and journey I am battling.

11/19 update:

wow, I really did not expect people to come together for my cause like they have and I sincerely appreciate everybody who has donated anything at all or just has taken time out of their day to read even a few paragraphs of this and share it to where you are at in the world with others.

I have some positive news… as of right now I have a procedure that will be done in a couple of hours (it is noon) that may let me leave by Friday and close up this leak that is coming out of me. I have not been the most spiritual person, but I am praying to those higher powers outside of my control that it works out so I can go home and see my cats and my family and heal at home again. Again, thank all of you for reading my struggle right now and I appreciate everything anyone does whether it’s a donation or even just reading a few words. It means so much more than I can put into words and I am tearing up with how kind people have been to me in this dark time.

thank you,

nick