Hello, my name is Taya and I am Peyton’s older sister. A couple weeks ago, Peyton started getting insane migraines. Of course we chalked it up to him getting concussed or having whiplash, as he had just went to the WEM Waterpark with friends for their birthday and he had a lot of time on the slides.

After a week or so of debilitating migraines, absolutely no appetite or energy, and the inability to take any painkillers (they were making him vomit), I had finally convinced him to go to a walk-in clinic. After the visit he explained to me that he felt as if the doctor that we went to did NOT understand how bad his migraines actually were, and that she was brushing him off. After asking a few questions she told him to get bloodwork and gave a prescription for some anti-nausea medication.

The meds helped him with the vomiting, but he had noticed that his vision started to go out around this time. He described is as if he was wearing three pairs of sunglasses, with none of them being the right prescription.

We looked at the side effects of the medication she had given him, and blurred vision and a brown-ish tint to your vision were COMMON side effects. It’s a medication often given to chemo patients, and those weren’t even the most concerning ones listed. Of course, he didn’t like not being able to see, but the signs were pointing to it being a symptom of the intense medication. So I suggested stopping the medication and waiting for a change in his vision. If his vision hadn’t returned in two days I would be taking him to the ER.

As luck would have it, after two days his vision had only gotten worse. After waiting in the ER for over 6 hours he was finally seen by a doctor, who checked his pupils and ordered a CT scan.

When it came back he was diagnosed with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension. A condition that occurs when the cerebrospinal fluid around your nervous system builds up more than its limit and puts pressure on your brain, spine, and optic nerve. That caused the migraines, vertigo, vomiting, neck pain, and the later vision loss. This could happen to anyone, and there is no reason why it happened to Peyton nor a way we could have predicted it would be more dangerous than a concussion and the medication’s side effects.

Once they knew it was CSF buildup he was ordered an immediate lumbar puncture to remove the excess fluid. He said it was one of the hardest things he’s had to do. After the lumbar puncture was performed, most of Peyton’s symptoms went away quickly and he was told to stay overnight to see improvement on his vision.

The vision loss did not improve.

The next morning he saw doctors specialized in neurology and eye care, and took over two dozen eye tests. They said the fluid pressure behind his eyes is still high after the lumbar. It can happen with this condition, as the eyes have the smallest connection to the rest of the system, and it sometimes doesnt follow the rest of the pressure evening out. But the problem with this is his eye nerves are suffocated to near-death because of the high pressure and they’re not sure the damage is reversible. The choices are surgery to drain them directly or medication, both of which have their own drawbacks and risks. Any treatment could improve his eyesight a little, but they’re sure he will definitely be mostly blind for the rest of his life.

All of this comes just two months after our mom passed away from cervical cancer, something that totally flipped our lives upside down. We haven’t had time to adjust to this new way of living without our mom and now we need to adjust to hospitalization, intense testing and treatment, and his reality of permanent vision loss.

Because of this, I have taken time off of work, spent countless dollars on Ubers and hospital food almost every night, and now we will have to spend even more money on a variety of mobility aids, accessibility needs, and maybe even lawyers. This would be on top of our usual bills that we can’t afford until his EI application goes through in a couple weeks.

Any amount you can spare would be greatly appreciated and we are immensely grateful to those who have already went out of their way to bring us dinner, food and drinks, stay with Peyton overnight when I am unable to, and take care of our animals while we have been away. This has been a whirlwind but its been a little easier with everyone’s help.

Please private message me for E-Transfer details as well.