My name is Crystal Forsythe. I'm trying to start a gofundme for my coworker and son. They could use all the help anyone can give. Here is some of their story. On December 30, I was at work and had tried to text and call my son Reed several times with no answer. I had a really unsettling feeling but brushed it off as him just being busy at work. That afternoon I received a phone call saying that something had happened to him. He was at work and his coworkers noticed he wasn’t acting right. He could barely stand up, he had slurred speech, weakness and extreme confusion. No one knew for sure but they at first thought he had taken something. I told his best friend to call an ambulance and to keep talking to him and don’t let him fall asleep. He placed the phone up to Reed’s ear and I tried to ask what was going on but he couldn’t tell me. He could barely speak. I prayed over him and told him to hang on that I was on my way. The paramedics arrived got him loaded into the ambulance and on the way to Tennova hospital in Clarksville where he has lived for the past 5 years. I left work in Trenton and raced to Clarksville trying to stay calm and keep it between the lines. It was the longest 2 1/2 hours trying to get to my boy. His friend had gone to the ER and was waiting for me. He told me all he knew and we began the long process of waiting for test results. At this point, Reed still had severe cognitive impairment and couldn’t keep his eyes open. The waiting room was standing room only and had spilled over into the hospital foyer. They were overrun and didn’t have enough beds or rooms for the insane number of patients. We eventually got moved to a gurney and a chair in the ER hallway where we would spend the next 38 hours trying to make sense of the stroke like symptoms Reed was experiencing. They ran test after test, drug screen, labs, ct scan, EEG, MRI, etc. After 38 hours, we left with a prescription for seizure meds, a referral to Vanderbilt Neurology for the middle of March and a copy of confusing EEG and MRI results with very few answers. Reed slept for the next 24 plus hours and seemed a little more coherent when he woke up but still way off his baseline. I brought him back with me to Union City so I could keep an eye on him. He couldn’t be left alone for very long and was told he can’t work or drive until he had been seizure free for six months.

He started the new medication prescribed at the ER and it seemed like it was helping a little so I went to work on January 2. I couldn’t get him on the phone that afternoon so I left work early to check on him. When I got home, he was in the middle of another stroke like episode same as before. I sat up and watched him sleep to make sure he was okay. After a few hours, I made the decision to take him to Vanderbilt ER where I believed we could get answers. The ER there was overrun just like at Tennova. They wouldn’t let me go back with him for around 4-5 hours until they had space. We were there for 19 hours and still had no concrete answers but we did have a referral to get in for MRI and see a Neurologist ASAP

We saw the Neurologist the following week who told us bluntly that Reed has a brain tumor in the left frontal lobe. It’s called a low grade glioma. He also said the amount of stress Reed has dealt with due to process of going through a divorce over the past few months has lowered his seizure threshold allowing these unusual stroke like seizures to break through lasting 24 plus hours each time. The doctor said it’s a long lasting post-ictal response. Vanderbilt called on Wednesday and wanted Reed to see Neuro Oncology two days later. We had no idea what we were facing. Our stress levels have been through the roof just waiting for answers.

We saw the doctor who turned out to be the Chief of Neuro Oncology at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. He confirmed the diagnosis of a grade one glioma. He said it’s slow growing and doesn’t seem aggressive. It’s fairly large but they only want to do surgery as a last resort. There are a lot of risks with that surgery and the location and what it controls.

They are taking a wait and watch approach and rescanning his brain on April 16. They don’t know 100% that it’s not cancer but they seem to think it may be benign since it doesn’t appear aggressive. They said the only way to know for sure is to do a biopsy and they just want to hold off on any type of surgery. If there are changes on the next MRI they will take a different approach.

We are mentally and physically exhausted but we are so thankful for the hope we were given. Reed has recently started to work on light duty only. He was able to get an emergency transfer back to the location he started at 7 years ago.

After his insurance was terminated, we racked up thousands of dollars of medical bills for ER visits, MRIs, labs and doctor visits.

I’ve been paying his bills along with my own so that he doesn’t fall behind. He is locked into an apartment lease through May which is $1,100 per month. We had hoped for some grace on that lease but they don’t let anyone out of a lease for any reason. We have spoken with them several times to no avail.

We loosely have a plan and kind of know where we stand at least for the moment. Our next step is getting his apartment moved home to my house. There are a lot of issues to be worked out but we do have HOPE!!! Thank the Lord!!! We have seen the hand of the Lord in all of this and we believe that he will carry us through