Hello!

This is Regina, you may know them from any number of places as they are an incredibly strong, talented, kind and caring person who has touched the lives of so many. To name but a few, you may have run into them vending their hand-made chain-mail jewelry at craft fairs, taking a dance class, engaging in disability rights organizing or at a queer social event. Regina has touched the lives of everyone in their community and made the world better around them by their efforts and simply by being in it.

What many may not have seen was the countless hours in Dr.'s appointments, sleepless nights researching treatment options, thousands spent in medical bills, tears shed over treatments that did not give the relief they were supposed to, or nights awake simply because they are in too much pain to go to sleep. Regina has shown up for their community time and time again despite chronic pain, regular headaches, chronic fatigue, dizziness, coordination troubles, nerve pain, inflammation and too many other symptoms to count. And they all have only been getting worse with time.

After years of searching for treatment Regina learned that their intracranial pressure is too high due to their brain being too big for their skull (likely since birth), leading to their cerebral spinal fluid not circulating well and many other issues due to the extensive and prolonged pressure on their brain. Their doctors believe this is ultimately causing a lot of their symptoms. The only real treatment plan is to undergo major brain surgery, which is a very expensive process and with a long recovery time and major potential complications.

They have done so much for our community and we are asking that people do what they can to help out as we prepare for this long and scary road ahead. Anything you can do is appreciated and does truly make a difference. Thank you all so much for taking the time to read and for anything that you are able to give.