Help the Byrds Fight a Brain Tumor!

I have been a teacher for the past 12 years, teaching more than 1,000 students from 7th-12th grade and I have loved every minute of it.

However, after a very bad bout with Covid in October of 2000, my whole life has changed. I came from a girl who backpacked the entire state of Oregon with the love of her life to a woman who couldn't even lift her head from sheer exhaustion and pain. I have spent the past year and a half with countless debilitating ailments that no doctor could explain which lead me unable to work, sleep, or enjoy most things. After a brain MRI, a large tumor in the middle of my brain showed my worst fears were true; this tumor had been growing without my knowledge, causing almost catastrophic symptoms to my whole body.

Due to its location, it is a complicated tumor to remove. After consulting with several neurosurgeons, I found one in Milwaukee that specializes in this type of tumor. Now that my surgery has been set, now my fear of being able to afford this procedure is real. I am scrambling to find out how to pay for this incredibly expensive, very complex surgery. I will have to be out in Milwaukee for a while, as I have to heal before being cleared to fly back home due to cabin pressure and being severely immunosuppressed. I have no idea how to figure out how to pay for plane tickets, housing, and other surgical necessities and these decisions are causing a lot of stress and anxiety, which makes a lot of my physical symptoms more severe. As much as I hate to ever ask for help, I have learned over the years that it sometimes takes a community to help raise someone back up. I want nothing more than to be able to go back to teaching in the fall after not being able to work since November and to be able to be the best mom I can be to my wonderful two boys. They deserve to have their mom again, not just a shell of a person I once was.

Thank you for all your prayers and support. I appreciate each and every one of you.