Our daughter Jessica Farrell, 46, has worked since she was 14 years old. She started out working in clothing retail, stocking merchandise, worked continuously throughout her college days while earning her a master’s degree in education. Being a teacher was her lifelong dream since she was old enough to read.

She has been going through an extreme number of medical issues over the past couple of years. It began when she had a compressed vertebrae that she struggled with for five months before having surgery in 2023, During this time she continued to work as a virtual teacher and lost that position, along with over 80 employees due to the school district’s misappropriation of millions of dollars of school funds. she has had multiple seizures and was diagnosed with epilepsy, in July of 2024 she broke a toe that led to two pulmonary embolisms and was extremely close to losing her life and was in intensive care for two weeks, In August 2024 she fell while at school on an over waxed floor breaking both legs right below the knees at the same time. After months of dealing with healthcare and workman’s comp issues, finally had one leg operated on in December of 2024 and struggled through physical therapy though the end of May of this year. She was unable to return to the extreme physical work required in a classroom environment. Her teaching contract was not renewed, and her contract was not paid out to her fully. Just recently she finally healed enough and she wanted and needed to try to go back to work and was offered a position in the banking field, giving up her dream of teaching.

The week before she was to start her new position, she was scheduled to go into a Neurological Research Unit to have a brain study procedure for a five-day period where she was sleep deprived and awoken with flashing strobe lights to create seizures to see where in her brain the seizures were stemming from. One seizure lasting over 40 minutes. On the last evening that she was in the study she had a seizure and fell off the bed onto the concrete floor and another patient on the unit found her unconscious and she was resuscitated. She complained of severe back pain to the doctor and nurses on staff and they said it was most likely due to her muscles tensing up during the induced seizures and would most likely feel better within a week. After a week of being in such a state of constant pain (level 8 nonstop) her husband took her to the emergency room where they performed back x-rays and discovered what they thought were four compressed vertebrae. The neurosurgeon on staff ordered a MRI and a MRI with contrast and discovered she currently has nine compressed vertebrae which need surgery as soon as possible. She also has a torn carotid artery that is being monitored. Unfortunately, they can only perform Kyphoplasty on three vertebrae at a time. This alone will be a yearlong process. She is most likely going to be permanently disabled. Her poor little body has been in a constant cycle of unbearable pain for over three years. In the meantime, she has been diagnosed with severe advanced osteoporosis. Since she has been in a teaching position most of her adult life, she is ineligible to qualify for any disability income and what little savings she has invested in the teacher’s retirement plan, she cannot access until she is 62. We have exhausted all resources trying to locate any funding programs that she may have access to, to no avail. Her husband Jeff has been working six days a week, taking over all household chores, grocery shopping, laundry, dinners, etc to the point he was hospitalized from imbalanced electrolytes and complete exhaustion. Jessica and her husband are struggling financially with only one income and have always been a two-income family. They do not live above their means in any way, she still has a massive student loan to pay off (started out as $32,000 and due to compounding interest over the years and is well over $100,000) and own a two-bedroom condo that they are in fear of losing. After refinancing their home last year in order to keep up financially, exhausting their savings over the past year and withdrawing from Jeff’s retirement fund they are at the end of their finances. They would never ask for help themselves so that is why we are doing it for them. They are hardworking individuals. They would very much appreciate any monetary contribution you might be able to make, or if you feel more comfortable donating Kroger or gas cards it would be very much appreciated. Please keep this family in your prayers. She had her first surgery on September 23rd and is still in extreme pain. She's a fighter and is hoping to return to work in a remote position after recovery if possible. If you have any advice or information regarding remote employment or assistance of any kind, this will be a huge help. Thank you for any donations you can offer and God Bless.