Kasheem Clifton Medical Bills and Expenses

Hi, my name is Kasheem Clifton and I am fundraising to help pay for medical bills after what I thought was going to be a quick visit to urgent care for a headache on turned into emergency brain surgery and the longest 5 months of my life.

On August 4, 2022, after returning home from dinner I developed what I thought was nothing more than a bad migraine headache, so I took some Ibuprofen and went to sleep thinking that it would be gone in the morning despite my girlfriend urging me to seek medical attention. The next day, after the headache persisted, she was able to convince me to go to urgent care at around 6pm. After explaining my symptoms to the urgent care doctor she recommended that I go to the hospital and have a CT scan because she believed that I was suffering from more than a migraine. After receiving a CT scan doctors discovered that I was suffering from a brain bleed caused by a ruptured AVM (Arteriovenous malformation) and I was immediately rushed to Cedars Sinai hospital where I underwent multiple emergency brain surgeries to stop the bleed and ultimately save my life.

After being intubated and placed in an induced coma for 21 days where I managed to develop pneumonia in one of my lungs, I was awakened and shocked to realize that I had 49 staples in my head and 18 staples in my stomach from where surgeons had to take the right side of my skull and place it into my abdomen until it could be replaced 3-6 months later, but I was lucky and beyond happy that I was still alive.

After fighting off pneumonia and hallucinations from the various medications I had been given I realized that I couldn't use the left side of my body at all and had to be transferred to california rehabilitation institute where I would have to learn to walk, tie my shoes, brush my teeth, talk, swallow, and do all the small things that we take for granted all over again, but I was determined to make a 100% recovery.

After a few weeks of Physical, occupational, and speech therapy I progressed enough to finally be released to go home, but therapists would still come to my house to continue to help with my recovery.

After following up with my surgeon 2 months later we were able to set a date of November 28th for my final surgery where he would remove my skull flap from my abdomen and put it back over the right side of my brain where it belonged.

After the final surgery on November 28th I was out of the hospital and recovering at home within 3 days, but I had to go back on December 7th for a few days after suffering from seizures which are a known side effect of brain surgery.

Now I'm happy to be able to say that this has honestly been a life-changing and humbling experience. Now that it's mostly behind me I'll never be able to look at life the same or take it for granted. Make every day count because it can change in the blink of an eye!

Thankfully I had insurance which helped to pay for a large amount of the expenses, but not the entire balance. So I ask you, even if you're unable to donate anything, please share this to your friend groups, your facebook, your twitter, your instagram, or whatever social media accounts that you may have. But most importantly, I ask that you LISTEN TO YOUR BODY and seek medical attention at the first sign that something may be wrong! Being stubborn almost cost me my life and I hope that no one ever has to experience what I went through. I now understand the saying "health is wealth" and I'll never gamble my wealth away, and I hope you all feel the same way. Thank you all and GOD bless!