My daughter Kayleen has to have her second brain surgery on November 11. She only has 2.5 weeks of PTO left at work and will be out of work for 8-10 weeks.

She has a big family, including 7 kids and 1 grandson, so the finances are going to be stretched way too thin. Any amount you could help with would be so appreciated. Thank you so much for caring!

From her husband, Bryon:

February, 2023, it started with headaches. Headaches that rapidly escalated into migraines. And these too, were escalating. More intense, more frequent, longer lasting.

We tried regular pain relievers for a while, headache medication, migraine medication. They never really did a whole lot and it wasn't long before they weren't doing anything at all. Even as my wife's PCP continued to insist that it had to be Primary Migraine Syndrome. She ended up in the emergency room. Tests were run, an MRI was taken. They didn't see anything. A couple of day later, we received my wife's after-visit report from the ER, confirming that their tests had been negative. But there was one little notation buried in the report that caught our attention. It said: "There is a cerebellar tonsillar ectopia of approximately 7mm. The cerebellar tonsils appear band-shaped. Findings consistent with Chiari Malformation Type 1." An "incidental finding" that the emergency room doctors apparently didn't feel was relevant to her symptoms.

But it caught my wife's eye, and she did some investigating. We requested and received a referral to neurosurgery at the University of Iowa, and after more tests, and referrals to different departments to rule out other possible causes, and many more months of pain, we finally arrived at the conclusion that the Chiari was the source of her symptoms, and it would require surgery to correct. I remember sitting there with my wife the day we agreed to the surgery. The surgeon couldn't guarantee us that it would fix everything. But I remember him firmly saying "this will help."

Basically, what happens is that the flow of cerebral spinal fluid between the skull and spinal canal gets constricted. This builds up pressure inside the skull, compressing glands and parts of the cerebellum and brain stem, and pulling those sections of the brain down into the spinal canal, like getting sucked into a straw. Which creates the little tonsil-like protrusions out of the base of the skull. All of this causes migraines, hormonal problems, neurological issues like brain fog, impaired memory, impaired ability to communicate and find words, impaired mental processing, and a host of other physical and neurological problems. By the time we reached the day of surgery, my wife's severe migraines were virtually non-stop, and the impact of the condition on her ability to think, speak, and process information was crushing her. The effects on our kids and our marriage were dragging us all down. I'd never felt so helpless in my life.

August 2024. A year and 6 months after the symptoms started, she had the decompression surgery. They went into the back of her neck and head, and removed a section of bone to open up the channel again. The surgeon told us that the surgery went pretty much perfectly, and that he was really happy with the restored CSF flow that he had seen. When my wife woke up form recovery that afternoon, the pain was gone. Her head was clear. The relief was indescribable.

She was off work for nearly two months; I missed more than a week. Fortunately, we had a decent amount of PTO to use to cover the gap.

But it wasn't over. 3 months later, the migraines came back. Adhesions had formed in her brain from all of the pressure, so that when the areas that had been compressed expanded back out to their natural size, the adhesions prevented them from returning to their natural position, pinching off the flow once again and starting the pressure building back up. Only this time, the build-up has been faster, and the symptoms more extreme. Another surgery is necessary, to go in and remove the adhesions. We can't put it off. As bad as things got before the last surgery, this time it's far worse. The surgeon is confident though, he even said he was excited for the procedure and the improvement he believes it will bring.

Her pre-op appointment is this coming Tuesday, 10/28. The surgery is scheduled for 11/11. But this time, there is no PTO stockpile to fall back on. The surgeon expects another two-month recovery. Living paycheck to paycheck like so many families do, we simply do not have the resources to cover a gap that large. Especially not through the holidays.

I'm asking for anyone who is willing and able to help us, to please support this GoFundMe with whatever you can spare to help our family through this incredibly challenging time. Thank you for your time and your generous support. God Bless.