Lydia’s road to receiving hope at John Hopkins

Hi my name is Debbie and I’m Lydia’s mom. As most of you are aware she has had a tough go at life this past 5 years or so with her health. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor Christmas of 2016. Thankfully it was small and slow growing well fast forward to Thanksgiving 2020 what way to celebrate the holidays. And she has been in the hospital for over 2 weeks with test after test. Her pain has become relentless at this point. The drs know something has changed. Come to find out her tumor has more than doubled in size and is now causing a host of new symptoms one of which is high inter cranial pressure. Since Nov 2020 she has to have lumbar punctures about every 4 months. They keep checking how high the pressure is going while at same time adjusting her meds that are trying to keep the pressure down enough so she can get thru life. But the pressure is still so high the pain is unbearable for her. Doctors have said unfortunately her tumor is inoperable. And due to complications from the tumor, placing a VP shunt is very risky. So she has been praying for a miracle to get her life back and her team of doctors have suggested that she be seen by some world renowned neurosurgery doctors out at John Hopkins in Maryland. So about 6 months ago the ball got rolling and tons of medical records sent with the hopes of them accepting her. And this week she got the amazing news that she will be seen for 8 tests/dr appts all the week of April 4th. As exciting as this is for her. It will also be extremely expensive for her and Jeff. The cost of airfare, hotel, rental car, food and they have a $7000 deductible that will have to be paid for all her care. So I’m hoping that if anyone can spare even $10 it will be a start to getting her on her way to recovery.