Marcy Leaming's Trigeminal Neuralgia Journey

My name is Laura and I am raising money to help my dear friend Marcy Leaming as she struggles to make a new life as a Trigeminal Neuralgia Warrior. Marcy was a teacher for more than 23 years. She was a devoted educator who worked as a student yearbook coordinator and ran the summer school safety program for new kindergartners. She reached out with love to every one of the hundreds of students in her care during her tenure as a teacher.

In 2016, Marcy was diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia, a chronic pain condition affecting the trigeminal nerve in the face. The pain from this rare condition would jolt through Marcy's face, making it difficult to speak, eat, or even smile. In spite of this diagnosis, Marcy continued to teach through the pain. She waded through the many pain triggers that exist in a school building. The noise level, the smells, the florescent lights, the sudden changes in temperature all contributed to a difficult environment in which to teach her students. But still, she persevered. For nearly eight years she continued to work through the pain.

And then everything changed. In 2023 Marcy was connected with a doctor in California who might be able to help. She underwent brain surgery to attempt to reduce the pain from the trigeminal nerve that had plagued her for so long. This procedure helped for a time, but it was a treatment rather than a cure. More procedures would be needed to minimize the constant pain that Marcy suffered.

In August of 2023 Marcy went to Johns Hopkins for a rhizotomy, which left her in extreme daily pain that is worse than her original condition ever was. Sadly, Marcy's teaching career came to a sudden halt on the first day of the 2023-2024 school year. She intended to start the year and continue to struggle through the pain, but one look at her on that day told everyone who saw her that the pain was too much to bear. Marcy was admitted to Johns Hopkins later that week, and was forced to admit that her teaching career was too much to suffer through the pain of her condition. Marcy medically retired from teaching on December 1st, 2023, just one and a half years shy of her full retirement benefit.

Unfortunately, medical retirement has not been an easy process. The state has not yet approved Marcy's retirement. As she wades through the bureaucracy of the retirement process, she is without the income that helped to support her family. She must pay more than $3700 per month for Cobra benefits so that she can continue her medical treatment and repeated hospital stays. She is now facing the necessity of liquidating her assets in order to continue to pay for her healthcare until her retirement is approved.

Marcy has always been, and continues to be, one of the most generous people I have ever known. There is nothing that she would not do to help the people she loves. I am asking now that we pull together to help Marcy through this difficult struggle. She is a warrior, but she does not need to do it alone.