Marrett's Spinal Surgery
Donation protected
Hi everyone!
As many of you are already aware, Marrett has had some back problems for a long time now – especially in the last few months. Here’s the whole scoop: when she was in middle school she used to figure skate. She loved it, but man was it hard on her body… Over time she managed to hyper-extend ligaments in her jaw and fractured one of her lumbar vertebrae. She had a pretty gnarly jaw surgery in high school, but was able to avoid back surgery until now.
You might be asking, “what changed?” Well, when she broke the vertebra, she broke the two small connections between the body of the bone and the ring that goes around her spinal cord. As a result, basically the only thing holding her spine to her tail bone is the disc between the vertebrae. While that disc is very sturdy, impact sports over the years and lots of sitting in grad school have put it under a ton of stress and now it’s very irritated and unhappy.
So… on December 6th, she's having surgery to get it fixed. Yay!
But we have to be honest, it’s going to be rough. It's a pretty invasive surgery. She'll have a vascular surgeon move organs out of the way so that a spinal surgeon can take out the affected tissue, implant graft and a metal cage to fuse the vertebrae, and then flip her over and screw the broken pieces together through her back. It’s nuts! Here’s a video that gives a great explanation of the surgery if you’re interested:

So why are we telling you this?
It’s all going to be very expensive, even with insurance. She'll be unable to bend, twist or lift for three months and by the time she's able to start physical therapy it’ll be January and that means it’ll be out of pocket. We’re looking at upwards of $4,000 in bills by the time it's all said and done. For a young couple already staring down tens of thousands in student debt, it's stressful to say the least.
We just feel so weird asking for your help. Mostly because we think that there are so many other important things to donate to. However, it would be a lie to say it wouldn't help a tremendous amount. Focusing on recovery instead of dollar signs would be an incredible gift.
So if you feel so inclined, send whatever you feel. Just know that we are already so thankful for all the support and encouragement we’ve received thus far.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
-Brad & Marrett
As many of you are already aware, Marrett has had some back problems for a long time now – especially in the last few months. Here’s the whole scoop: when she was in middle school she used to figure skate. She loved it, but man was it hard on her body… Over time she managed to hyper-extend ligaments in her jaw and fractured one of her lumbar vertebrae. She had a pretty gnarly jaw surgery in high school, but was able to avoid back surgery until now.
You might be asking, “what changed?” Well, when she broke the vertebra, she broke the two small connections between the body of the bone and the ring that goes around her spinal cord. As a result, basically the only thing holding her spine to her tail bone is the disc between the vertebrae. While that disc is very sturdy, impact sports over the years and lots of sitting in grad school have put it under a ton of stress and now it’s very irritated and unhappy.
So… on December 6th, she's having surgery to get it fixed. Yay!
But we have to be honest, it’s going to be rough. It's a pretty invasive surgery. She'll have a vascular surgeon move organs out of the way so that a spinal surgeon can take out the affected tissue, implant graft and a metal cage to fuse the vertebrae, and then flip her over and screw the broken pieces together through her back. It’s nuts! Here’s a video that gives a great explanation of the surgery if you’re interested:
So why are we telling you this?
It’s all going to be very expensive, even with insurance. She'll be unable to bend, twist or lift for three months and by the time she's able to start physical therapy it’ll be January and that means it’ll be out of pocket. We’re looking at upwards of $4,000 in bills by the time it's all said and done. For a young couple already staring down tens of thousands in student debt, it's stressful to say the least.
We just feel so weird asking for your help. Mostly because we think that there are so many other important things to donate to. However, it would be a lie to say it wouldn't help a tremendous amount. Focusing on recovery instead of dollar signs would be an incredible gift.
So if you feel so inclined, send whatever you feel. Just know that we are already so thankful for all the support and encouragement we’ve received thus far.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
-Brad & Marrett
Organizer
Brad Frenette
Organizer
Oklahoma City, OK