Hello, thank you for reading. My name is Monika, and I am a single mom to an amazing 5 year old son.

When I was 12 years old, I noticed that I had an abnormal amount of pain doing my daily tasks. When I would sit in class, my legs would go numb. I had constant headaches and pain that felt like sharp knives going up and down my back and left leg. It slowly grew to my left arm and into my head. By the time I was 16, this had turned into a daily thing. Nothing would help this pain. I would stretch, I would rest, I would try to strengthen my muscles to support myself better. My overall health would get better, but my pain would stay the same.

I was prescribed medications, radiation, therapies, and different trials to try and find an answer to relieving my life from this constant pain. Some things worked but most were addictive and life effecting medications. I was prescribed Oxycontin and Morphine to be able to continue living a life of a normal 20 year old girl. This helped me be able to go to Canada Wonderland with my friends and spend a day on the beach without being in crippling pain. Little did I know the truly terrifying effects these medications had on me. Running out of these medications resulted in me being hospitalized many times. Having a beer could have 0 impact or could have me feeling completely intoxicated. One second, I would feel fine and the next I would feel high. I lived in a life of constant blur, numb to true feelings of how things affected me.

Going off these mediations wasn’t possible for me though. I didn’t have the strength to detox myself. The pain I knew I was going to have to endure to get off these medications and the physical pain I was going to be back in was too scary for me to ever attempt it. So, for years my doctor assisted me in staying on these medications so I could live not in constant pain.

When I found out I was pregnant with my son I decided to detox myself off everything. I went cold turkey, and I didn’t take a single medication my whole pregnancy. It was some of the hardest days of my life, but it showed me that I could live without these medications. I knew I didn’t want to be the kind of person I was on these medications as a mother and so I started reaching out to specialist and pain clinics to find another route to fixing my pain ONCE AGAIN!

I have seen more doctors than I can count… been put on more medications than I can remember and tried all I could to finding an answer to my pain. I have finally been told of a new treatment that sadly is not covered by OHIP but its highly successful in treatment of more then one of my issues. This treatment might not only give me a chance to play soccer with my son again and sitting and watching a movie without almost being in tears due to discomfort. It would result in me no longer needing to take the handful of medications I still do take, just to physically be able to do my daily tasks in life.

I have worked for everything I have in life. I believe that hard work and dedication is the only way to success. Sadly, I can’t keep fighting this battle. I have given up and this is my last chance to a future where I could potentially not wake up every morning in pain. I ask that if you have any money to spare that you help me on this adventure to trying to live a pain free life. I have lost a lot due to my pain; I refuse to miss out on my son’s childhood. This new treatment could not only give me my life back, but it would also give my son his mother back.