Neurological Surgical Bills

Hello all. My name is Alyssa Brady and I am 22 years old. I don’t usually ask for help, nor do I like to, so this is a very difficult thing for me to do. Because of my health issues, I’ve been backed into a corner and am now asking for any help I can get. Please take the time to read my story, as there is a lot to it.

 

In 2012, I was suffering from migraines and was constantly in and out of the emergency room. I underwent brain surgery for an arachnoid cyst in December of 2012. I was only 13 at the time.

 

The surgeon, recommended to us by one of my trusted doctors, scheduled the surgery and explained to us that it should only take an hour and a half, with a pretty fast recovery. However, that was not the case. The surgery lasted over 5 hours and I was in the hospital for over 2 weeks. I was then transferred to RWJ Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital, where I spent months. I was unable to communicate through speech and was only limited to being able to move my head.

 

During this time, my parents and grandparents took the time to make sure I was not alone in the hospital. Bills piled up and my parents spent every penny they could find to pay them. To this day, my parents are still paying off cards that were used to cover treatment over 9 years ago.

 

Though I did receive the surgery that was deemed necessary, my headaches continued. I had memory loss so bad that I could not even remember my parents. Again, we were taking trips to and from the hospital to contain the headaches.

 

At 15, life was too difficult and depression quickly crept up. I attempted suicide. The large amounts of Klonopin I was taking, due to tremors caused by surgery, were found to be one factor of the depression, but not the only one.

 

Sadly, the cyst was back in January of 2019. Of course, this was devastating for me and my family and friends who have had to witness the hardships that I faced for the years prior.

 

I was 18 at the time, so my mom and I decided to look for a different surgeon. We leafed through medical paperwork, MRI reports, and everything in between. It seemed that in 2014 the cyst had come back, but was never reported to us. This, again, was a devastating discovery.

 

My second surgery came about in December of 2021. We traveled to the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where the surgery only took about an hour and a half. Amazingly, I was home the next day. However, we were informed that the cyst would be recurring, and the headaches might never go away. The new surgeon determined it was a Rathke’s Epidermoid Cyst.

 

We are overwhelmed with medical bills today, and I am reaching out for help. We have maxed out credit cards, stretched ourselves extremely thin with the rest of our bills, and are struggling with the necessities in our lives. We have set up monthly payments with the hospital, but again, we have found ourselves gasping for a breath of air.

 

During this time, my headaches have become worse and more frequent. The cyst will undoubtedly return. I have hope, though, that I can and will persevere through this situation.

I am seeking assistance for my bills accrued since the age of 18. My parents, in debt, are working extra to try to even make a dent in the bills from before 2019.

Any help would be appreciated. If you can, please share or donate.

 

Thank you,

 

Alyssa Brady