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Sammie's Migraine Surgery Fund!

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My name is Samantha Virella and I suffer from a chronic illness, refractory migraines. Since I was 5 years old I have had them, and within the last 10 years they have become a constant burden in my life. I have a migraine 24/7/365 with my pain at an average of 8.5 out of 10 daily. I currently can't hold a job, because most days my pain is so horrible I can’t even do basic things. I hate this, I love to work and wish I could. When I was 5 the migraines would only be once or twice a year. I was always such a silly hyper kid, but over the years the pain has taken that silliness away from me. Then as I got older and more into sports the amount of concussions worsened the progression of them. At 14 years old I was a varsity water polo goalie who had a headache everyday, and migraines more than 15 days out of each month. At 16 the migraines became daily and since then the pain has only gotten worse. Everyday I wake up and go to sleep in pain with symptoms ranging from dizziness, nausea, vertigo, loss of sight, blurriness, vomiting, fatigue, body pain and much more. My one reprieve would be my love of books. I have been reading nonstop since my mom first introduced me to the magical world of Harry Potter, it was like fire to a wick after that, I couldn’t put books down! But now sadly I can barley read a whole page let alone a whole book with how my pain has been. Hundreds of doctors have seen me over the last 20 years of my illness, some of which have even said there is nothing more they can do to me, and nothing has been getting better or I haven’t had hope until now. Recently I have been going to a pain doctor in Chicago and receiving nerve blocks in my C2 vertebrae/occipital nerve. After the series of blocks my doctor wants to do a nerve ablation and following that I will have a decompression surgery. It's a surgery that cleans up some of the muscles in the back of my head to relieve the pressure from my nerves. I have been denied by my insurance since it is classified as an experimental surgery. The reasoning is because they found out about it while doing a face lift on a patients, whom after receiving the face lift had a decrease in migraines. In no way is this cosmetic, this surgery would most likely help me function everyday. The money will be going to two surgeries and any other medical expenses attached to the surgeries. More importantly it would give me my life back. I am asking for help. Please if you could donate any amount at all I would be eternally thankful, I just want to live my life again. Thank you, Sammie V
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Donations 

  • Caryn Weiner and Howard Ellman
    • $200 
    • 6 yrs
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Organizer

Sammie Virella
Organizer
Aurora, IL

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