Sian's Spine & Spinal Cord Surgery

I’m writing this in hopes of supporting my wife of 20 years, Sian O’Sullivan Bailey, through her upcoming spinal cord operation: lumbar laminectomy L5-S1 and filum terminale resection. The neurosurgeon thinks this will giver her an excellent outcome – within 6 months, she should begin to regain a lot of feeling and function in her extremities and lower body. Regular daily functions like sleeping and going to the bathroom should begin to normalize and her field of vision and headaches should improve. But insurance won’t cover all of Sian’s health expenses involved with this neurosurgery, so I'm asking for your help to reach our goal of $ 2,700. Sian’s routine healthcare already consumes over 60% of her disability income and previous neurosurgeries have wiped us out financially. Sian used to be an extremely active, working mom to our 3 sons. But right after moving to to North Carolina and starting a PhD program 9 yeas ago, she came down with a debilitation mystery illness. It turned out to be a complex birth defect of Chiari 1 Malformation, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and a neural tube abnormality causing a meningocele and severe spinal stenosis. Although she didn’t become symptomatic until her mid-30s, Sian’s brainstem was so compressed, twisted, and kinked that in addition to the neurological problems she was experiencing, her respiratory system was being shut down. She had to travel to specialist neurosurgeons to receive life saving posterior fossa decompression, craniectomy, duraplasty with graft, laminectomy of C1, undercutting of C2, and complete cerebellar tonsil resection. Meningocele repair, craniocervical fusion occiput-C2, and anterior cervical discectomy and fusion C5-C6. While Sian will always have some spinal instability, she can wear a rigid brace for support. Her brainstem is now straightened out, she has successfully fused, and we hope that this spinal cord surgery could be the final piece of the puzzle towards regaining her health. Please donate if you can. Thank you very much.

Warning: medical Imaging, may be disturbing to some viewers.