Stand By Yasmine in Her Battle with NMO

Hi, my name is Yasmine Jackson. I am a 25-year-old college graduate from Missouri Western State University. I've been a licensed cosmetologist since the age of 18 and graduated with a degree in marketing and branding, which is another form of how I supported myself before this.

On February 11, 2025, my life changed in a way I never would've expected it to. I woke up and I could not see anymore. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease by the name of NMO (neuromyelitis optica). NMO is a rare autoimmune disease that causes pain in many parts of the body. What led up to my diagnosis was a very frightening experience for me. I woke up and I could not see. I was initially in denial of the fact everything looked different and tried to move on with the day, but due to the onset blindness, I was not able to. I tried to drive, which was a horrible mistake, and I realized something had to be wrong. I tried going to work with a familiar client, but I couldn't find her home because I couldn't see it. My client's sister fortunately saw me searching aimlessly, and in my eyes, I felt like she saved my life. She pushed me to go to the local hospital at that moment because she said I didn't seem well at all. Once arriving at the hospital, I was treated as if I had a stroke; however, come to find out, it was not a stroke at all. It was NMO (neuromyelitis optica).

With NMO, your antibodies fight different nerves in your body, causing your body parts to dysfunction or break down over time. In my situation, my nerves in the left side of my brain and left eye were being attacked, which caused me to go blind in my left eye and have partially slurred speech due to the inflammation around the nerves and soft tissue in brain areas. Due to the blindness and not knowing how quickly my disease may progress, the doctors have decided it is in my best interest for me to no longer work, drive, or perform hair services until we can get the disease under better control.

This was unfortunate for me because before this disease was discovered, I was maintaining my own apartment, as well as my car note and other cost of living bills. Not only that, I was concerned with how I will be able to maintain my treatment because I don't have any other source of income and am currently uninsured. When I began my journey in my career field, there was never really anyone in business or hairstyling in my family, so I had to kind of train and learn everything on my own with the support of teachers and the passion I had to learn. I didn't know how I would obtain it, but God blessed me with abilities to learn and to intake the information so that I can support myself and get through life how I've been getting through it today.

When I was in college, I did the football team, basketball team, and even the girls in my college community's hair. This was a way I built community for myself. Everyone knew this was my passion, and I had a desire to make people feel beautiful. This was my way of giving back and how I got opportunities to support myself to keep pushing and going. Being that was my only source of income, I am now in a situation where I need help to maintain myself and continue to live my life the best way I can while trying to remain stable.

Now I am asking those who can to be of assistance with helping me remain stable with my living situation and medical treatments until I am able to get further assistance. I appreciate all the encouragement and calls along this journey and would like to say thank you in advance for all your help with getting me through this time.