Greetings friends and family! Hi, it's Anna. I guess I'll start by telling my story from the beginning.

On the morning of October 1st, 2024, I was driving to my job as a dental assistant, like any regular day of the week. As I was coming off of the highway, I stopped at a red light before turning right, when out of nowhere I was rear-ended by a truck. The impact gave me whiplash and a concussion, but little did I know that these were the least of my worries. I went to the ER right after to make sure I didn't break anything, and they ordered a CT scan.

The ER doctor explained that they found some 'weird stuff' on my CT scan, and so they sent me for an MRI. To my complete surprise, the MRI showed a large mass of benign cysts in my pineal gland. These cysts (called atypical arachnoid cysts) could have been there from birth or have developed randomly at any point throughout my life, we simply don't know. What we do know is that the cysts are blocking the drainage of cerebrospinal fluid in my brain, causing a condition known as hydrocephalus, or 'water on the brain.'

The black voids in the center of my brain in these images show the build-up of excess fluid.

Over the past month, I've had to undergo a bunch of testing to determine how seriously these cysts are impacting me, and as my neuro-opthamologist said "You caught this issue at the sweet spot, at the moment you aren't experiencing serious adverse effects but the risk it's currently causing is enough for us to want to act on it."

The extra fluid (or as we've been affectionately calling it 'brain goo') is putting a lot of excess pressure on my brain and causing my optic nerves to thin, severe migraines, and my body to produce too much growth hormone. If left untreated, I could go blind, experience decreased bone density and a lot of broken bones in my future, the migraines could render me incapable of working, or even sudden death.

So, how do we fix it? The answer is brain surgery to remove the extra cerebrospinal fluid. They'll place a 4mm hole in my skull a couple inches behind my hairline, and take an endoscope down through my frontal lobe, to the center of my brain, and into my pineal gland. From there they will drain the cerebrospinal fluid (a procedure called cyst fenestration) and put in an extra drainage hole (called a third ventriculostomy) to prevent fluid from ever building up again should the cysts somehow grow back.

Surgery day is scheduled for December 6th, 2024. The whole cost of the procedure will be determined by how complex the surgery ends up being and what the required recuperation following the surgery entails. Despite having insurance, this is going to weigh heavy on our coin purse, and after speaking with my neurosurgery team, $25,000 seems like a good jumping-off point.

I made this GoFundMe to ask for help, not just for me but for my husband, Zak. We both currently work full-time, but when I have this procedure performed, I'm going to be out of work for awhile. On top of all of the medical bills for imaging, the testing I've undergone, my brain surgery, the following week-long hospital stay, and the time I'll have to spend recuperating at home, that puts all of the financial burden during that time on him. Zak is genuinely the most relatable, honest, and hardworking person you could ever meet. He is my anchor in the storm, my biggest supporter, and my own personal comedic relief when things get too overwhelming. The guilt and helplessness I feel having him go through this with me is something I wouldn't wish upon anyone.

We've never asked for much from anyone as we're too proud of the life we've built together, but I'm asking for help now during the scariest experience of my life, to help ease the burden of being unable to work while I recover and for the substantial costs involved with brain surgery.

Right when it feels like I'm finally getting my life together, with my husband, the house, a job that I love that lets me help others, and the dog who we love like a child, it seems like it could all be torn away from me through no fault of my own. If anything, thank you for taking the time to gain some understanding of what we're going through. Your support means more than I could ever express.