Support Crystal's Fight Against Brain Tumor

Hi, this is Crystal, and she is a 20-year-old who had her world turned completely upside down. In late June, she started to notice that her eyesight was getting blurry once in a while, so she thought she needed new glasses. We made her an eye appointment, and the eye doctor said it was because the nerves behind her eyes were inflamed and swollen. He referred her to Valley Eye Associates because they could treat it better. Her appointment there confirmed the nerves were swollen, but no known cause. So once again, she was referred out to yet another doctor, this time at Neuroscience Group in Appleton. At this appointment, she was first told it was just extra fluid on the brain. She would need an MRI and spinal tap, and that should clear it up. So they scheduled her MRI 3 weeks out, told her if anything changes to call, and sent us on our way.

On October 12th, she got a migraine that lasted 3 days, so we made her call and tell them. They rescheduled her MRI for 2 days on October 17th. Her mom and new baby sister took her to the appointment, and they said they would call with any news after the doctor looked at the images. Crystal wanted to get a few things from Walmart, so they were shopping when they got the call that would change everything. She was told to go to the ER right away; there was an unusual mass showing on her scan. We went to Thedacare Appleton ER, where she was then transported to Theda Clark in Neenah. When her mom and aunt got to the room, there was a surgeon sitting there and told them that Crystal had a brain tumor and needed surgery right away. It was a lot to process in a short amount of time as surgery was scheduled right away in the morning of October 18th. She had the first surgery and a drain tube put in to help her brain heal. Crystal lost the ability to speak and use her right side for a while. Her speech came back in a couple of days, and with working with therapists, her right side started to wake up and move. After 3 weeks, she was doing great and was going to inpatient rehab at the hospital. The drain tube came out, and she was excited to be one step closer to coming home. A few days before being able to come home, her nurse noticed she was a little puffy, and Crystal said she had another headache. Another MRI was done, and her brain wasn't absorbing the fluid like it was supposed to. The surgeon said she needed another drain to help remove the fluid and another brain surgery after that to remove more of the tumor. On November 21st, she had her second drain put in to remove fluid, and on November 22nd, she had her second brain surgery. Once again, her right side movement was lost, and therapy started all over again. After a week, the doctor was able to take the drain tube out, and she was moved to rehab once again. She was thriving again with rehab. They did another MRI to check the progress of fluid absorption. The surgeon said he felt her progression would be better if they put in a shunt to help drain the fluid. With a come-home date of December 14th, we were worried that this would set her back again, but it didn't. The shunt was placed on December 13th, and in the afternoon of the 14th, she was able to finally make it home.

She is making great progress at home with at-home therapy and should soon be onto outpatient therapy. She has gained almost all mobility back on her right side and can walk on her own without anything. Her eyesight is still blurry, and her eyes are only using the left sides of each eye. She will see a specialist to see if that can be corrected so she can get back to all the things she loved to do. All proceeds will help pay for the specialist since it's not covered by insurance and her everyday expenses as her parents have had to take off work for appointments. Crystal has not been able to work since October and can't wait to get back to the daycare and see all her little ones.