Support Emily Dilbeck's Road to Recovery

I'm organizing this fundraiser for Emily Dilbeck, my sister-in-law, and her beautiful family. As you may know, Emily has been dealing with a grueling medical ordeal for more than a year.

After many rounds of treatment in California and months of waiting, Emily has been accepted to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. So far, medical expenses have exceeded $14,000. With more testing and treatment to come, as well as travel to and lodging in Minnesota during the weeks of her care at Mayo, more than $40,000 in additional expenses are estimated. Our hope is to help lighten the burden of the incurred and ongoing expenses to help Emily get well.

Any help you can provide is appreciated! If you prefer you can also help through Venmo @christopher-dilbeck-3

From Emily:

Dear loved ones,

As many of you know, I have been struggling with a CSF leak (cerebrospinal fluid leak) for more than 16 months. This has caused debilitating pain and has made me unable to teach or do much of anything since early 2023.

I can’t be upright for more than a few minutes at a time. Laying down is now the norm and if you knew pre-leak me, you know this isn’t my jam. I haven’t been able to drive or do normal day to day things. No picking up or dropping off the kids or being in their lives much outside the house. Some days/weeks/months I haven’t been able to get out of bed because the pain is too much. I have a flat laying portable chair so I can watch the kids play soccer outside. This has brought me so much joy and a bit of normalcy to see the kids enjoying life and to be outside!!

After a long wait, we will be traveling to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in early August as they are one of only a handful of institutions that have the expertise and a photon counting CT scanner to detect hard-to-find leaks. Many of you have asked how you can help, this is a tangible way we are needing help right now. We are asking for help to lift the financial burden of steep medical and travel expenses and lodging to get me the care that I’m so desperate to have so that I can get back to living again.

Flying to Mayo will be difficult and we are hoping we can find accommodations where I can be flat while flying. We are looking at airlines and medical flights that will be able to get me to Mayo safely. Once at Mayo I will have a week full of scans that typically involve injecting contrast into my spinal column. These are painful and some have caused leaks and complications along this journey (the picture above is after one of the worst complications on our anniversary last year). Unfortunately, the way to find a leak is also a way leaks can be made. It is likely I will stay at Mayo for treatment or more scans after the first week of testing. Typically CSF patients need to recover and recoup for weeks after scans (and hopefully treatment) before being able to travel home. It is likely I will need to be at Mayo for 3-4 weeks total to recoup. I may be asked to come back another time for more scanning and treatment depending on what they find and how they need to treat the leak once they do find it. We have been told this will be a long, painful, and expensive road! Every tiny bit, even a few dollars is huge and helps!!

We are so grateful and deeply held by all the love and care we have received from so many of you during this incredibly difficult time!! Thank you for your help along this journey!!! I know I wouldn’t have crawled out of some very dark and pain filled days without so many who have sat with me in my darkest moments and have held hope and spoken it over me again and again.

We are hopeful and look forward to getting the help I need to be back to fully living again, mom-ing, teaching, arting, and hoping to get to be on the other side of this one day and help other folks suffering medically! I’m not sure how, but I’ve long held the dream of taking Art Your Grief into hospitals and places where folks are suffering and need something tangible to hold onto inside of despair. I could have never known the deep darkness that comes with this sort of pain until in it, and I want so badly to be on the other side of this and be able to help others claw their way out just as so many of you have helped me to do!!

Thank you for holding us in prayer and please know we are sending so much love to you all!! I’m looking forward to the day I can be upright and hug you all in person!!!