Hi everyone, my name is Euna, and I am raising funds to help my boyfriend, Hansol, afford treatments for Craniocervical Instability (CCI).

Hansol is an incredibly talented composer and a doctoral student at the University of Michigan. His journey to this point has been marked by immense resilience. Growing up as a Korean-American immigrant in Queens, NY, Hansol faced a turbulent childhood, including enduring a decade of physical abuse from his older brother (which sometimes resulted in trips to the hospital) and navigating a difficult family environment. The sustained abuse and stress developed into a chronic slouch, contributing to years of severe chronic pain. Additionally, Hansol has been diagnosed with hypermobility and ligament laxity, predisposing him to his current crisis. Despite these obstacles, we believe God has allowed Hansol to love and forgive his family, surrounded him with loving friends, mentors, and planted deep hope, faith, and sustaining strength to pursue his dreams.

As a doctoral student in Music Composition, Hansol’s work and study demand long, sedentary hours—often 12-16 hour days—at a desk to meet deadlines. His long-standing posture issues were an ever-present risk. This past August, after a strenuous period, Hansol's lower back got injured and seized up. In a desperate attempt to fix his chronic alignment issues, he overstretched his already weak neck ligaments and tragically ended up severely injuring his head and neck. This triggered a cascade of neurological and autonomic symptoms. In recent days, his condition worsened, with numbness and weakness developing in various parts of his body. Hansol struggles daily from dysautonomia, difficulty swallowing, head and neck pains, difficulty sleeping, gastroparesis, numbness, POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), dizziness, and debilitating spasms and pain down his entire spinal cord. Hansol has expressed the most difficult part of this is when the spasms get so intense he needs to lay down for hours at a time. Hansol has even considered the possibility of taking a medical leave from his studies but decided to press on until the end.

Since the injury, Hansol has been trapped in a relentless cycle of debilitating symptoms. He has been in and out of the emergency room several times, bounced between ENT, Neurology, Neurosurgery, and many other specialists with little to no clear answers. He’s had 4 different MRIs, 2 CT scans, and 4 X-rays, with doctors unsure of how to treat him.

Hansol’s complex and worsening symptoms strongly suggest he is suffering from Craniocervical Instability (CCI). This is a severe, specialized condition where damaged ligaments connecting the skull to the upper vertebrae (C0 to C2) cause abnormal movement that compresses or irritates the brainstem and surrounding nerves, leading to debilitating pain, dysautonomia, and neurological issues. He's attempted three rounds of cervical and thoracic fascial prolotherapy with Dr. Krasnick, which provided temporary relief. Dr. Krasnick, unfortunately, does not treat ligament joint instability from C0-C1, which requires specific treatment by a highly experienced physician.

Unfortunately, CCI is a specialized disorder that requires specific imaging and treatment from experts who truly understand the condition. We’ve been denied coverage for this from Hansol’s insurance, which means this will all be an out-of-pocket expense. The standard care Hansol has received so far has not been enough and to some degree made him worse.

Hansol's ability to study, compose, and even perform basic daily tasks is severely compromised. I’ve watched him be in and out of a cervical collar just to try and stabilize himself when symptoms cascade over him. Even though Hansol tried to sustain a normal life, he cannot keep up with his current schedule and finds himself debilitated at times, needing bed rest.

Our goal is to raise $30,000 to cover his treatments with Dr. Ross Hauser at Caring Medical in Fort Myers, Florida:

1. Specialized Diagnostics: Funding for necessary out-of-pocket diagnostic dynamic imaging (DMX, specialized MRIs) to accurately locate which vertebra is unstable and requires treatment. This condition can’t be diagnosed by standard static imaging tools. Caring Medical has told us this alone will cost $3,150+. Follow-up imaging will also require separate payments as well.

2. Expert Consultation & Travel: Travel, lodging, and consultation fees to see a leading CCI specialist, Dr. Hauser in Florida. Crucially, specialized CCI treatment is not covered by our health insurance. Consultation alone has been invoiced at $525.

3. Treatment Costs: Covering the cost of necessary specialized procedures called ‘Prolotherapy’ which injects dextrose or platelet-rich plasma to help proliferation for the body to recover from ligamentous instability/injury. We have been informed that each treatment to the neck area can cost starting at $1,400+. Patients typically need 4-6 treatment visits. If left untreated, we could see worsening symptoms as this condition is considered degenerative, which can lead to needing surgical fusion to his cervical spine. We want to avoid this at all costs.

Hansol is a deeply kind, faithful, and brilliant person who deserves the chance to finish his degree and contribute his beautiful music to the world. Your donation, no matter the size, is a step toward getting Hansol the lifeline he needs to access life-changing care. More than anything, in addition to financial support, we’d like to ask for your prayers as Hansol goes on his journey of recovery. We are grateful that we’ve found a treatment path and we are hopeful that he can make a complete recovery. Despite his worsening conditions, Hansol spends each day hopeful in prayer, working and studying as much as he can, and serving people around him. If you could, please share his story and help us give Hansol a fighting chance against this severe, life-altering condition.

Thank you for your generosity, your prayers, and your support!