Support Karol Garcia's Fight Against MS

Hi there!

My name is Karol Garcia and I am 18 years old. I am currently a senior at Victory Early College High School and the Valedictorian of my class. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis during the first semester of my senior year after losing my eyesight in my right eye. It all started on Sunday, October 29. I had just come home from roller skating practice and developed a black spot in my right eye that covered the central part of my vision. In the span of a week, the spot became larger. That same week, I woke up on Thursday morning, completely blind in that eye.

I spent about a month at the hospital getting tested for every kind of disease. Doctors performed approximately 80 blood tests, two lumbar punctures, four MRI scans, and one CT scan during my stay at the hospital. Eventually, an MRI scan revealed several lesions in my brain that lead to my diagnosis of MS and an inflamed optic nerve, which was diagnosed as optic neuritis. I received several treatments to try to reduce the inflammation in my brain. Those treatments included one round of methyl prednisone (corticosteroids) for five days, a central line placement in my neck for plasmapheresis treatment, a second round of corticosteroids for three days, and a Rituximab infusion for 12 hours.

Despite the initial round of corticosteroids, my body was unresponsive to the treatment as doctors had wished. After this first treatment, I only regained about 5% of my vision, quite a difference from the 50% that doctors had hoped for. During my plasmapheresis treatment, I suffered another relapse that left me completely blind once again in my right eye. I saw the 5% vision that I regain slowly wane away, as well as my hope to be able to see again in that eye. I was released from the hospital with the words, "We don't know. We don't know if you'll recover your eyesight again." I was labeled as a "special case," as my lack of response to the treatments used to help me recover my eyesight was quite atypical for MS cases.

I returned back to school with only two weeks before the end of the semester. I was afraid of losing everything that I had worked so much for in high school. I was currently ranked #1 in my class, but rankings weren't finalized until February. However, my biggest fear was not losing my ranking, but losing the world that I've known for the past 18 years of my life. I was afraid of going completely blind in both eyes after experiencing vision changes in my left eye after being released from the hospital. I couldn't imagine living a life not being able to see my parents, my family, my friends, another birthday, another Christmas, my graduation day, or my wedding day in the future. I was afraid of living the rest of my life in complete darkness, which would sadly mean that I'd live more than half of my life in a dark void.

The only thing that kept me going was strength that I found in Jesus Christ the son of God. I drew strength from his promise of eternal life, free of any illness, sorrow, or death. His promise of salvation, forgiveness, and never-ending love reminded me that I couldn't give up. That I had a lot to fight for. I gathered my wits and worked extremely hard to catch up on schoolwork. I had a lot of people help me, and because of all the help I received, I managed to pass the semester with all A's. I earned the title of Valedictorian of my high school during the second semester of my senior year. I also graduated with my associate's degree in business from Lone Star College thanks to the dual credit program at my school. I look forward to graduating in June and starting college this Fall.

As of today, I have recovered a small percentage of my vision in my right eye, but I have permanent vision loss due to optic atrophy. I also have a permanent ocular migraine effect in both of my eyes, which makes it difficult to read and write. I am also struggling financially to pay for all of my medical expenses because my Medicaid insurance has been removed. I currently don't work because I can't drive myself, and the medication that I am currently on (Mavenclad), is extremely expensive. It costs around $40,000, not to mention the visits to the ophthalmology clinic and the neurology clinic that are also very costly.

I ask you all to please help donate money to help me fight against this disease and to help me secure a better future for me. I have dreams for my life, goals and aspirations that I would love to pursue. With your help, I hope to achieve my dream of going to college and graduating with a double major in Marketing and Neuroscience. My family and I will forever be grateful for any help received. Thank you :)