16 years ago my life changed forever when I sustained a back injury at the gym. I was 21, attending college and working 30 hours a week. I didn't have health insurance and neither did my parents as they were self employed. I am one of 5 children so money was always tight.

When I first injured myself I had a lot of pain in my buttocks and trouble bending over or straightening my back if I went from a seated to standing position. We went to a primary care center that ran some x-rays and found nothing unusual. I was told that because I was young it was probably an inflamed muscle that would get better with time.

I suffered in pain for months as the injury didn't heal; my whole life shut down. I could no longer sit in class for lectures, go to work, or go out with friends. It came to the point when the pain was so debilitating that I couldn't walk anymore. We visited another doctor who recommend I go to physical therapy to manage my pain so we made an appointment with a recommended therapist. At the appointment we found that the copay without insurance was $100 and that I would need to visit twice a week. We couldn't afford this so the receptionist mentioned going to a chiropractor instead as they are more affordable. We found one that was just $25 per visit and I began seeing them twice a week. The chiro worked on me for near a year but I still had my pain; it wasn't until all this time later that the chiro said that he couldn't help me, that I may have a serious medical condition, and that I need to see an orthopedic surgeon to find out what's going on.

We visited an orthro who wanted to get an MRI done to see if there was any spinal damage and nearly 2 years after my injury we discovered that I had been living with a herniated bulged disk in my lower back at L5-S1. This bulge was putting pressure on the nerves in my spinal cord right where they branch off and go down either leg. The majority of my pain was in my right buttocks (which the nerve passed through) but the pain reached all the way to my toes. During times of extreme inflammation, I couldn't put any weight on this leg and was either bedridden or limping.

Upon examining my MRI the ortho said he recommends operating to relieve the pressure. I was told that the cost of this surgery was $35,000 without insurance; there was no way we could afford this. I was told to get insurance and that was the only way. Being a child of immigrants, we were navigating a system we didn't understand and with no help from anyone. So my only choice at this point was to get a full time job to get insurance while working with debilitating pain. I was prescribed Vicodin and Oxycodone to manage my pain while working this job. I worked for 6 months in pain to be able to save up the $6,000 copay I needed to pay for this surgery because insurance wouldn't cover it all. Eventually I became dependent on these medications as they are highly addictive. I became part of the statistics in the opioid epidemic of the late 2010's. Getting over the addiction was another battle I had to fight along with the pain and mental health issues caused by this ordeal.

Finally, after 2 and half years since my injury, I was on the operating table getting ready to undergo a major spinal surgery at age 24. I remember being so happy and laughing on my way into the OR thinking this pain would finally be over after this surgery. But I was wrong; the pain never went away. The injury was sustained for far too long and the damage was permanent.

I live with pain every day of my life and it has been so detrimental to my overall wellbeing. From my mental health, my quality of life, and even to some relationships. Over the years I tried all sorts of therapies, medications (traditional and holistic), and seen countless professionals. I have paid for most of this out of pocket and find myself in medical debt.

I want to be transparent about how I will use the funds raised. I plan on using a portion to pay off the debt I have incurred, and the remainder to fund long term medical care. My overall plan is to establish myself in a country with quality and affordable healthcare and to begin treatment. Ideally i would like to start with some epidural injections to reduce my daily pain, then I would like to explore a spinal fusion surgery which will remove the herniated disk all together.