Monica Needs Our Help

Hi! I’m Monica’s friend, training partner and occasional physician. I’m collecting donations on Monica’s behalf because she is awesome, in a tight spot, and you can trust me - I’m a doctor.

Monica is a local grappling legend, city bus driver and all around spectacular human being. While she will never ask for it, right now she needs some help.

Despite trying to just “train through it”, Monica was having some concerning and unusual symptoms around the start of the month. Extensive testing didn’t turn up an obvious cause and she took herself off work to try and recover. On Saturday May 18th however she got suddenly worse and called friends for help who found her collapsed on her floor unable to speak or move. She was taken to the ER where she became unresponsive to the point the intensive care team was involved. Fortunately, she responded to treatment for seizures and steadily recovered in hospital over the next day, though is still not back to her baseline.

It’s suspected her symptoms are related to an inflammation of her brain that she is expected to fully recover from, though there are still tests and specialist appointments coming up to further clarify what has happened.

Monica is a literal fighter and will get through this.

Unfortunately she is also a long time City Bus driver who held a casual position and thus has no benefits. Once someone is considered to have had a seizure, they are not legally allowed to drive any vehicle, usually for 6 months or until cleared by a neurologist. As for most of us, EI will not be enough to pay her bills and life without a car in Nanaimo is very difficult.

Please consider donating enough to buy Monica lunch, coffee or a fancy hat. Every bit counts.

All the money collected will go to Monica to give her some financial security in this uncertain time. We’ll keep this open until she gets her Neurologist appointment at which point we will have an idea of how long she may be out of work or forced to find lower paying work that doesn’t require a vehicle.

Thanks so much for anything you can do.