The Aller Family & #ProjectDiagnoseTiffany

Tiffany was a normal, busy solo mom of two who loved to stay involved in her family, her kids’ school, her town and her church. She earned her primary living as a successful freelance writer while also working several additional paid and voluntary part-time positions.

 

April 23rd was her last normal day.

 

On Tuesday, April 23rd, Tiffany mixed and matched her work as usual. She:

·         worked at Burton Hill Elementary as their beloved crossing guard.

·         filled in at River Oaks UMC as their interim secretary.

·         babysat several children after school until their moms finished work for the day.

·         wrote several blogs for writing clients.

 

After a simple dinner and reading a book, she was in bed by 10 and her children were with their father for the evening.

 

On April 24th, everything changed.

 

It all began when Tiffany did not arrive at the crosswalk…

 

Tiffany’s former husband arrived at Burton Hill to deliver their children, Catherine and Jeffrey, for school that morning. On their days with their Dad, they were dropped off to cross at their Mom’s intersection, so they could say “good morning.” But she wasn’t there that morning.

 

He noticed her absence and thought that was strange…

 

He called the police chief, who said Tiffany hadn’t requested the day off, and so the pair went to Tiffany’s house to check on her.

 

Tiffany didn’t answer the door.

 

After banging on the door for many minutes and repeatedly ringing the bell, Tiffany finally stumbled to the door. She was disoriented and unaware why they were there. She was unaware of the time, the day, and the fact she’d missed going to the crosswalk. She was unsteady on her feet, complained of double vision and pain, and had trouble expressing herself.

 

Tiffany was not herself.

 

Tiffany’s friend arrived and took her to her doctor, who promptly sent her to the ER, where she was admitted to the observation unit and then as an inpatient for a week. She was then moved to a rehab facility for 10 days.

 

Amongst other more minor things, Tiffany was diagnosed with:

·         Acute severe vertigo

·         Acute intractable headache

·         Severe aphasia

·         Severe deconditioning

 

Tiffany was left reliant on a walker to get around, experiencing constant double vision and ear ringing, horrible vertigo and dizziness (they aren’t the same), fatigue, forgetfulness, and severe off-the-scales head pain. Her original therapy was expected to last weeks but has now lasted many months. Although several “diagnoses” were made in the hospital and rehab, those were just symptoms, not root causes. Now, Tiffany is fighting to find the root causes behind those vague diagnoses or bland symptoms. Thus began #ProjectDiagnoseTiffany.

 

Many doctors, Elusive diagnoses

 

Tiffany has spent all summer and fall visiting many types of specialists many times, going through many different tests and patiently going through their various processes as she awaits proper diagnosis. Frustratingly, each doctor seems to lead to a referral to another doctor and she has gotten some diagnoses along the way that have absolutely nothing to do with the core matter at hand – her devastating head pain and its related symptoms. Yet these random issues seek to confuse things at times.

 

However, she is staying the course and is set on seeing #ProjectDiagnoseTiffany through to the end. Once that happens, she hopes either to find therapeutic options to regain her health or to have the ability to file for Social Security Disability Insurance. Either way, as her household’s sole provider, she must recover her income.

 

Weeks became Months became Permanent

 

Aphasia and double vision greatly impacted Tiffany’s ability to write both immediately after Tiffany’s life was slammed to a halt in April and as time stretched on. Her severe head pain makes looking at screens longer than a few moments at a stretch impossible without experiencing serious spikes to even higher pain levels. As a self-employed writer, if Tiffany doesn’t work, she doesn’t get paid. She also suffers from severe photophobia and wears sunglasses not only outside but in many indoor locations as well.

 

Additionally, as someone suffering from double vision, severe vertigo and debilitating head pain, there are no other options for work that don’t leave Tiffany severely ill after more than a few moments of effort. Weeks have become months and have stretched on to impact Tiffany’s ability to work. If a diagnosis cannot be found to which there is a cure or treatment, Tiffany will have no choice but to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance.

 

Tiffany was advised to give up driving for a few weeks as she healed and underwent therapy after rehab. As her double vision persisted, estimates became months instead of weeks for the length of time she couldn’t drive. Sadly, she learned in late November that she likely would never drive again as her double vision was thought to be permanent and irreversible. The same week – what a week! – she learned she had some permanent hearing loss and would be getting hearing aids. Ironically, she also has phonophobia – the portions of the register of her hearing not affected by hearing loss are extremely sensitive to loud noise, making crowds or any loud places a challenge.

 

Tiffany and Family

 

Tiffany and her kids – Cate, 11, and Jeff, 9, are highly involved in their school, Burton Hill Elementary, where Cate is in 5th grate and Jeff is in 4th. Cate and Jeff both run in Running Club and compete in 5k runs throughout Fort Worth including the Zoo Run and the shorter runs that accompany the various marathons. Cate serves as treasurer for the school student council and is also in Art Club. She recently won the school’s Math Bee. Jeff is big into origami and building robotics using battery-operated motors. Both are A honor roll students with 98 grade point averages, a love for reading, and TV shows and apps introduced by their Aunt Erin that drive their mother nuts.

 

Tiffany has been the schools crossing guard since 2016 and has babysat various kiddos afterschool since the same year. Before life changed back in April, Tiffany and the various kiddos could often be seen walking with their doggos around the block or up on the Trinity Trails by the river or at Airfield Falls, chasing Pokemon or looking for geocaches. Tiffany also enjoyed leading the kiddos around town on long bike rides and hopes to regain the ability to do so again someday. Currently, her house is the easiest to find in town – look for the most number of ditched bikes, Nerf guns in the lawn and more kids than is sensible running around.

 

Tiffany is the former Children and Youth director for her church and serves as the Place 2 councilwoman for the Westworth Village City Council where she chairs the Public Safety committee, is Vice President of the Crime Control and Prevention District and serves on several other city committees. She has cut all other involvements due to her illness but hopes to become more involved again in the future as her health allows. Her doctors okayed her remaining in her elected role on council to keep her brain active and passions engaged, as meetings generally only occur once or twice monthly and she can join from home if she can’t make the two-block walk.

 

Help for Tiffany

 

Tiffany and I have been best friends for 24 years and it’s hard to see her struggling like she is now. Tiffany has always been in a helping role, rarely in a role of needing help. Whenever someone needs something, Tiffany is one of the first to volunteer and she rarely says no when asked for help. During this time in her life, Tiffany needs to be worrying about her strength and her health, not about how to pay her bills when she has no income, until she is able to work again or apply for disability. Every single amount donated, large or small, in appreciated. Thank you.

 

Here’s how your donations have helped so far:

GoFundMe Donations Thru 11/30: $11,000

Outside $$  Donations Thru 11/30: $5,500

 

$7,292 – Health Insurance, Co-Pays, Co-Insurance, Bills

$5,888 – Household Expenses, primarily Utilities

$1,968 – Car Payment, Insurance, Transportation, Gas

$1,210 – Incidentals, including help toward rent+food (typically paid by child support, etc.)

 

****We still anticipated at least $3000 in additional expenses before Tiffany achieves SSDI or is able to return to work and appreciate any additional donations you are able to make. THANK YOU!****

 

****NEW DONATION as of 11/20****

A wonderful church friend of Tiffany’s will cover the cost of supplies to create a pathway from her front porch to the sidewalk so she can use her walker more easily between the two points! And a wonderful friend who lives in Westworth is donating his time to install the pathway! We are so excited!!!

 

****ANOTHER UPDATE! as of 11/22****

Tiffany is finally “poor” enough to receive food stamps from the state of Texas – after multiple tries, despite lack of income and GoFundMe funds paying vastly different bills. She applied again in November and after interviewing 11/22, was given tentative approval pending medical paperwork proving disability. Her doctor’s practice received and completed the paperwork declaring Tiffany’s disability total and permanent (calm down – that’s enough for SNAP, not SSDI – this doctor is a PCP, not specialist) and it was submitted to the state electronically on 11/26. We’re awaiting final response – we all know how “fast” states can move.