Upcoming spinal surgeries and disc repair

Hello Laura's friends,

This is Laura's husband, Jay. I wanted to put this effort out to help raise funds to help mitigate some of the out-of-pocket costs for Laura's upcoming c-spine surgeries this October, as well as some prior uncovered medical costs leading up to this point. Unfortunately, many of the palliative methods have only worsened her conditions, and she has now developed multiple intolerances and adverse reactions to the steroids and some of the pain medications.

She is currently fully unable to work. As you know, she is a truly gifted classical music composer and loves to be active outdoors and play with her animals. These are activities that have been steeply limited due to her conditions. Due to multi-level cervical spondylosis and facet syndrome in her neck, she has severe, crushing pain locally and radiating neuropathy, including pain, numbness, and tingling, down both her arms to the tips of her fingers.

The 2nd week of October, this year, we will be traveling from our home in VA to FL to a world-class neurosurgeon who developed and patented a less-invasive, endoscopic, outpatient spinal disc repair procedure which has been highly successful in >95% of his patients and has so far been completely complication-free. It's an innovation that will soon trickle into more standard spinal treatment protocols, as teaching hospitals start to use the techniques.

The current, standard option is multi-level spinal fusion using screws and metal cages, which has a high rate of complications and failures, and usually leads to multiple surgeries due to future adjacent segment disease. Laura would require at least 3-4 of 7 cervical vertebrae fused, which would require a week-long hospital stay and a very long, slow recovery period. Because of Laura's autoimmune issues and multiple pharmaceutical intolerances, less risky, outpatient procedures are a much safer option for her. Nobody really wants to have a neck fused in multiple places at only age 48, especially if the risk is high, it limits mobility, and there's no guarantee it'll even fix the problem or get one out of pain! Once a fusion is done, there are no other options except for pain management or even more surgeries. I do not want this bleak and questionable future for my wife, if it can be avoided.

The second procedure is a multi-level rhizotomy, to deaden the nerves that have been irritated and inflamed for years due to severe facet syndrome. There is no cure or fix for facet syndrome, and it can be incredibly painful and crippling. Laura has grown accustomed to living in ice and heat packs and TENS units for years. Whenever we pack for trips, her physical therapy and pain management bag usually takes up half our luggage!

According to hundreds of videotaped patient testimonials from sufferers who have exhausted many options and traveled the globe to receive treatment from this neurosurgeon, these less-invasive procedures have given individuals their lives back, to the point where those who could barely walk are on their feet dancing and excited about the future for the first time in many decades. If these procedures do the same for Laura, it would be wonderful to see her able to focus on doing the things she loves and living more fully and freely without being distracted and hampered by constant pain. For someone who can't remember what it's like to live a day without pain, this would be miraculous and encouraging.

Any amount helps, if you're able. If all you can do right now is pray or send well-wishes, that's greatly appreciated too! Thank you for being wonderful friends to my sweet wife. God bless. We will keep you updated on progress.