Help Pennen Get Brain Surgery
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Help Pennen Get Brain Surgery
Pennen Brelin is an amazing Mom, a loving wife to Conway, and a great friend to so many people. If you have the pleasure of knowing her whether as friends, through her children, at schools, the athletic club, or her job at the City of Portland, you know that something has changed about Pennen.
Pennen has been fighting a quiet battle, while trying to lead the life she once knew. She woke up on her birthday in August 2011 with a terrible headache, and her life has not been the same since. This August, Pennen was diagnosed with a pineal gland brain tumor.
Reaching the Tumor Diagnosis:
When the first headache did not go away and became unbearable, Pennen went to the hospital for answers. After several months of testing, she was found to have low spinal fluid pressure. Months after that in 2012, they finally had found the location of the spinal fluid leak, but it was in a very difficult place. Pennen was given a referral to see a specialist in California to have spinal fluid leak surgery in April of 2012.
With the spinal leak surgery complete, she was excited to finally be able to start living her old life again. However after a couple of weeks she still had pain in her head, but in a different way. She was assured that it would just take time to fully recover, that her brain had been through something very traumatic. Over the next year she did her best to get back to living a normal life, while the new symptoms were only getting worse.
For two more years, her doctors ran every test and tried every medication possible. They still could not find anything wrong and told Pennen that she would just have to take medication to relieve her symptoms for the rest of her life. Unfortunately, none of the medications gave Pennen any relief. Pennen and Conway would not accept this answer. They decided to change insurance companies in the hopes that new doors would be open to them.
Four years from that first headache, Pennen has been working with new doctors and insurance, taking every test possible, trying to find the cause - Pennen has to avoid crowds and seeing people as she cannot handle loud noises or activities. The only way to get relief is through sleep, but most of the time sleep will not come. She suffers from constant pressure in her head, daily vomiting, insomnia, some memory loss, decline in vision and hearing, light sensitivity and depression among many other debilitating symptoms.
It has taken four long years to reach a diagnosis, but Pennen is now able to see the end of a long and painful journey.
With the help of doctors at OHSU, Pennen received the pineal gland tumor diagnosis, which is a tumor located deep in the center of her brain. Unfortunately, she had to go out of network to find a doctor that would perform this surgery. She has been accepted as a candidate for surgery to remove the tumor, receive the relief she needs, and finally get her life back.
Pennen’s surgeon and Director of the Skull Base Institute in California believes the tumor on Pennen’s pineal gland is the cause of all these symptoms.
They have a tentative surgery date set for February 10th, 2016. Her Doctor is not contracted with their insurance carrier, and the Brelin’s are faced with an out of pocket expense for this surgery of $38,800. This amount must be paid 30 days prior to the surgery date. In order to keep this date, payment must be made by January 10, 2016. They are hoping to stay as close to the February surgery date as possible. Pennen had to leave her job in October 2015 and she has until the end of March 2016 secure her position and return to work. With a 4-6 week recovery time, this is a very tight timeline.
Until now, Pennen and Conway have been facing this alone, trying to protect their family and friends from the truth. Even their three children, ages 20, 18 and 10 did not know how truly difficult this has been for Pennen. They have come to realize that this is now something they cannot face alone anymore, and they are asking for your help. It has been a long journey, and now there is hope through this surgery.
We are hoping to raise the $38,800 to pay for Pennen’s out of pocket surgery expense. Additional funds will be used to cover medical costs above the surgeon’s fee and travel costs, as Pennen and Conway will have to stay in Los Angeles for 10 days after the surgery is complete.
Any help you can give will be one step toward Pennen becoming the wife, mother and friend that we all know and miss. Thank you.
Pennen Brelin is an amazing Mom, a loving wife to Conway, and a great friend to so many people. If you have the pleasure of knowing her whether as friends, through her children, at schools, the athletic club, or her job at the City of Portland, you know that something has changed about Pennen.
Pennen has been fighting a quiet battle, while trying to lead the life she once knew. She woke up on her birthday in August 2011 with a terrible headache, and her life has not been the same since. This August, Pennen was diagnosed with a pineal gland brain tumor.
Reaching the Tumor Diagnosis:
When the first headache did not go away and became unbearable, Pennen went to the hospital for answers. After several months of testing, she was found to have low spinal fluid pressure. Months after that in 2012, they finally had found the location of the spinal fluid leak, but it was in a very difficult place. Pennen was given a referral to see a specialist in California to have spinal fluid leak surgery in April of 2012.
With the spinal leak surgery complete, she was excited to finally be able to start living her old life again. However after a couple of weeks she still had pain in her head, but in a different way. She was assured that it would just take time to fully recover, that her brain had been through something very traumatic. Over the next year she did her best to get back to living a normal life, while the new symptoms were only getting worse.
For two more years, her doctors ran every test and tried every medication possible. They still could not find anything wrong and told Pennen that she would just have to take medication to relieve her symptoms for the rest of her life. Unfortunately, none of the medications gave Pennen any relief. Pennen and Conway would not accept this answer. They decided to change insurance companies in the hopes that new doors would be open to them.
Four years from that first headache, Pennen has been working with new doctors and insurance, taking every test possible, trying to find the cause - Pennen has to avoid crowds and seeing people as she cannot handle loud noises or activities. The only way to get relief is through sleep, but most of the time sleep will not come. She suffers from constant pressure in her head, daily vomiting, insomnia, some memory loss, decline in vision and hearing, light sensitivity and depression among many other debilitating symptoms.
It has taken four long years to reach a diagnosis, but Pennen is now able to see the end of a long and painful journey.
With the help of doctors at OHSU, Pennen received the pineal gland tumor diagnosis, which is a tumor located deep in the center of her brain. Unfortunately, she had to go out of network to find a doctor that would perform this surgery. She has been accepted as a candidate for surgery to remove the tumor, receive the relief she needs, and finally get her life back.
Pennen’s surgeon and Director of the Skull Base Institute in California believes the tumor on Pennen’s pineal gland is the cause of all these symptoms.
They have a tentative surgery date set for February 10th, 2016. Her Doctor is not contracted with their insurance carrier, and the Brelin’s are faced with an out of pocket expense for this surgery of $38,800. This amount must be paid 30 days prior to the surgery date. In order to keep this date, payment must be made by January 10, 2016. They are hoping to stay as close to the February surgery date as possible. Pennen had to leave her job in October 2015 and she has until the end of March 2016 secure her position and return to work. With a 4-6 week recovery time, this is a very tight timeline.
Until now, Pennen and Conway have been facing this alone, trying to protect their family and friends from the truth. Even their three children, ages 20, 18 and 10 did not know how truly difficult this has been for Pennen. They have come to realize that this is now something they cannot face alone anymore, and they are asking for your help. It has been a long journey, and now there is hope through this surgery.
We are hoping to raise the $38,800 to pay for Pennen’s out of pocket surgery expense. Additional funds will be used to cover medical costs above the surgeon’s fee and travel costs, as Pennen and Conway will have to stay in Los Angeles for 10 days after the surgery is complete.
Any help you can give will be one step toward Pennen becoming the wife, mother and friend that we all know and miss. Thank you.
Organizer and beneficiary
Jennifer Lei
Organizer
Sandy, OR
Conway Brelin
Beneficiary
