Brad's Fundraiser For A Better Life

When I started going through puberty, I noticed that my chest was poking outward quite a bit. Shortly thereafter, I started having problems with shortness of breath, irregular heartbeats, and poor circulation. I had a surgery at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis, TN to try and fix it. I didn't know that it would turn into a nightmare. The doctors shaved the cartilage off of my sternum and removed fragments of ribs connected to my sternum. I was told that they would grow back but they didn't. I've had multiple surgeries in order to try and fix this problem but after every surgery something else would go wrong. Cadaver bones were later installed to stabilize my chest wall. A few years after that, the bottom half of my ribs started to droop.. Doctors added 20+ wires to hold them back in place. I started to have severe pain and that's when a few wires broke and started trying to poke through  my skin. After removing two wires that did that, the doctors finally decided to remove as many wires as possible.. I was still in severe pain but it wasn't as bad as it was with the wires inside me. Flash forward about a year, I was at Hangout Music Festival and I somehow contracted MRSA. It progressively got worse and it allowed bone fragments to be pushed through the drain hole from the MRSA. A small fragement (about the size of a quarter) was pushed out first.. but the subsequent bone fragments that followed their leader were larger and more serious. I was rushed to Le Bonheur to have an emergency surgery to remove the large bone fragments protruding through my flesh. Here are some pictures along with commentary so that you can better visualize what's going on.

It has since healed up but I am still in an immense amount of pain and my chest wall is still incomplete. This GoFundMe will help me out with the debts I've incurred as well as helping me improve my quality of life. If enough money is raised, I would love to see if I could get a 3D printed titanium rib cage/chest wall.

I'm currently still living with my parents in their basement. Anything left over will go towards helping me move out and get my own place. I've never lived on my own and I've just started driving again within the past two years after six years without a vehicle.

Thanks for taking the time to read my story and considering to donate. If you do donate, I appreciate it greatly!!

-Brad L.