Dealing with brain surgery, woman seeks help from Share the Season
Share the Season is an annual campaign that offers one-time aid to people affected by unforeseen hardships. The people are not identified to protect their privacy.
A little over a year ago, this woman was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease. Then, she began having neurological issues and was eventually diagnosed with Chiari malformation which, as she describes it, means “my brain is falling out of my skull.”
It can cause hearing and balance issues and many other health issues but her cerebellum and the brain stem are herniating through an abnormal opening in her skull.
On Nov. 20, she had surgery to place a shunt and help relieve some of the pressure from fluid accumulating on her brain.
“Between the autoimmune disease and the brain condition, it has put a damper on our family for the past couple of years,” she said on the night before her surgery. “We have so many bills and are behind on everything because of the ongoing medical treatments.”
She is 34, married and has three children.
On her application, she wrote she has not been able to work because of the pain and the medication she has been prescribed.
“My family has suffered due to my illnesses and sacrifices have been made to get us through this time,” she wrote. “My husband misses work often to take care of me and take me to appointments because he’s the only able body in my family to help me. However, him missing work has caused even more hardship.”
Share the Season is a joint project of The Eagle, the Wichita Community Foundation and the Salvation Army.
So far this season, it has raised $45,796.
Send contributions to Share the Season at the Wichita Community Foundation, 301 N. Main, Suite 100, Wichita, KS 67202. To donate online, go to www.sharetheseason.org. If you have questions about donating, call 316-264-4880.
Donors will be listed in The Eagle; please note if you prefer to remain anonymous.
To apply for help, fill out an application at www.sharetheseason.org or pick one up at the Salvation Army, 350 N. Market. The application deadline is Dec. 15. For more information, call 316-263-2769.
Among recent donors:
Billy Bolin; Kurt and Jean Carter; Barbara Case, in memory of Patrick Case and Michael Kincaid; Patsy and Eric Jay Davis; Thomas and Myra Devlin; Douglas and Janet Donaghue, in memory of Robert and Marian Davis; Rick and Barbara Hemphill; Aileen Hutchinson; Randy and Connie Kelly, in memory of Don Kelly and Vernon Bateson;
Robert and Barbara Loop, in memory of the deceased members of W.J. Stuever family; Richard and Mary Marko; Ronald and Patricia Myers; Sarah and Ottaway; Robert B. and Nancy J. Schwan Foundation; Sara and John Rogers, in memory of Dr. John Rogers; Thomas Schaefer; James Sprowl; Jerry and Denise Tarbell, in memory of Thelma Steincamp; Mark Woodard, in memory of Dorie Erhard; Troy and Chris Workman; and four anonymous donors.
This story was originally published November 25, 2017 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Dealing with brain surgery, woman seeks help from Share the Season."