I’d like to reach out to the Guild Wars 2 community for help here. Posting here was not something that was easy for me to do, but I have finally decided that I really had to swallow some pride, and ask people that I may have run into in the game in passing to help me out in real life.
A little bit about myself for starters…. My name is Connor, and I am 27 years old. I live in Indiana, USA and I work for the city government as a type of social worker helping low income families secure affordable housing.
In the past, I have been extremely active in the Guild Wars 1 community:
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Ascalon_Royal_Family_Masquerade_Ball
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Oktoberfest
Those were two events I created to bring the community together, to have fun and to engage social issues big or small as presented at each event.
What I came to learn about the Guild Wars community was that they were passionate, giving individuals who cared more about the well being of others than themselves and that fun and togetherness were far more important than loot or gold. Guild Wars 2 has been no different, and as I have played GW2, I have enjoyed the reaction of giving legendaries and rare items to those I am close to and seeing them “pay it forward.” The majority of players in this community don’t surprise me any longer; I know how great you guys and gals can be, as I’ve been a part of that community for a long time.
This brings me back to the focus of this post: my issue I need help with.
In 2009, I suffered a catastrophic injury to my L5 disc in my lumbar (a 2.5cm central prolapsed herniation), damaging the nerves in my cauda equina, some of them permanently. As the healing process began, so did new types of pain; every single day has been a struggle since the surgery to correct the herniation. I learned to live with pain, and the issues that came with each variation of it. Sometimes though, the restrictions presented wear me down, and I find myself crying, very depressed, etc. Guild Wars has been as escape, but it is just that, a an escape, not a solution.
However, on October 22nd, I fell and re-herniated my L5 disc, impinging my S2 nerve root directly and involving my S1 and S3 roots as well. The pain is debilitating, leaving me unable to sit, much less walk. The pain radiates down my right side, feeling like a knife stabbing into my right hip and thigh, my right calf feels like it is being ripped out and my right ankle feels like it is being crushed. Electrical pulses radiate across my skin in a similar pattern, sometimes changing to burning sensations.
There has been another serious side effect of my 2009 injury: weight gain. In 2009, I weighed 230 pounds; while I was husky, I was muscular and in overall excellent health. Fast forward to today, and I am 340 pounds, with deteriorated muscle tissue throughout my body due to lack of exercise. This is not by choice, but by necessity… it is too painful to exercise, and even short bursts of low impact cardio leave me crippled the following day, unable to go to work, unable to even walk.
With the recent new injury, I will require another back surgery. There is, however, a treatment I am eligible for. A new treatment, aptly named “REGENADISC” (google it) can heal my discs back to almost normal condition. Unfortunately, insurance does not cover this vital procedure.
This procedure would follow current medically necessary treatments to remove impingement on my nerves, which insurance does cover. If I am able to raise the needed funds, my recovery time would be 4-6 weeks, with full regeneration taking no more than 3-4 months. After this point, I can resume a normal exercise regimen and shed this awful, unhealthy weight that has plagued me long enough.
I’m reaching out to the Guild Wars 2 community to help me reach my goal. Please, this situation has caused me untold heartache; the weight gain is compounding the issue and I cannot continue to live in this kind of pain. My family has run out of funds to assist me, I have tapped my savings completely and I continue to stack up medical bills putting on band aid treatments without treating the underlying issue – the degenerated discs themselves. Feel free to message me in game as well; I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have! My user name is Sojar.1495. If you can donate, even a small amount, I will be forever grateful. A lot of people donating a small amount can make just as much of a difference as one person donating a big amount. No gift is meaningless, and no gift will go without a personal thank you from me, I can guarantee you that. Thanks for your time reading this, and I wish everyone the best this holiday season.
Here is the link: http://www.gofundme.com/stemcelllumbardisc
PS: There is a YouTube video on the crowd funding project of myself, giving a short story of the above.