Aurea’s Gamma Knife Surgery Fundraiser

Our mom worked for half of her life as a domestic helper abroad. She worked to support her family just like any mother would and she retired just a year ago. She was diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia 2 years ago and she’s been silently suffering since then.

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN), is sometimes described as the most excruciating pain known to humanity. The pain typically involves the lower face and jaw, although sometimes it affects the area around the nose and above the eye. This intense, stabbing, electric shock-like pain is caused by irritation of the trigeminal nerve, which sends branches to the forehead, cheek and lower jaw. It usually is limited to one side of the face. The pain can be triggered by an action as routine and minor as brushing your teeth, eating or the wind. Attacks may begin mild and short, but if left untreated, trigeminal neuralgia can progressively worsen (Source: aans.org).

Her pain has been on and off for the past 2 years but just recently (2 months ago), the pain has been more severe and the attacks have been more frequent daily. It’s hard to see your mom cry and endure an excruciating pain and there’s nothing you can do about it but be by her side and hope that the pain will go away.

Living with TN can be very difficult. It can have a significant impact on a person's quality of life, resulting in problems such as weight loss, isolation and depression.

We consulted with a Neurologist and was prescribed with medicines for Trigeminal Neuralgia but it’s not working for her anymore so he referred us to a Neurosurgeon instead. The neurosurgeon told us to take her for an MRI, when the results came in they found some blood vessels impinging the trigeminal nerve on the right side of her brain and we given 3 options: that we have 3 options for her:

• Continue increasing the dosage of her meds but in the long run, her body will be immune to the meds and will render it ineffective and will cause a lot of side effects
• Open brain surgery - 90% success rate but expensive, highly invasive and too risky
• Gamma Knife Surgery - less expensive than open brain surgery, less or almost non invasive

We opted for the less-invasive procedure for her which is the Gamma Knife Surgery. Gamma Knife radio surgery is a type of radiation therapy used to treat brain tumors, arteriovenous malformations, trigeminal neuralgia, acoustic neuroma and tremors (Source: mayoclinic.org, my.clevelandclinic.org)

We are reaching out to you because we need your help and prayers. As reluctant as we are to ask, this is an important request. We are fundraising for an important, life-changing procedure for our mother.

We know in these trying times that it can be difficult to really feel you’ve made an impact, but any amount will help and we will be immensely gracious. God bless you all