The Save Brody's Brain Fund

Why, Whom, and to what cause you could be contributing to:

 Hello, my name is Brody Edwards. Before I address the matter at hand I wanted to give an informal introduction.

  My name, as stated before, is Brody Edwards. I'm a twenty five year old college student from Dayton Ohio. I've been with the same wonderful woman for about 6 years now and we've just had our first child in September of this year.

  A few years ago I started showing certain strange symptoms. I would lose function in my hands, stumble and lose my vision for short spells in the beginning. These we're alarming enough, but at the time we thought they weren't related and brushed it off as some other sort of problem.

  But it turned out to not be a few minor issues. As time went on the symptoms progressed. After invasive tests of all sorts and scans with names I can't pronounce, I was informed that my brain was in a state of atrophy. And on top of that on different portion of my brain there is an arachnoid cyst pressing into my brain. In the last two years I went from being strong and active, to walking with a cane at times. Even in these short few paragraphs I'm feeling extreme pain and fatigue. I become confused, and at times I have to read the same simple sentence multiple times to even hardly understand it.

 I need an operation to go on with life. Because of my condition I was forced to take a, hopefully temporary, break from school. I was in the process of receiving my associates in creative writing with hopes to also receive training as a portrait artist. I can no longer write or draw. How do you truly express the shame you feel in this sort of medium? Is it even possible?

What I am trying to gain from this posting:

 I want to live long enough to see my child grow. I want to be able to support the people I love. In a more monetary sense I need financial help doing so. I cant afford the testing and treatment I require. I can't hold a cup at times, let alone a career worth job.And frankly, I don't want to die or live a deminished meaningless life. I don't know how else to put a thought like that. The prospect of a miserable life and untimely death isn't very appealing to me.

 I can't be sure of the expenses. All I know is that in the first weekend of testing it had cost me 10,000 dollars. I don't want to ask for a certain amount of money because I know that the reality of the situation is more than what I can ask for. The surgery ,at a minimum, could cost 60,000+. If anything, I would just like to ask for a little help.

How your contribution can impact my future:

 You'll be giving me life in more than one sense. Not only will I be alive for longer, but I'll also be able to live a full life. I'll have the opportunity to contribute to society. I'll be able to pay back all the support people are giving me now. Right now I feel like a twenty five year old burden on the ones I love, and that isn't how it should be. It's not how I imagined things would be. I'll be able to be secure in thoughts of a future. I can't imagine any material or commodity on the planet more valuable than knowing that you're going to be okay.

 Thank you for reading this page I've written today. Even if you're not in a position to support my cause, please, PLEASE! pass this on in hopes that someone else may.

                Thank you.