Local Vibe

This weekend on August 15th, The Queens Tavern in Ayr is hosting The Headbanger Benefit Concert. This is a fundraiser for a friend of ours that has been experiencing ridiculous headaches for months with no form of treatment having any type of an effect on his pain and suffering. The goal is to raise some funds to allow a new decompression treatment to be attempted, as he has exhausted his benefits and savings with prior treatments. I have included the message from the facebook group below, which was written by Tracey (Derek’s wife).

As most of you know (and some that dont) my husband Derek has been very sick due to headaches that no doctor can figure out. He has had 3 cat scans and 4 MRI’s and they have found nothing..yet he lives everyday in so much pain that he cant even function. We have been to 3 specialists…he has taken every medication out there to try to help and nothing works. He has just gone through 6 weeks of very painful nerve block therapy (injections to the left side of his head and neck in order to freeze the nerve) but this had no effect on him either. He has been off work since Jan and since then he has lost almost 60 pounds….(the pain is so intense that it makes him vomit all the time…and he never feels like eating). The only way I can discribe to you the pain he is in is….take your worst headache….and times it by 1000…that is what he lives with 80% of the time…and when it dies off enough that he can get out of bed it still worse than any normal headache.

Madison and Brianna need there dad back..and I want my husband back…we dont have a life…and we cant make plans to do anything just incase he cant get out of bed….When you see Derek he can put on a pretty good face..and try to make you think that he is dealing with this ok and that he can handle the pain…That is what you see and what he has chosen to show you…what you dont see is when he has one of his attacks (nightly)…and he shoots up out of bed…tries to run to the bathroom because the pain is so intense and he is going to throw up… but his legs give out because he is to weak to get there..he falls into walls because of the pain..and so much more that I cant even get into because it is just to much.This is our life…. Anyways Im emailing you now to tell you that we might have a light at the end of the tunnel. We met with a Doctor who is a decompression specialist. She is in Kitchener and when we saw her we took Dereks MRI information to her and she thinks she may be able to help with his pain. Derek has 2 disks in his neck that could be the cause of this..the disks are basically dry..meaning they have been compressed to the point that they can no longer do there job.They are “squished” out and they are pinching the nerves that control some of his head on the left side (always where he gets the headaches). This is what she thinks is causing the majority of his pain. The treatments that he needs are called decompression treatments….where basically they stretch out his spine, allowing the discs to rejuvenate and rebuild..hense not pushing them against the nerves that cause pain in his head. As he does the sessions he will also be inhailing pure oxygen ….which helps in repairing. Combined with all that he will also see her for massage therapy and some chiropractic adjusting…but most of this is the decompression.

The reason Im having the benefit is because each of these treatments are $200 and he has to go 3 times a week in order for him to see if this is going to work.Now Derek is covered for medical benefits through his work but we have used all of them up..and because we have spent hundreds of dollars on things that we were told “would definatly work” and havent … and werent covered, my parents have given us the money for the first 10 sessions. The Doc has told us that in order to fix the discs back to there original state it will take 20 sessions in total…but we will know for sure after 10 if it is working and whether we should continue or not. So I thought if i raise enought money for the rest of the sessions it would help us out so much.Im emailing everyone on my contact list and if you would like to forward this to anyone that you know might be able to help please do. I dont ask for much…but now I need your help. I need to bring my family back to the way we were, before this happened. I know that this treatment might not work, but we are out of options..there is nothing else to try….we have done it all and I dont want to look back and think this could have been the treatment that worked.Its been 5 years since this all began…and I need it to end..the girls and I need Derek back..and he needs his life back to. He is at the end of his rope..he cant handle the pain anymore. Thanks for reading..and I hope you all can attend.

So that is the skinny on The Headbanger Benefit, and you can find out more information by going to the Headbanger Benefit facebook page. The bands have been confirmed and you will be thoroughly entertained by Deuce, Chew Toy and Josey Whailers. Also, everyone that buys a ticket will be served up a beef on a bun at the event, compliments of Mary Anne from the Queens Tavern who has donated their venue for this to take place.

For ticket info, drop by The Queens Tavern, The H’Ayr Corner or MacNeil & Dodd Pharmacy if you are out in Ayr. If you aren’t, visit the website above and feel free to contact Tracey for tickets. If that doesn’t work, leave a message on here and I will take care of it for you.