Since February of this year, April has been battling a number of symptoms and health issues that have ultimately led to the discovery of a Chiari malformation. The Chiari causes a portion of her brain to compress her brain stem, blocking fluid and causing tension on her spinal chord. This leads her to experience vocal chord paralysis, swallowing dysfunction, chronic cough, fatigue, nerve & body pain, brain fog, eye pressure, vomiting and migraines. Additionally, due to the compression on her spinal cord, she experiences a variety of lower body symptoms as well. None of these things will go away without treatment. April is a candidate at the Chiari Institute in Barcelona, so she and Tim will be traveling to Barcelona in the coming weeks for surgery that has the potential to keep her from undergoing major, invasive brain surgery. All of these expenses are being paid out of pocket, though insurance appeals are ongoing. Many hands make light work. The goal of this page is for her community to contribute in any way they can to help ease the burden of costs incurred during Tim's and April's travels (meals, unexpected travel expenses, a cushion for unexpected costs, etc.), as well as, to help provide support while her parents are taking care of Faith and Charlie while mom goes to get the procedure she needs. Tim and April will be gone for at least 2 weeks. Because of the global scale of April's procedure and needs, we are asking strictly for donations through PayPal via this site, or you can donate to April's Venmo account @April-LyonsMaglothin Updates on April's progress will be posted here on this page.