IAmA

Hello, I hope you're all doing well. I browse Reddit frequently, but did not make an account until now. My name is Hunter Shaffer, I was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta type 3: A severe brittle bone disorder that has left me with more shattered bones than I can count. In my first year of life alone, I suffered over 100 broken bones: That number is now well over 500, we stopped counting. I have rods hip to toe in both legs, as well as my left forearm. I could go on for days about the various stories behind the broken bones, surgeries and the like. The worst accident occurred during laser tag on May 9th, 2015 with my now ex-girlfriend at a post prom party. I was healing from left forearm rodding surgery, and she was pushing my chair while I was shooting the people behind us. Foolishly, I did not have a seatbelt on and she whipped the wheelchair around a corner on a VERY sharp turn. I flew over my armrest, shattering my pelvis, both femurs, 7 ribs, broken skull and a brain bleed among other injuries. Follow-up surgeries were required to replace the rods in my legs, and the final one resulted in a near fatal about of aspiration pneumonia. I will be 25 this year, and attended Cornell for Oceanography. I have been in several news publications, including syracuse .com and the NY Times. In 2017, I was diagnosed with inoperable compression of the brainstem. It all started on November 13th, 2017, something just did not feel quite right. A CT scan of my head alone showed no abnormalities, but the Basilar Invagination&Chiari malformation were discovered after I demanded a scan that included my neck. In light of the fact that I am unable to get an MRI due to metal rods all throughout my body, finding out what was wrong with me took quite some time. In 2019, 3 pieces of skull bone were removed to decompress the Chiari Malformation. Unfortunately, they were not able to fuse the neck and remove the piece of bone impinging on my brainstem. Sadly, this has led to a rather strong dependence on Oxycodone to manage the pain and symptoms as well as Valium to manage the seizure-like activity and muscle spasms in the neck area that go through my entire body. I have some very odd symptoms as a result of the compression, such as sudden paralysis, blackouts, but it is not without its gifts: The pressure on the auditory nerves allows me to listen to a song once, memorize it and "hear" it if I focus on the lyrics. It has also greatly boosted my Eidetic Memory, reaching 24 numbers for memorization on Human Benchmark. Proof: Reddit AMA video on my Youtube Link to the Syracuse.com video covering my typing speed and discussing cyber threats: NY Times Article covering the world of speed typing:Video of me sustaining over 200WPM on a 60 second test:

Proof Of Disability(GoFundMe)

I'm not too sure how much longer I have on this planet, as my condition is incredibly rare and there is no federal funding for it. I'm taking things one day at a time, attempting to keep my head above water with all of the sudden onset of symptoms, medication costs and especially ambulance bills(The last one I received was for a whopping $4900 USD)

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