Paying It Forward

"Takuro Spirit" (takurospirit) 01/18/2018 at 14:37 • Filed to: go fund me, pay it forward

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Since a lot of y’all were so nice to me with my YouTube thing, I decided to be nice to someone as well in the online community. I am sharing the story here and the link for the Go Fund Me an online friend of mine set up to help him out:

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I am doing this fundraiser for a friend. My friend’s name is Ed, or as we all know him, BigEd1948. Ed is 69 years old and loves to play video games. Ed and I are both fans of the “State of Decay” game and met each other through Twitch. Ed has been streaming State of Decay on Twitch almost every day for over two years now. Ed has come to be known and cared for by many players of State of Decay of all ages. Ed’s stream has always been a fun and friendly stream that welcomes all people. Many of us have had many hours of fun, hanging out, talking and watching Ed play. I think many of us found it novel at first to hang out just because of his age and Blues music, but I think many of us have come to consider Ed a good friend. Ed is an integral part of what I like to call our “SODFamily”. I have met many people through hanging out with Ed that I call family. Many of us will stream ourselves and come hang out with one another as we play. It has expanded into something that I, Ed and many others have come to enjoy in our life.

Unfortunately, about 4 weeks ago, at least for Ed, that has all come to a halt. Ed has had Tinnitus since he was a child. Ed’s Tinnitus has always been something minor and he was able to tune it out. It wasn’t something he really even noticed much. Ed’s right ear stopped up about 12 years ago due to a very severe sinus infection. After 3 weeks of it not resolving on its own, Ed saw an ENT physician. That physician pierced his right ear drum which allowed it to drain. This resolved Ed’s issue. Fast forward to December 2017; Ed was having issues with his hearing so he went to an urgent care type facility which wanted to flush out his ear. The facility was unaware that Ed’s ear drum had been pierced and Ed really didn’t think anything about it. Unknown to Ed, once your ear drum is pierced after age 50; it is rare for it to heal back up.

The urgent care facility used a solution to wash out the wax build up in his right ear which caused immediate and terrible pain. The urgent care facility told him that there was nothing that could be done now, told him to see an ENT specialist and released him. Ed stated he went home and went to sleep later that night. Ed awoke at 3 am that morning with a loud ringing in his right ear that was deafening. Ed stated he never experienced anything so horrible in all his life. Ed stated his Tinnitus had always been a 1 or 2 in the past, but now the ringing was 10 out of 10 and was unbearable.

Ed has gone to see an ENT specialist several times now and they have him on Prednisone which is helping with his issue to a degree. His specialist has told him that getting a special hearing aid with a Tinnitus masker is the only way to help him cope. The Tinnitus will never go away, but the doctor believes the special hearing aid will help him cope with his condition and to hopefully live a more normal life. These special hearing aids are over $3,000 and his insurance will not cover any of it. Ed was told he needed a normal hearing aid for his other ear and the bill will be well over $4,000 not including doctor bills.

Ed now lives with a high pitched ringing in a range 4 to 7 while on the Prednisone. Ed can’t stay on Prednisone forever due to the effects it will have on his system long term. Ed stated he doesn’t know what he will do when he has to come off the Prednisone and it goes back to an unbearable level. Ed stated that the ringing when at a 10 is so loud he almost felt he would lose his mind. Ed’s very scared of what the future holds for him.

Ed hasn’t streamed since this incident and rarely plays video games anymore. Ed pretty much just sits around the house hoping his right ear issues will resolve on their own. The ringing in Ed’s ear makes it very hard for him to hear and he can no longer hear the game or hear us when he comes to our streams. This is making Ed really depressed and we all miss our friend being able to enjoy what he loves. This is not to mention the strain it puts on him to be able to communicate and enjoy time spent with his wife, kids and grandkids.

Any funds donated will go straight to Ed and his wife Patty so that he can obtain these special hearing aids as well as covering the associated medical expenses with the Doctors’ appointments.

Anything you can do to help will be greatly appreciated.

To see some of Ed’s prior Twitch broadcasts, you can go here: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Thank You and much love to all! :-)

Ed always had some kick ass blues and classic rock playing in the background of his streams while he ran around and killed zombies in this game we both shared a love for. He’d been gone for awhile from Twitch so the community reached out and found what had happened. We miss him, and want to help him find some peace and quiet from his Tinnitus.

An added bonus would to have him come back to playing, as the sequel to the game is going to be 4 player co-op PVE survival, whereas the original was single player only. I’d love to play with him someday in the new game, he’s a cool cat.

Help if you can, please. <3

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Takuro Spirit 01/18/2018 at 15:29

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I hope it works out!

My bf has mild tinnitus and has had some luck with the nerve stimulation techniques found on reddit a while back . Basically you overstimulate the nerve responsible for (most) tinnitus and it just... stops, but only for a few minutes at a time. Temporary relief is still relief though.

3point8isgreat > Takuro Spirit 01/18/2018 at 16:02

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That sounds really awful! I hope he is eventually able to find relief.

I have gotten a bit more serious about protecting my hearing after realizing that I have a very minor but permanent case of tinnitus. Mine is luckily small enough that I don’t notice it unless I specifically pay attention to it, or I am in near complete silence. It is strange knowing that I probably won’t ever actually hear silence again.