Tipperary man makes plea for funds to remove cyst from brain

A Tipperary man has made an emotional plea online to raise funds to have a cyst removed from his brain.

Evan Hickey has written an open letter on GoFundMe detailing his discovery that he was living with a 22mm pineal cyst in the centre of his brain. The cyst is causing painful headaches and visual disturbance due to the pressure it is putting on the optic nerve in Evan's left eye. The 24-year-old described the pain of the cyst as "excruciating" and "unbearable."

"You feel a pressure in your head unlike any sensation you thought humanly possible. Various areas of your body are weak, numb and tingling with pins & needles. Day after day the symptoms worsen until every aspect of your average day becomes a burden. Eventually they get so bad that you realise the symptoms you had thought inhuman at the beginning of your illness were at least bearable and you wish you were back there."

Evan needs to raise €170,000 in order to remove the cyst. As technology in Ireland is not advanced enough to carry out the procedure without risking Evan's life, he must travel to the US to avail of the surgery. He was told that his cyst was one of the larger that US specialists had seen, and that it would cost $196,400 to remove it. Evan first became aware of his illness while he was living in Canada. He returned home in the hope that a diagnosis would lead him on the road to recovery. Evan described his situation as: "Everest in front of you and you don't know how to begin the climb."

"Swallowing my pride and asking you for financial help is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, but I ask out of desperation."

He is appealing for donations to his GoFundMe to allow him to get his life back. Already, the page has received over €50,000 worth of donations. Evan still needs about €115,000 in order to pay for the surgery. Image via GoFundMe.