DONNA LYNN BROPHY SPINAL DISEASES FUNDRAISER!

Please help Donna (aka Bhakti) get the spinal surgery she needs in NYC.

“We can find inspiration in various walks of life. Whenever we see someone rising above their limitations, having the courage to continue to not only be creative in the face of great adversity, but also to excel, these people raise the bar for all of us and seeing them continue to find a way can be tremendously inspiring. Donna is just one of those people. Her passion for music and the guitar has given her the courage and strength to rise above tremendous limitation. And this is how one can change the world for the better. By being an excellent example. You go sister!”
 - Steve Vai
*Guitar Virtuoso (Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth, PIL, Whitesnake)
*Four time Grammy Award Winner 
*Symphonic Composer


Donna Lynn Brophy (aka Bhakti) was hit by a car in 1997, resulting in multiple surgeries, including cervical spinal reconstruction in 2005.  Living with spinal cord nerve root injuries and four incurable spinal diseases causes Donna severe chronic pain and has left her virtually bedridden and 100% disabled.

Donna’s insurance no longer covers the cost of her disability and care. Therefore, her family has set up a SUPPLEMENTAL NEEDS TRUST to help provide all the costs that insurance and governmental benefits deny.  This Trust will make it possible for her to have cutting edge surgery in NYC.  These costs are significant, costing tens of thousands of dollars each year.
Please help Donna maintain her current level of care and quality of life.


Donations can be made online through www.gofundme.com/GoBrophy

or by mailing a check to:


Donna Lynn Brophy Supplemental Needs Trust
    P.O.Box 556
    Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927

THANK YOU! 🙏

JAI BHAKTI™ Blog: DIVINITY, FORTITUDE, AND DISABILITY

People often ask how I am able live with the relentless physical pain and disabilites caused by spinal diseases and cervical spine injury:


AREN'T THESE FLOWERS WORTH LIVING FOR?

COMING SOON!

Several months ago, Reverend Harriet Hawkins, from California, U.S.A., interviewed me regarding prayer--if I pray, how I pray, and what I ask for in prayer. These questions opened up an inspiring dialogue (via email) regarding my spiritual practices. The end result is a sermon she gave based on my life story, including the spiritual journey that guided me through four major traumatic experiences from childhood into middle age, and how I turned these experiences into a way to help others.

Reverend Harriet lives 3,000 miles away, and I have never met her in person (she read about my story online), yet her energy is so pure, her mission in life so uplifting and selfless, I bless the day she reached out to me and honor her friendship dearly.

We will be making the audio of this sermon available on JAI BHAKTI™ so others in my position can realize that it IS posibble to live with these diseases (the suicide rate is staggering)--no one ever said it would be easy, but it is possible and worth it.

The sermon also outlines the services I offer free of charge to anyone with disabilities. 

It's also a testament to the unconditional love given by my mother/caregiver, and father.



May you all experience the bliss and love of your Heart and realize this bliss and love to be your True identity.

Namo Namah,

Bhakti



Image ©2014 DL Bhakti Brophy
All Rights Reserved

Cervical Posterior Foraminotomy: ANIMATED

(I have had two major cervical spine surgeries due to radiculopathy of the C-5, C-6, and C-7 nerve roots. If you have any questions regarding either a cervical spine fusion or a foraminotomy surgery (i.e. the recovery time, etc.) please don't hesitate to email me at jaibhakti@aol.com. There isn't much info on the web about radiculopathy; I will share whatever information I do have. --Bhakti)

When I got my new laptop, I made the mistake of thinking I was in my late teens and in art school, and began having marathon typing sessions in which I tried to get everything down on paper that had been stuck inside my head for the past six months. My mistake. I do this all the time: I get an idea in my head and I rush out of the starting gate like a race horse that hasn't peed in a year, just trying to achieve my goal. I don't know how to pace myself. Couple that with the fact that my pain levels have doubled since my last surgery--and that my hands have also been afflicted with two new physical conditions due to the surgery--and it's easy to see how I shot myself in the foot by typing as if I don’t have physical limitations.

I must confess, the first few days I had my laptop, I went a little overboard with the typing and didn't listen to my body when it let me know that I should stop and rest for awhile. I enjoyed my reentry into the blogosphere so much that I even created my Bhakti Love Poems blog. Then, the proverbial shit hit the fan and I began waking up unable to open my fingers (my hand clenched in fist position), and got sharp, lightning bolt pains down both sides of my back. Now, I get burning sensations from my neck down either side of my spine when I type too long --the same pain as in my left arm. It's quite painful. I know I am to blame for some of this because, as stated above, I didn't honor my body when it told me to stop typing (who can stop typing after a mere half hour when there are so many ideas waiting to come to fruition?), and, I must admit, I hadn't been sitting in the most ergonomically correct position while typing.

I'm telling you about this because I just found an animated version of the surgical procedure I had done on my spine this past November. After watching the video animation it became a little clearer to me why it is so important to hold my head up straight while typing--and throughout the day in general; my spine is, as my doctor says, "very unstable in the back of the neck."

Anyone who has been reading JAI BHAKTI since it’s inception knows that the front of my neck fell apart and is held together with a four inch plate and eight titanium screws, however I never actually understood what my neurosurgeon did to the back of my neck until I watched this animation.

CLICK HERE to watch an animated video illustrating what a cervical posterior foraminotomy looks like. I was enlightened; perhaps you will be too!

Click here to see both x-rays of my neck.

Maybe now that I've seen the, cervical posterior foraminotomy animation I'll be a little easier on myself with regard to why I feel so much pain all of the time. On a physical level, I understand why I am in so much pain. On a spiritual level, I do not understand the 'why' of it at all; but it certainly has been one heck of a ride.

tags: Jaibhakti, Bhakti Brophy, foraminotomy, meditation, spinal surgery,