![\"-STORY](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ldn20261001gr_055.lf_.jpg\")
Sydney Gesualdi poses for a photo with her parents, Kim and Joe, at their home in London on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (Geoff Robins\/The London Free Press)<\/p>\nSydney Gesualdi has no shortage of hobbies and interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love baking, hiking, running, reading and crocheting and knitting,\u201d Sydney said.<\/p>\n
She also likes journaling and enjoys travelling, noting she\u2019s been to Europe alone and has been whitewater rafting in Ecuador.<\/p>\n
Sydney described the activities that brought her joy while sitting on a couch in her parents\u2019 home wearing a neck brace. A walker is close by.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always kind of felt like, for some reason, I was running out of time, and so that\u2019s why I did so much, which partly I\u2019m very grateful for, because obviously this has happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
What happened was Sydney was rear-ended at a red light at Wharncliffe Road and Byron Avenue on July 21, 2023.<\/p>\n
At first, her injury appeared to be whiplash or a concussion, but after her condition deteriorated over several weeks, she was diagnosed with craniocervical instability (CCI). The rare condition causes instability where the skull meets the spine, leaving the neck unable to properly support the head.<\/p>\n
The injury results in pressure on the spinal cord, leading to neurological problems that have left Sydney basically bed-bound, consistently fatigued, wearing a neck brace and requiring a cane, wheelchair or walker to get around when she can.<\/p>\n
Although Sydney can \u201ctechnically\u201d still crochet and knit, she said her dexterity \u201chas been so impacted that it\u2019s really hard and challenging for (her) because of the fine kind of motor movements.\u201d<\/p>\n
Journaling has also become a trying activity for the McMaster University graduate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t really write for longer than two minutes without my hand starting to lose feeling and it starts to have a lot of pain, so I can\u2019t really do that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not just physical endeavours that have become difficult for Sydney.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven reading, my cognitive issues are so intense that some days I can\u2019t read, and the only way I can read is if I have an audio book playing at the same time to really help me follow along.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the crash has \u201cimpacted my life not only physically but cognitively,\u201d noting that if she exerts too much energy and reaches her daily limits, her condition further amplifies her struggles.<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine being really hungover, mixed with having the flu and a mild concussion, and yes, all at the same time,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s how I feel every single day. But if I push myself, it\u2019s like that times 10. . . I feel poisoned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sydney lamented: \u201cI sometimes don\u2019t recognize my brain in a way. I miss the way my brain used to work. The brain that I lived with for 23 years before. I\u2019ve had to almost adjust to this brain and body that is obviously very incapacitated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n
Her life has changed in \u201cevery single way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Sydney used to be very social, she said, adding she has become \u201cisolated from the world\u201d while her life has mostly been confined to the four walls of her parents\u2019 house since the collision.<\/p>\n
A portion of her 20s has essentially been on hold while her friends experience the milestones of young adulthood.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy friends are getting engaged, they\u2019re getting married, they\u2019re travelling, buying condos with their partners, and it\u2019s like I\u2019m watching life happen behind glass, but I\u2019m frozen. But I can still see the world around me. Everybody\u2019s doing their thing, and it\u2019s a hard feeling to describe.\u201d<\/p>\n
But there is a potentially life-changing operation for which Sydney is a candidate.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s called cranio-cervical fusion surgery, an operation that would fuse the base of her skull to the top of her spine. The family has met with several people whose lives have returned to almost normal, with some mobility loss, after the surgery.<\/p>\n
Although the complex operation isn\u2019t available in Canada, the procedure can be performed at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.<\/p>\n
However, at roughly $493,600, the operation is pricey.<\/p>\n
After years of lobbying the provincial government for out-of-country OHIP coverage, Sydney has so far been denied the accommodation, a source of great frustration for the family.<\/p>\n
An out-of-country procedure is a clinical decision determined by an Ontario doctor, Lily Barnes, a spokesperson for Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones, said in a Sept. 16 email statement. She said there are \u201cspecific requirements\u201d that must be met before an Ontario resident can qualify for funding, including \u201censuring the procedure is medically necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Barnes: \u201cOnce a clinician\u2019s decision is made, patients are informed and provided with a summary of the decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sydney said staying positive is \u201creally hard\u201d and remaining optimistic can be tough. She described the process of trying to obtain the operation that could restore her life to what it was before the crash as angering.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard, of course when each time you think you\u2019ve made progress, another door is slammed in your face, or another person says no, or another thing is denied,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
The unavailability of the operation in Canada and the lack of provincial government financial assistance to cover the cost of the surgery across the border led Sydney\u2019s father, Joe Gesualdi, to launch the Miles 4 a Miracle fundraiser in August.<\/p>\n
Sydney Gesualdi poses for a photo with her parents, Kim and Joe, at their home in London on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (Geoff Robins\/The London Free Press)<\/p>\n
Joe pushed Sydney\u2019s empty wheelchair from London to Toronto in stages in an effort to raise funds for his daughter\u2019s surgery and awareness of her plight.<\/p>\n
He reached Queen\u2019s Park on Sept. 16, where he gave a speech flanked by Sydney and London-Fanshawe MPP Teresa Armstrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had had enough. Enough of watching Sydney unable to bathe, unable to feed herself, or care for herself, when I knew a solution existed, just over the border (in the U.S.),\u201d he said at the news conference. \u201c(I) had enough of watching her suffer in pain, with no help from our Ministry of Health or OHIP, and silence from our health-care system.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Gesualdis\u2019 fundraising efforts are paying off.<\/p>\n
As of Sunday morning, the fundraiser had reached roughly $455,000 of its goal, leaving about $38,500 still to be raised.<\/p>\n
Sydney feels \u201cimmense gratitude\u201d that Joe and her mother, Kim Gesualdi, are willing to fight so hard for her while her condition has made it difficult to fully advocate for herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so grateful, but at the same time, it\u2019s shameful that we have to do this in our province, and obviously that\u2019s why it\u2019s been challenging,\u201d she said. \u201cIf the care was available here, why would my dad be doing this?\u201d<\/p>\n
With the fundraiser closing in on the donation target that will pay for Sydney\u2019s operation after a years-long struggle, Kim said it has been difficult to watch her daughter\u2019s condition worsen. But she sees a \u201cglimmer of hope\u201d for the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very challenging at the best of times to be hopeful,\u201d Kim said. \u201cBut this is what we wanted to do with the fundraiser, kind of bring that hope back somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Sydney said she hasn\u2019t thought about it much, for the 27-year-old with a long list of hobbies and interests, it\u2019s the little things she hopes to one day do again.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust (to) be able to walk around the block with my headphones in . . . nothing crazy, maybe I just want to drive myself to get ice cream because I can\u2019t do that (now),\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the moment, you don\u2019t realize how significant and meaningful those experiences are until you are deprived of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Profile](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/59b24d312e668ad689f417061ac43d8bc5eb06d0e61f98c8c1f6268e86789348.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n