Dearest community,

Asking for help is one of the hardest thing we have to do to overcome our egos in this life....here I go..

As some of you already know I had a very traumatic accident during a show last week, the second unexpected obstacle in less than three months.
I got hired to perform while wearing my mermaid costume for a total of 11 shows in an aquarium in Chennai.
As I reached the location I noticed that swimming among a variety of tropical fishes in the pool where I was going to do my acts, there were sharks too.
I was told that sharks are domineering creatures that don’t approach nor like to engage with humans, and as such, I was safe and should not worry about them.
Even though I asked for rehearsal without a costume and make-up to get acquainted with the space before getting on with work, the company did not allow me to do so.
Nevertheless, the first day of the performance went very well and I was feeling very satisfied and proud of myself for managing such an adventurous and extraordinary act with ease.
On the afternoon of the second day, however, as I was swimming my way up to reach the designed place where I could take air in before finishing the afternoon session, a sudden and excruciating pain spread from my left hand.
I felt the mouth and teeth of some creature around it and quickly pulled it off it.
The diver that was in the pool with me, working as a helper, managed to intervene and help me to shore as I was bleeding copiously, under shock, saving myself from being shark lunch from the 8 sharks I was swimming with!
He later stated I got bitten by a shark.
I had an emergency operation that same night repairing the nerves and tendons in my middle finger and putting stitches in all the fingers.
Even though it was my four fingers of the left hand that got bitten and in which numbness was spreading, the surgeon only performed surgery on the worse wound, which is in my middle finger.
The company paid for the cost of surgery and the three days I spent in the hospital in Chennai after that, as well as 50% of the agreed amount for the totality of my shows there.
Coming back to Goa I visited a local plastic surgeon who told me they should have immediately worked on the nerves of the entirety of the fingers and that I will possibly have to undergo another operation in three months' time if the sensation does not come back to all the fingers.
As for now, there definitely is damage to the nerves and tendons, I can’t feel my fingers to different degrees.
I can’t, at the moment, evaluate the motoring damages as I am in a lot of pain and my fingers are full of stitches and I have a cast.
As the body is a whole system I find myself, at the very moment, in a lot of body pain. Put on top of this that I am under the influence of many different medications that are affecting my digestive system, and triggering an underlying condition that I had really gotten under control this past year. Unfortunately, my current state is not the best.
I can’t perform the simplest of tasks and there is no way to know how long the recovery will take, which means I won’t be able to work for a very long time, the least for the next three months.
As a circus artist, my hands are a fundamental tool that I need to work.
On top of body ache and a deep trauma to deal with, from the incident itself, and I have panic rising when I think about the future of my income, fearing I won’t be able to go back to running the circus, teaching, and performing soon enough in order to provide for me and my family.
This is the second accident happening in a few months and the mermaid gig was my first gig since Jan, so I was already financially low! My health has proven to be challenged very often in the past couple of years with a diagnosis of reactivated Epstein Barr Virus, and I am on hold since way too long.
The last two seasons have also taken their toll on my finances and my previously successful circus, as tourism was not allowed into India and I could not offer the teaching retreats at their fullest as I would usually do. It's been a lot all at once!
I am used to taking life by the balls and doing everything I can by myself, and it is with a heavy heart that I now find myself in the position of needing to ask for monetary help.
Peace of the mind is the best medicine pill for fast healing, having to worry about money is really not helping my body to relax and perform its recovery tasks.
I am an adoptive mother of two beautiful children that are sailing towards adolescence right now, and I am trying with all my might to give them the best life possible, it's been my number one priority since adopting them in 2012/13.
This is, without a doubt, a costly priority for me.
I have many things to think about: how to feed them, their schooling fees, my own housing, and the costs of my healing journey which’s amounts are hard to predict as of now.
My monthly needs are around $1500-$2000 ($750 kids school, $500 rent, $250-500 food and transport).
On top of that, there are medical costs to be covered, I now have to visit the hospital to clean the wounds every four days, and, once the cast and the stitches will be removed in ten days, I will have to start physiotherapy to encourage the nerves and the tendons to heal. I will only know in time if I will require a second operation. 
I am aiming to rise 4000USD which will really help me to feel supported the coming three months, in which I have been instructed by the surgeon not to use my hand.  I pray and meditate every day that I will not need another surgery.

Any help, even the smallest of amounts (including healing energy, sharing the campaign), can be very beneficial and is so deeply appreciated.
I have many projects going on to help subsidize my artist lifestyle and family, which have saved us completely these past 2 years.

I sell beautiful products from India, together with my creative works on Patreon.
Feel free to visit my pages if you feel that’s how you wanna help or if you feel called to support on this platform, you have my infinite gratitude.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/BlissIndianImports

www.patreon.com/aprillbliss

I honestly feel like the love and support from you all is going to get me through this faster than expected and I will repair without a second surgery.
This is a deep journey into myself in this near-death healing journey and once I recover and can create again I promise to create more magic, beauty and wonder in this world from the experienced I have lived to become a shark attack survivor.
I am thankful to all those who reached out, it is a very critical moment of my life and your closeness and care mean the world to me.