CAPE CORAL, Fla. — For North Fort Myers high school teacher, Dianira Rivera, headaches are pretty normal.
"I usually get migraines, since I've been in my teen years," said Rivera.
But in September, she got one that just felt different.
"My speech was slurred. I could not even pick something up off the floor," said Rivera.
And after three weeks of agony, and several trips to urgent care, she finally went to the ER.
"That's when they found out I had a mass in the cerebellum," said Rivera.
She had a brain tumor.
Doctors were able to remove it in on October 1.
Two weeks later, Rivera says she has occasional "bad days," but is otherwise "doing better."
Her recovery, she says, has been made easier by the support she's received from the local community.
In order to help offset the costs of this unplanned procedure, her friend and coworker, Lachy Hernandez, set up this GoFundMe page.
Hernandez tells Fox 4 that she was hoping to raise anywhere from "100 to 1,000 dollars."
But in just a few short weeks, they've raised more than $14,000.
"We're very, very happy," said Hernandez.
"I really thank everyone. Even people that I don't know have donated money," said Rivera.
Dianira says she will receive biopsy results from her tumor this week.
At this point she's expected to be out of work for at least another six weeks.
