STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Rising musical artist Corvyx is seeking support from the community during a challenging time.
For the past eight years, Anthony Colasuonno, known by his stage name Corvyx, has been supporting his sister Rocchetta Colasuonno, who goes by Tina, as she bravely fights Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH).
This rare brain condition is characterized by increased pressure in the skull from fluid buildup around the brain, leading to symptoms like vision problems, headaches, nausea, vomiting and more.
“She always seemed to be in good spirits, so to see her physically diminishing… she became a shell of herself essentially, it was very scary and it happened very quickly,” Corvyx said. “My sister was essentially a super woman to me. She took care of everything. She would get up at 6 a.m., come home at 6 p.m., cook dinner, help me with my homework and do all the things that a parent would do.”
Corvyx has started a GoFundMe campaign to help his sister regain her footing during this difficult period as Tina has exhausted her financial resources.
A viral success, Corvyx has more than 200,000 people who follow him on YouTube, where he posts videos of his music. He has used the platform to tell Tina’s story.
So far, nearly 300 supporters, including fans, friends, and family, have contributed more than $20,000, bringing the total to almost halfway toward the $50,000 goal.
“When my brother first told me that he was planning on doing this for me, I was like, ‘no, please don’t.’ I felt weird with having everyone knowing I am financially in a crisis because I was always independent my whole life,” Tina said. “He convinced me and it has been so wonderful. I did not expect this much support.”
The GoFundMe campaign aims to help keep a roof over her head, cover her bills, and ideally replenish some of what she has lost.
“My main goal is to definitely provide some financial stability for her and try to reciprocate half of what she has done for me. I wouldn’t have been able to pursue music as avidly as I have if it wasn’t for her,” Corvyx said.
The challenges of living with IIH
The siblings lived together most of their lives on Staten Island — in Great Kills and New Springville. Tina, 46, worked for more than two decades at a law firm in downtown Manhattan while also helping to raise her brother, Corvyx, who is now 33.
“She started experiencing vision problems at work. I remember her calling me while I was home, and she was telling me, ‘I can’t see,’” Corvyx said. “She was losing vision temporarily for like minutes at a time, where she couldn’t see anything. There were a few times when I had to pick her up because she couldn’t get on the bus to come home.”
After visiting an ophthalmologist in 2016, they discovered that Tina’s optic nerve was so severely swollen it was on the verge of rupturing, which could lead to blindness. They rushed her to the emergency room, where a spinal tap was performed, Corvyx recalled.
“They revealed that her intracranial pressure, which is how much fluid is actually in your skull, was almost seven times the amount of the average person’s, and that’s how they deduced Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension,” he added.
She was officially diagnosed that night in 2016. Tina continued to work as long as she could, but eventually she was unable to continue.
“Her body was physically unable to do menial tasks. It’s not just nausea and dizziness; it actually affects her equilibrium, so she was falling all the time,” Corvyx said. “She still falls a lot. She can’t stare at screens for too long, which was essentially her job. And when she would get episodes, these episodes would basically render her. She would have to sleep on the bathroom floor because she would be violently vomiting.”
Denied disability benefits
Eventually, Tina’s doctor told her she had to apply for disability. She filed for it under the doctor’s orders and with legal counsel, Corvyx shared. She has been undergoing this disability case since she left her job in 2017, and she still has not yet been approved.
“She has been denied multiple times and she’s done everything — she has written statements from neurologists and specialists advising the judges that she’s not fit to work,” her brother said. “Every check box that you can mark off for the disability, she falls under, so it’s just been bizarre that she has been denied.”
Tina hasn’t had income since she’s been fighting her disability case, her brother shared. From the time she was diagnosed until 2021, when they both left Staten Island, Corvyx essentially became her caretaker. He drove her to appointments and handled all the household chores — shopping, cooking, and cleaning — things Tina was no longer able to manage.
They currently live separately, two hours apart. Corvyx resides with his long-term partner in upstate New York, while Tina lives in Pennsylvania.
“She now lives in Pennsylvania because that was like the most affordable place to live at the time,” Corvyx explained. “She has basically gone through all of her financial assets, which is the reason we had move from Staten Island. She actually had to sell her home because she was running out of money.”
Though he is farther away from his sister, he remains dedicated to helping her, as her living expenses are a concern when she is unable to work. She currently uses Instacart for groceries, and nearby friends help out by driving her to her bi-weekly doctor’s appointments when needed.
“If I had known that it would have taken this long to get what I am entitled to, I probably would have never pursued disability,” Tina said. “Because of everything that I lost.”
Tina has been denied disability five times, with the reasoning that she is capable of working a light job for three hours a day, which she says is hard to sustain life on. Her lawyer, Lori Lemback, is pursuing a countersuit, arguing that her limited ability to work actually indicates she has a disability, making the denial hypocritical.
The case is currently in appeals, and Tina is trying to stay positive despite the challenges she has faced, including selling two houses and depleting her 401k.
“Any movement that I do, I feel nauseous. It can be from one extreme to another. I get dizzy. In that minute, I can get a headache or my vision will get lost,” she said. “So I don’t know what kind of day I’m going to have.”
Driving is discouraged for patients with IIH who are experiencing severe headaches, visual disturbances, or are generally feeling too unwell to drive, according to Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Corvyx is calling on the community to donate to his GoFundMe campaign in order to provide his sister with some financial stability.
“She has completely depleted her 401k from her job, which she worked for like 25 years. She essentially has no future security, and I would love to be able to just give her some cushion again so she has some security,” he said.
To support Corvyx and his sister, please visit the GoFundMe page at https://gofund.me.