Oral surgery resident turns balloon art into debt relief

balancing $400,000 – In Manhattan, an oral and maxillofacial surgery resident says he owes more than $400,000 across 10 to 12 student loans and is using balloon twisting—plus social media monetization—to chip away at the balance while managing residency’s tight schedule and costly

When Brandon Axelrod gets out of a long shift, he doesn’t go straight to paperwork or rest. He starts making balloons.

Axelrod is in his first year of oral and maxillofacial surgery residency in Manhattan. and he says his student debt has grown to over $400. 000—spread across 10 to 12 different loans and still accruing interest. He trained for years to reach this point: four years of undergrad at Cornell University. followed by four years of specialty dental school at Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine. and now residency—with three more years ahead. In that timeline, he expected he’d make only incremental payments at first. What he didn’t expect was how heavy the number would feel while he was still trying to find his footing.

In residency, he earns a resident salary, but he says it doesn’t come close to paying down the debt. His salary is used for housing. food. and other essentials. and he has to live within 10 minutes of the hospital for patient care reasons. That requirement is expensive. leaving him with the reality that the money has to stretch farther than anyone outside medicine might imagine.

He started solving the problem by going back to something he’d loved for most of his life.

He’s been twisting balloons since he was about 10 years old. Friends call him “Brandini.” Over the years, he’s done balloon gigs at birthday parties, religious celebrations, and corporate events. Even earlier, at age 5, he started with magic. He says a lot of magicians do balloon art. but his early work was “always basic. ” and he learned through trial and error.

That experience wasn’t just a hobby, he says—it fit into his education. He could focus on school while still doing weekend work. He describes the rhythm as hectic at times: studying in the morning, working a gig or two, then returning to studying.

When residency began, he knew the schedule wouldn’t allow balloon gigs that needed to be booked months in advance. But once he got his footing earlier this year, he realized he missed balloon art. His bigger goal is to incorporate balloon twisting into his practice.

So he looked at a different route: using social media videos not just to share his work, but to help pay the loans.

His plan was to monetize videos so the money could go toward the principal. while his resident salary covers the interest. At the end of January. he posted a video where he made a tooth fairy out of balloons for a fellow healthcare worker. He says he posted it and then scrubbed into a five-hour trauma surgery.

When he got out, the video had reached 400,000 views in just a few hours. He says he had about 300 followers on his account at the time.

Monetization hasn’t been a magic fix, he admits. He’s also “struggling with the realization” that it isn’t always a lot. Still, he says TikTok has paid him out $3,500 in about 10 weeks. He’s also taken commissioned work, making up to $1,000 for balloon sculptures. He hopes to pick up brand deals in the future.

Alongside the income, he says the balloon project has given him something he wasn’t prepared for: community.

He makes balloons for content that take about two hours each, and he creates them in his studio apartment. After he makes the final balloons for videos, he gives them to healthcare workers. He describes arranging pickup for a healthcare worker so the worker could bring the balloon to their kid—using a Pikachu balloon as an example. For Axelrod. it’s his way of saying thanks. because he says he understands what it’s like to be a hospital worker. The days are long, and he adds that brightening them matters.

He also tracks the debt journey publicly. He says he likes to update people online about his loans periodically, and he believes followers are interested in it. He points to his first loan update, which he says drew 900,000 views.

For him, the payoff isn’t only financial. It’s knowing that people are watching his progress, buying into his journey, and supporting him through it. With three more years of residency ahead and a debt total he describes as looming, that support is what keeps him going.

student debt balloon art residency oral and maxillofacial surgery Manhattan TikTok monetization Cornell University Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine