TL;DR: This fund is to help with the cost of my mother and brother's hospital stays such as the transport (gas), food, medication not covered by their insurances, and help the rest of my family with additional expenses during this journey my mom and brother are going through.
LONG STORY; In December of 2023 my mom fell extremely ill and spent most of that month hospitalized. She had been battling doctors the two years prior trying to tell them something was wrong—something felt off. She would cry in appointments begging them to dig further. She was exhausted all of the time and constantly struggling with GI issues and aching joints. She had Bells Palsy, Shingles, and COVID nearly back-to-back due to a compromised immune system. My mom had previous diagnoses of Hashimoto's, Pernicious Anemia, Acute Pancreatitis, Auto Immune Hepatitis, etc.
In February of 2024, she went in the hospital for 2 weeks. She made it home for 24 hours, and returned the next day for the rest of that month. No one could figure out why, but suddenly, she couldn't eat or drink at all without intense pain and vomiting. Her pancreatitis was reoccurring, and her liver issues had returned. She was sent home with meds, a PICC line, and TPN for nutrition due to malnourishment. This was thought to be a very temporary thing that would fix itself. It wasn't.
Because of all of this, she sadly often missed holidays; Xmas, birthdays, anniversaries, and vacations.
This is still her life today. This past February marked three years of living without real meals. Without ever truly sating the hunger pains. Three years of constant pain, lines, infections, allergic reactions, doctors appointments, hospital stays, etc. An allergist finally confirmed she has Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. This is an auto-immune disorder. The GI diagnosis was finally determined to be Severe Motility Disorder/AKA Gastroparesis. It wasn't until we found a knowledgeable GI in our city Medical Center in the summer of 2024, that the test for Gastroparesis was run, and this was figured out. Her lower Gi is slow and is not always absorbing things in her Jejunum/intestines.
There is NO CURE for Gastroparesis or MCAS.
There are different levels of this GI disorder. Some people just have to watch what they eat (like myself), others like my mother—they end up with feeding tubes, and lines, and TPN. It is a horrible, soul sucking disorder. People do go into remission, but doctors can not tell you when or how long remission will happen.
------
Our family took a huge turn when my oldest brother was in a major motorcycle accident mid-February that almost took his life. Miraculously, after 6 weeks in hospitals, he is home. He has a long road ahead, and is getting home health PT and care. The day of his accident, my mom was in the hospital being admitted for sepsis.
So of course, the day of his discharge, she got sick. All of this has further damaged our income. My brother worked full time and paid my parents rent and helped with a utility bill, along with his own bills.
And my dad is also at risk of losing his job, which would mean we'd also lose the health insurance caring for most of the expenses for my mother and brother's hospital stays, PT, etc.
We're just hoping that doesn't happen, and this fund is to help relieve some of that stress on my whole family while hoping for the best in terms of my dad's future in his current job.
