***ACTUAL AMOUNT NEEDED TO REACH GOAL IS NOW $3400***
My treatment is now scheduled for April 6, 2020, but I have to pay in full by February 6, 2019, so time is of the essence!
In 2014, I was living my dream–married to my high school sweetheart, had two grown married daughters, a beautiful grandson and a brand new granddaughter. I was out shopping one day and noticed that my right leg was “acting funny.” From there, my right leg went numb, then my left leg and finally my fingers. I started dropping things, developed a very pronounced limp, and began faltering in my dream job as a medical transcriptionist since I was no longer able to touch type. In 2017, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a debilitating crippling disease that will eventually put me in a wheelchair and will make me bed-bound. There is no cure for MS, so I began taking very strong medications that only slow down the progression and have high risks and potential side effects. Three years later, I rarely leave the house because it takes so much out of me. My right leg feels like it weighs a thousand pounds. I am horribly fatigued and it exhausts me to take a shower. I have trouble dressing and undressing, since my fingers struggle with buttons and zippers, and I am unable to lift my right leg. I struggle to clean, cook, shop, drive. I have pain in my legs and shoulders that wakes me up at night. My life is affected in a million little ways throughout the course of a day. I still drive, but I have horrible double vision and know at some point that will be taken away from me as well. My memory is affected, I repeat things, and I have lost my ability to concentrate, which also affects my job. About a year ago, I heard about a treatment that carries a very high likelihood of putting the disease into remission and can stop it from progressing. It is called HSCT (hemopoietic stem cell transplant). The procedure will stimulate my own stem cells and then they will be removed. I will undergo chemotherapy to deplete my “old” immune system and reboot it without the MS. My stem cells will then be transplanted back into my “new” MS-free immune system. The entire procedure takes place over 28 days. Unfortunately, it is not FDA approved, so I plan to travel to Puebla, Mexico. I have a treatment date of April 6, 2020, which means I have to pay in full by February 6, 2019. The full cost of the treatment is $54,500 but we have raised almost all of it already, due to some very generous family and friends. The remainder we need to raise is $3,400 and it seems insurmountable at this point. The success rate is high–better than 90%–and outweighs any risks. Will you please help me to return to a life of purpose?
