Abelina's Fight Against Lupus
Donation protected
My mother has been living with Lupus, dermatomyositis for about 10 years. It has gone from bad to worse. She has has been on many different treatments and it has not gotten any better. She is at a very bad stage of her illness where walking is getting more and more difficult. She falls because she no longer has strength to keep walking and her legs give up on her. Her bones are brittle and are those of an 80 year old and every fall is dangerous. Her skin is dark purple, swollen, scabbed, itchy, and painful. It is from her face to her arms and it's continuously spreading. She is unable to enjoy the day because the sun affects her and she has to remain indoors. The weather/allergens/ sun/ humidity affect her (we live in one of the most hot and humid cities). Talking is almost impossible without her losing her voice or coughing. She has already developed kidney and liver problems. She needs to have a cardiac catheterization but her illness is too advanced that she can't handle it at the moment. She has 3 daughters and 2 grandchildren. We have to remain strong for her because we know it will only worsen.
For those of you that do not know about this illness, Lupus is an autoimmune disease - it is caused by problems in the body's immune system. So it is basically, your body fighting itself. Slowly all your organs and tissues give up on you. There is no cure. However, we will not give up on my mother. We want her to have a better quality of life. We want to ease her pain as she did to us as children and even now as grown adults. For this, we ask for your help. There is a treatment that her doctor recommended. It's an Infusion Therapy for Lupus. It is a fairly new treatment with similar strength and effects of chemotherapy but it has been proven to help those with this illness. The problem is that it is VERY costly. Her insurance denied coverage for this treatment and we are currently reaching out to certain associations. The treatment which lasts for 6 sessions of 6 hours each is 12k. This is not even considering her regular special medication and diet for the treatment among her other specialists medical bills. For which reason, we ask for your help. I know people say this a lot but really, any amount will help. We are trying to do everything in our power in order to reach the amount we need for 6 sessions of the infusion therapy treatment.
Thank you for reading and sharing this. Thank you for your help. The picture we posted is her face at the beginning of her diagnosis and now. God bless you.
Laura, Flor, & Selene
For those of you that do not know about this illness, Lupus is an autoimmune disease - it is caused by problems in the body's immune system. So it is basically, your body fighting itself. Slowly all your organs and tissues give up on you. There is no cure. However, we will not give up on my mother. We want her to have a better quality of life. We want to ease her pain as she did to us as children and even now as grown adults. For this, we ask for your help. There is a treatment that her doctor recommended. It's an Infusion Therapy for Lupus. It is a fairly new treatment with similar strength and effects of chemotherapy but it has been proven to help those with this illness. The problem is that it is VERY costly. Her insurance denied coverage for this treatment and we are currently reaching out to certain associations. The treatment which lasts for 6 sessions of 6 hours each is 12k. This is not even considering her regular special medication and diet for the treatment among her other specialists medical bills. For which reason, we ask for your help. I know people say this a lot but really, any amount will help. We are trying to do everything in our power in order to reach the amount we need for 6 sessions of the infusion therapy treatment.
Thank you for reading and sharing this. Thank you for your help. The picture we posted is her face at the beginning of her diagnosis and now. God bless you.
Laura, Flor, & Selene
Organizer
Abelina Pecina
Organizer
Houston, TX
