Please help Megan with treatment and medical bills

Megan is an incredibly kind, compassionate and altruistic person, who has dedicated her life to serving and helping people in need. For almost a decade, she has volunteered her time serving people experiencing homelessness and making flower arrangements for and visiting with senior citizens in assisted living centers. She is a passionate advocate for individuals with special needs – she has worked directly with individuals with special needs for over 20 years. Four years ago, Megan and her husband, Thomas, adopted a 7-year-old boy with autism, from a residential treatment facility. Sadly, due to rare and complex health issues, Megan and her family now need your help to pay for her treatment and overwhelming medical bills. 


In late 2016, Megan’s hips began popping - she had an intense pain radiating around her hips and down her leg.  After about a year of being misdiagnosed, Megan was told she had torn labrums in both of her hips.  She had surgery in June of 2017 to reconstruct her labrum, reshape her ball/cup, and remove a bursa in her left hip.  Tragically, immediately after surgery, Megan developed an extremely rare condition called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) in her left foot. 
(https://rsds.org/telltale-signs-and-symptoms-of-crpsrsd/)


CRPS is the most painful condition one can have – according to the McGill Pain Index
(http://www.rsdhope.org/mcgill-pain-index---where-is-crps-pain-ranked.html), CRPS is more painful than unprepared childbirth, amputation of a digit and kidney stones.  CRPS has been compared to being stung by a jellyfish 24/7, having your foot set on fire, and walking on broken glass.  In addition, CRPS can eventually spread throughout your whole body. Megan’s CRPS has already spread to the side of her right foot.  The pain is constant, there is no cure and few treatments provide any temporary relief from the intense pain. 

While CRPS is characterized by the unimaginable pain, there are a myriad of other symptoms that cause Megan to suffer daily.  Due to the pain, Megan has not been able to have restful/REM sleep for a year and a half.  She is unable to sleep for more than 1-2 hours consecutively and averages 3-4 hours of sleep total nightly. Megan has muscle spasms, tremors and muscle atrophy in both her legs.  She also suffers from 3 types of painful allodynia: 1) tactile – in which wearing socks, shoes or being touched on her feet causes extreme pain; 2) mechanical – in which something harmless like blanket brushing across her feet causes extreme pain; 3) thermal – in which a cool/cold temperature causes extreme pain.

No treatments or therapies for CRPS are currently approved by the FDA, and so nothing has been covered by her insurance.  Additionally, there are no doctors in her local insurance network who have experience treating her rare conditions. Her family has spent their entire savings and taken on over $10,000 in medical debt to try and find treatments and the specialists she needs to find relief from the rare condition.

In October of 2018, Megan’s family traveled to Rhode Island to be see an expert from Brown University’s Medical Center.  In addition to confirming the CRPS diagnosis, the doctor also diagnosed Megan with a rare congenital disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS).  She has a type of EDS called Hypermobile.  With the Hypermobile subset of EDS, she is prone to painful recurrent joint dislocations and subluxations, resulting from loose/stretchy connective tissue.  Megan is unable to walk due to severe foot drop, structural damage (torn labrum) in her right hip (which will require surgery at some point) and CRPS in her feet.   As a result of relying on crutches for mobility, for over a year and a half, Megan’s left shoulder has been partially dislocated and torn, which is also extremely painful. Megan no longer has full use of her left arm. 

In addition to also causing a lot of musculoskeletal pain throughout her body, EDS can also lead to serious, life-threatening cardiac complications, such as valvular heart disease, aortic aneurysms, and heart arrhythmia.



Despite living in intense pain Megan is still an incredibly positive and joyful person.  She is always smiling and willing to help out anyone in need, despite her suffering.  Even while living with chronic, debilitating pain and physical disabilities, her patience and incredible ability to teach her son with autism is an inspiration and encouragement to all of us.  Through it all, Megan has never ceased to give all glory and praise to God.

With your help, Megan’s family can reach their goals for her in 2019:
    • Paying off their medical debt
    • Traveling back to Rhode Island for a follow-up with the expert on CRPS at Brown University
    • Traveling to the Mayo Clinic to see experts on EDS
    • Paying for other out-of-network specialists to coordinate care and plan treatment
    • Paying for a new wheelchair and SmartCRUTCHES

Thank you for taking the time to read Megan’s gofundme campaign.  If you are in a position to donate, her family will be forever grateful for your generosity.  If you are not in a position to help by donating, please consider praying for Megan and/or sharing her gofundme campaign with others, who may be able to help her family.