This is probably the hardest thing I've had to do: ask my community to help me with my medical expenses.

My name is Daisy and I am 31 years old. I am a competitive bodybuilder. Fitness is my passion and I am a self-employed personal trainer and help others reach their own fitness goals. I also volunteer at obstacle course races organized by Epic Series. Besides fitness, I have a love for music that has helped keep me sane during the last few weeks.

It all started with hemorrhoids. Yes, I know, embarrassing and not something I want to talk about, but it is what it is. I've had hemorrhoids since I was a teenager. It runs in my family: my mom has them, my grandma has them. I've never been really concerned about them; they would come and go, and I wouldn't think much of them - I got used to them. The last few years they have been getting worse and worse. And the last few months have been ridiculous, to say the least.

At the end of January, I started to get really high fevers and the only symptoms I had were hemorrhoids and they came with a burning sensation, so I thought I had an infection. I saw my primary doctor and he gave me antibiotics. After a week I felt better; the hemorrhoids were still there but the fevers and burning sensation were gone. But then one morning my heart rate started racing high even when I was hardly moving. And I started to bleed again...a LOT! 

I met with two surgeons to get opinions on what my options were, and the only real option for my kind of hemorrhoids was surgical removal. But my heart rate was spiking and that was a serious concern for the surgeons. After several medical tests, I was diagnosed with a heart murmur and the surgery was put on hold until I could go through more tests with a cardiologist to find out why my heart rate kept spiking. My blood work showed critically low red blood count and hemoglobin because of chronic blood loss. Blood loss caused me to be anemic - so anemic they talked about doing a blood transfusion. And being anemic caused my heart rate to go up - my heart was just pumping really hard to keep me alive. I was very pale, super exhausted all the time, and in so much pain that I couldn't sleep. Despite how awful I felt (and how scared I was!) I showed up every day to train my clients because I don't want to take away from their training and progress…and because I financially just couldn't take time off. But just showing my clients a few exercises caused my heart rate to go up and exhausted me.

These hemorrhoids took over my life: the pain, lack of blood, heart murmur, and exhaustion was literally killing me. On Friday, February 28 I finally got clearance from the cardiologist to have the hemorrhoids surgically removed, and on Saturday, February 29 I had the surgery! It was a success and I am on the road to recovery! Just over 2 weeks later and I am still in a lot of pain, but every day I feel a little bit better than the day before. Although I am still recovering, I wanted to return to doing what I love and begin training my clients again this week. I tried but no such luck, I could hardly make it through one session. The pain is still too much so I decided to listen to my body and give it more time to recover. I’m going into my 3rd week at home now… I feel so bad for not being able to show up for my clients. I’m lucky that they are all super supportive and understanding.

The surgical removal, multiple trips to the cardiologist, and numerous blood tests and other medical tests now total $15,000. Because I am self-employed, I don’t have medical insurance, so all the medical costs are solely on me to pay. I hate asking people for help. I've always been very independent and it's the hardest thing to do. But I feel that this time I don't have any other options. I'd appreciate any amount you can contribute to help me pay for my medical expenses. I am going to work hard to pay off as much of this as I can. Thank you so much for reading about my embarrassing medical problem, and I hope you find it in your heart to help if you can.