Stella Ehrharts's trip to Mayo Clinic
Donation protected
This is Stellas story.
In February of 2019 Stella was diagnosed with a chronic illness called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, or POTS. POTS affects the autonomic nervous system, or basically everything that your body does on its own, so the symptoms affect almost all aspects of the body. As a result, Stella was completely bedridden for almost 5 months, but with the help of physical therapy she was able to slowly get back on her feet. There is, however, no cure for POTS, and the effects of POTS on the body has been compared to congestive heart failure or going through dialysis. Overnight she went from being an over-achieving, active, honors student to being unable to walk more than a few blocks or even go to school. Unfortunately, there is very little help for Stella in Omaha, so awhile back her mother contacted the Mayo Clinic in Rochester to see if she might be eligible to visit their POTS Center. The Mayo Clinic gave a name to POTS in the 1990’s, and has an excellent pool of doctors that work with patients like Stella. They reviewed her medical records, MRI, EKG, and tilt-table test and determined that she would be an excellent candidate. We have two full days of appointments scheduled with different doctors, and for different tests at the end of September.
The expense of travel, three nights in a hotel, meals, copays, deductibles, etc. is tough under the best of circumstances, but it’s especially tough now. Any donation would be greatly appreciated so we can try to get Stella back to living the life she should be living.
If you are interested in learning more, dysautonomiainternational.com is an excellent resource.
http://www.dysautonomiainternational.org/
In February of 2019 Stella was diagnosed with a chronic illness called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, or POTS. POTS affects the autonomic nervous system, or basically everything that your body does on its own, so the symptoms affect almost all aspects of the body. As a result, Stella was completely bedridden for almost 5 months, but with the help of physical therapy she was able to slowly get back on her feet. There is, however, no cure for POTS, and the effects of POTS on the body has been compared to congestive heart failure or going through dialysis. Overnight she went from being an over-achieving, active, honors student to being unable to walk more than a few blocks or even go to school. Unfortunately, there is very little help for Stella in Omaha, so awhile back her mother contacted the Mayo Clinic in Rochester to see if she might be eligible to visit their POTS Center. The Mayo Clinic gave a name to POTS in the 1990’s, and has an excellent pool of doctors that work with patients like Stella. They reviewed her medical records, MRI, EKG, and tilt-table test and determined that she would be an excellent candidate. We have two full days of appointments scheduled with different doctors, and for different tests at the end of September.
The expense of travel, three nights in a hotel, meals, copays, deductibles, etc. is tough under the best of circumstances, but it’s especially tough now. Any donation would be greatly appreciated so we can try to get Stella back to living the life she should be living.
If you are interested in learning more, dysautonomiainternational.com is an excellent resource.
http://www.dysautonomiainternational.org/
Organiser and beneficiary
Theresa Sindelar
Organiser
Omaha, NE
Stephanie Anderson
Beneficiary