Love for Laura

Here’s my BFF, Laura Adornetto Januszewski. Laura is a fighter, and she has a giant battle ahead of her. On March 19th, Laura is undergoing major surgery in an effort to repair bowel issues that she’s been struggling with for months now. Laura has been fighting serious medical problems for the last ten years or more, and the litany of what she has endured would make even the bravest person lose hope.

Currently, Laura has been in the hospital for four weeks. Troubles began months ago with a “twisted bowel” that was surgically corrected. Sadly, that was the beginning of her bowel problems as she continues to have obstructions. Surgery has become necessary. Laura’s surgery will include the placement of an ostomy bag, which is an external bag into which the bowel eliminates waste. Hopefully, this will be a temporary situation to give the colon a “rest” and will be reversed in the near future.

Laura has been incredibly strong and resilient while trying to maintain a stable, loving home for her family. At the start of her medical struggles, Laura was forced to quit her job because of unavoidable absences while sick. Eventually, she qualified for disability which allowed her to provide for herself and her daughter. Laura’s increased medical needs are now impacting her financial independence. We all know that medical visits, surgeries, and hospital stays can break the bank…so imagine months of these (and that’s just this time around)! A mountain of medical debt awaits her, and so we’re hoping with your generosity, we can help Laura. According to www.healthcare.gov, "the average cost of a 3-day hospital stay is around $30,000."  Again, Laura has been admitted for four weeks, and will remain admitted while she recovers. We’re here asking for help to ease some of Laura’s financial stress so she can focus on what really matters - recovery!

We are asking and hoping that you can help Laura through this seemingly endless battle. Your GoFundMe support will help ease Laura’s financial burden following her surgery and recovery. We appreciate all of the love and support from Laura’s friends and family in such a troubling time. We’re sending our love and light to you, Laura!

For those of you that haven’t been in the loop, here’s some history, so you can better understand Laura’s battle. Her medical issues began a decade or so ago with all the symptoms of acute pancreatitis with none of the common causes of it, and in true autoimmune fashion, Laura’s blood tests did not always indicate pancreatitis, so the doctors were hesitant to diagnose it. Unfortunately, this misdiagnosis led to her serious medical problems and for various reasons, acute pancreatitis was not treated consistently and/or properly. For three years, Laura sought medical help while maintaining a full-time job and raising her young daughter as a single mom. Her search for help led her to many doctors and multiple visits to the Mayo Clinic. Without proper and consistent treatment, Laura’s acute pancreatitis led to chronic pancreatitis which is irreversible and incurable.

From this point forward, Laura’s life took on a nightmarish turn, but her strength and perseverance pushed her forward. Caring for her daughter while trying to maintain some quality of life helped Laura endure. As a single mom, Laura’s medical journey has been an uphill battle, yet through it all, she has been a role model for her daughter, Maraya, who is a well-adjusted young lady excelling in Nursing school. 

As if Laura’s journey wasn’t rocky enough, here are a few other medical hurdles that she has endured and, in some cases, overcome: Whipple procedure (a radical surgery to remove part of the pancreas and re-route the digestive system; Grey’s Anatomy-level serious); severe weight loss and malnutrition; use of a feeding tube called TPN, which pumped 18 hours per day; Home Health Care; hospice care; Auto Islet Cell Transplant (a cutting-edge procedure where Laura’s pancreas and spleen were removed and pancreatic cells were injected into the liver, allowing the liver to make the body’s insulin and prevent instant diabetes); an inability to gain weight for about a year after this pancreatic cell transplant; blood clots in her lungs and brain; frequent pneumonia; frequent UTIs; seizures; frequent hospital stays for various reasons; and a very suppressed immune system. Recently, Laura caught COVID-19 and was very ill for two months; thankfully, she did not need to be hospitalized, though her doctors say her lung function was affected. 

[Laura’s GoFundMe was created by her mom, Chris Adornetto, and best friend, Kelly Neurauter.]