Hey y'all, Rachel here.

All of you who know me, know I don't like to ask for help, and when I do, its only when I really need it.

Tony helped me set this up, because I don't have an Arizona state ID, this is linked to his account and he is going to transfer any funds over to me. He has been such a huge help.

Unfortunately, I have hit a really difficult time with my health and I am having to ask for some help this time.

I moved to Arizona in mid June, started my life over, with minimal savings, in hopes of getting my own place after a few months. On July 24th, around 430am, I was in some of the worst pain of my life and thats saying something. I doubled over in pain and could hardly walk. My boyfriend had to help me walk out to the car and into the first hospital I went to, since I could hardly stand by myself.

After getting to the first hospital, I waited 3 hours in the waiting room and by the time they called me to go back, I could no longer walk, not even a little.

That hospital was unable to help me because their MRI machine was down. I left that evening, went to another hospital who was also unable to help because they didn't have the correct equipment. They transferred me by ambulance to the third and final hospital I went to. After a few hours and many, many tests later (blood work, ultra sound, x-ray, MRI, EKG, spinal tap and soooo much more blood work), I was diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis. I was admitted and stayed a week in hospital.

 

Transverse myelitis is inflammation on the spinal cord. It interrupts the messages that the spinal cord nerves send throughout the body. For me, it caused extreme pain, muscle weakness, paralysis from my abdomen to my feet, sensory problems (I have sensory overloads quite a bit now and stutter a bit because of it - it has gotten better over the past few months however) and has caused me a great deal of nerve damage in my back, groin and my right leg, all which may never go back to normal.

They rushed treatment, in hopes to stop the spread of paralysis, which ended up being steroids, pain and inflammation medication and Plasmapheresis. Plasmapheresis is a procedure to remove some plasma from the blood. During the plasma exchange, unhealthy plasma is swapped for healthy plasma or a plasma substitute, before the blood is returned to the body. I had to get a picc line in my neck that went to my heart for these plasma exchanges and for blood draws since I had to have labs at least 3 times a day. There were a rough couple days with these plasma exchanges for sure.

Some of you may have seen my posts on facebook that I made from the hospital, showing this process.

During my time in hospital, I couldn't use the bathroom, get dressed, sit up or walk without help. After a week of intense treatment, I was able to leave the hospital with a walker.

For a month I went through physical therapy at home a few times a week with therapists and by myself the days they didn't visit. I am still doing PT by myself at home since my mobility still isn't 100%, I am grateful though because it is miles better than it has been over the past 3 months.

 

I have been able to mostly keep up with rent, utilities, my car payment, co-pays for appointments, some of my medications and basic necessities to live. My boyfriend has helped me out with car insurance and my phone bill to get me by.

Over the past 3 months, I have been out of work. I received 100% of my pay for 6 weeks and 67% of my pay for 6 weeks through medical leave of absence. However, bills from the hospitals, ambulance ride, physical therapy, medications and follow up specialist visits, have really piled up.

I am asking for some help, any help, in getting caught up with these so I don't go into collections. The savings I had when I moved here is now gone and I am on my last paycheck from work. I am hoping I can go back soon in some capacity.

Even if you are unable to donate, sharing the link would be super helpful and appreciated. Anything helps.

My PayPal is [email redacted] and the will get any $ to me sooner and doesn't take out a fee like GoFundMe does.

Thanks for listening and sticking with me this long, I appreciate and love y'all.