Athena's battle

My friend Shelley and I are reaching out to support our friend Sharon and her daughter Athena.

For those of you who don’t know Sharon and perhaps some who do, Sharon is a devoted mother to her teenage daughter Athena. Sharon has been a single parent for quite some time and never fails to show up for her daughter. Athena, is very special to her.

Athena has a special place in everyone’s heart who has the privilege of learning about her story.

Athena at just 14 years old, has dealt with a significant amount of health problems in her lifetime. More than we have all googled, I’m sure. She carries the burden of dealing with not one, but 2 autoimmune disorders that prove difficult on a daily basis, and even more challenging during their flare ups. Athena lives with Crohn’s disease as well as HS which is a rare inflammatory disorder.

These autoimmune diseases have caused Athena to not only miss out on her childhood, playing with friends, sports leagues and even as much as going to school. She has resulted in having to learn online as there are many times she is too sick to attend her brick-and-mortar school. These diseases not only affecting her physically, but mentally as well. She is required to live a pretty isolated life for the most part. Nothing a child should ever have to deal with.

But thankfully, Athena has her mother and BFF Sharon always in her corner. Doing literally anything she can from Homeopathic treatments administering injections, even having to carry Athena to and from the restroom if required, to even trying to work from the hospital when Athena has lengthy stays at sick kids to make ends meet. Never leaving her side. Sharon is selfless, especially when it comes to Athena. The bond they have is such a beautiful thing to see, in such a sad situation.

Athena’s last hospitalization has been quite lengthy and has had her and Sharon in the hospital for the better part of May, unable to work. For those of you familiar with hospital stays, you know how expensive these stays can be, and that the bills just seem to pile up from parking, to food and supplies and even bills at home from not being able to work and cover normal costs.

We hope for them that this end is near, but for now we are hoping that everyone may be able to offer a small contribution to assist Sharon while she must take this time to be with her daughter and ensure her health is the number one priority.