Please Help Arianna Overcome POTS

About a month ago, Arianna started experiencing a wide variety of health challenges. She started experiencing headaches, that progressed to a debilitating 12 day long migraine, numbness in her face, neck, and chest, difficulty breathing, vertigo, and the most difficult of all, Tachycardia. These symptoms have stopped her in her tracks and have completely turned her life upside down. A month ago she was an avid gardener and homesteader, a busy Stay-at-home-mom, homeschooling 5 of her 7 children and a cook for her family- making almost all of their meals from scratch.

Since these symptoms emerged she has lost the ability to be able to function in almost every sense of the word. She is able to use a walker that has helped her stand for short periods of time (about 10 minutes) and can sometimes lay on the couch in the same room as her children for an hour or so, before her symptoms flare up, but not all days are this good.

Arianna’s Cardiologist has diagnosed her with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Also known as POTS.

In the passed several weeks she and her family have been studying and researching what can be done to get their ever-so-needed wife and mother back on her feet and have found hope in the POTS Treatment Center in Dallas, Texas. There they found Dr. Kyprianou who has specialized in treating POTS for the past 17 years. Dr. Kyprianou has had great success in helping patients get their life back and be able to function in a very normal capacity. Arianna and her family have made it a prayerful matter and feel that the program and treatment offered through this facility could greatly improve her quality of life. It is a 2 phase program. The first phase is a 2 week, 8 step program where Arianna will spend 3+ hours a day learning how to reset and retrain her Autonomic Nervous System. Dr. Kyprianou generally sees a 70-80% improvement in her patients just within these first two weeks. Phase 2 is the 90 days following where Arianna will continue to use the tools taught to her along with nutrition, stress management, orthostatic intolerance training, exercise, and many other things to continue to help her Autonomic Nervous System get back to where it needs to be.

This has given her great hope. There is no guarantee that this will bring complete healing but it will help Arianna be able to be the mom, wife, and friend that she desperately wants to be again.

The cost of this treatment ($7,700) is the only hold up and has been a cause of concern for her family. As you may know, The Shelby’s are in the middle of a move to Utah, and having this new diagnosis has really complicated things. They are now also receiving bills from the 3 ER visits, 1 hospital stay, and 1 ambulance ride. Arianna does have insurance but with the cost of their deductibles, the move, and the cost of the treatment center, they have exceeded what they can financially afford.

The Shelby’s have always strived to live within their means, and have worked hard these past several years to be as self reliant as possible, but they could have never planned something so unexpected. Please consider helping Arianna regain her independence and quality of life. And please, most of all, please continue to keep her and her family in your prayers. Arianna is a woman of faith and knows the Lord hears and answers prayers.

Thank you.