Help Debbie Fight ALS!!

Hello, my name is Danielle Lowe. This story that I am putting forth, is a story that is breaking mine, and my family’s heart. This is a story about Debbie Lowe, who at only 59 received the news that turned my family’s lives upside down. My beautiful mom, the mother of three, whom she would say were the three most wonderful children, her husband, the love of her life and two young grandchildren, was diagnosed July the 11th 2018 with the life altering disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. It is a horrible debilitating life ending disease, it robs its victims of the ability to dress themselves, walk, talk, swallow, and ultimately breathe, while the mind is left perfectly functioning and intact. ALS has no cure and there is no effective treatment, aside from experimental trails. The average lifespan from diagnosis is three to five years. Clinical stem cell therapy is one of those experimental treatments that is gaining momentum and looks promising. But it is expensive and difficult to get into. For this reason we are uniting together and forming our organization called DebStrong59. It will be a benefit for my mother to help get her the necessary medical treatment and support to fight this terrible disease. I’m not sure what her journey will bring because every individual’s experience with ALS is different, meaning there are a lot of unknowns for her and our family. What I do know is that we're focused on doing everything we can to fight this disease and delay its progression into the more debilitating stages for as long as possible. As difficult and devastating as this diagnosis is, we remain positive and hopeful that through faith, hope & love, we will make it through this journey. My mom recently had to give up her passion, a very talented hair stylist. She is now confined to a chair fighting the hardest battle of her life. She is the most incredible woman I know. We couldn’t be luckier to call her our mom. Her heart is of gold. She gives before taking, she loves with all her heart and she selflessly puts others before herself. Her talent and creativity is inspiring and her strength is untouchable. Over the years I have watched her weather storms that only the courageous could withstand. She is a leader, a warrior, and a hero. The high cost of treatment for ALS is not completely covered by insurance and estimates for medical costs alone range up to $300,000 EACH YEAR, covering ventilation, feeding tubes and in-home care. Expenses include modifying her home for accessibility like ramps or lifts, wheelchairs, a specialized van, long-term clinical trials, aides/in-home nursing and technological devices to offset muscle paralysis. Currently she is making trips back and forth to Boston Massachusetts with hopes of making it into Brainstorm, an experimental, cutting edge stem cell therapy called NurOwn. As this study is in its last phase of trial, we hope and pray the FDA, as a therapeutic treatment, will approve it quickly for patients with ALS. With all new cutting edge drugs and treatments we are expecting a high cost. Regrettably, this is going to leave a tremendous financial burden on my family. We are just an average blue-collar family from Austintown, a small suburb of Youngstown, Ohio. We would be deeply grateful for those of you who are able to donate and help us face this growing mountain of expenses. Your contributions will help her face this sad and difficult disease with dignity and pride. With love, the entire Lowe family; Wayne, Debbie, Daughter Missy (Don), daughter Danielle (Dannie), son Jason (Nina), her grandchildren Carson and Peyton, along with her parents, brother, extended family and friends. Let’s help Debbie fight. I created Deb Strong59 because we will exhaust all efforts to do whatever it takes to keep her strong and fighting! We know we will need to lean on friends and family (which is difficult for all of us). Through this difficult time we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. Your donations will help put a dent in equipment costs, medical bills, and medications, while making it possible for my mom to explore all her options as she FIGHTS to be here as long as possible. Your support, love, and prayers are welcomed and appreciated. THANK YOU #DebStrong59