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Hello! My name's Abby Rummage and I'd like to think that I'm a fairly normal twenty-one year old with a simple goal: to get myself to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Yet there are several complications preventing my ability to begin the next chapter of my life, those mainly being my health and the financial complications that accompany the chronically and severely ill. This is my story.
I had always been a fairly temperate child when it came to health and sickness, rarely falling ill and catching only the commonest of colds and virsues. Yet when I turned eighteen, my body became a war zone, a civil war battle ground as my body’s cells slowly began to betray me. In the early stages, I became anaphylactically allergic to an impossible number of food items, things that had never bothered me before. I had always lived and dealt with a severe peanut allergy and a slight sensitivity to soy and peas, but had no other allergy issues outside of these. I spent the majority of my senior year of high school in a drugged haze, attached to plastic IV tubes, angry heart monitors, and Bane-esque oxygen masks as I learned to relive life as someone who suffers from severe and inexplicable allergies.
Regardless of these new and increasingly frustrating circumstances, I graduated high school and had been accepted and planned to attend North Central College a half hour away. Little did I know, my senior year was meant to be a precursor of what was to come. Not soon after the leaves surrendered to reds and oranges did I find myself having conversations with porcelain toilets as I lost my lunches and dinners. I began to find blood intermingled with vomit, sharp pains crawled along my abdomen, I lost energy and spent time chasing sleep as often as I could, I felt nauseated at all hours, my familiar appetite faded as did my general shine and excitement for life. After several months of tests, being poked and prodded, I was diagnosed with a variety of exceedingly rare and severe diseases: eosinophilic esophagitis, mastocytic enterocolitis, autonomic dysfunction, as well as idiopathic anaphylaxis.
After my freshman year of college, my doctors and my family came to the conclusion that living away from home was simply not an option any longer. Reluctantly, I moved back home with my younger brother and mom and began my collegiate career at a community college nearby. In this way, I was given more flexibility to be seen by the variety of specialists across the country that had garnered an interest. I had appointments at Loyola Medical Center in Maywood, IL, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and at Rush University Medical in Chicago, IL. I spent the majority of my time running back and forth between doctors with test results in one hand and new medical trials and medicines in the other. It was and is exhausting as I slowly became more and more ill. I began at the age of eighteen, simply fighting food allergies. Now, at the age of twenty-one, I face an inability to stabilize my own body temperature, finding the fluctuations between hell and ice, I can go into anaphylactic shock without having eaten a thing and at random times, I deal with mind numbing migraines on a daily basis, as well as a bucket load of unseemly stomach issues.
For the past three years it has felt as if I’ve been running in place, as I’ve watched friends away at school, experiencing their twenties in a way that everyone should be able. Yet, here I was blanketed with paper-like sheets in hospital beds, gritting my teeth with each needle jab and gruesome test, missing out. But I refused to take these feelings of frustration and hopelessness sitting down. Instead, I worked incredibly hard, walked down every medical avenue with an open mind, and tried new diets both liquified and not. I did everything I possibly could to reach a semblance of the balance and peace I had felt at seventeen and younger. In October of 2013, I applied to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign just to see if I could get in and was overwhelmed when I found out that I had succeeded. After being classified as “in remission” in April of 2014, I had high hopes that I would be given medical clearance to attend UIUC in the fall of 2014. Yet come late May and early June, I was slammed with a discovery of suspicious cells in my bladder and kidney and was, once again, denied medical clearance.
After an exhausting year of patience, turbulence, diet management, and my final procedure which was performed on June 3rd, I have finally been given medical clearance by my specialized care team to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I am finally able to restart my collegiate career with vigor and I could not be more excited. Yet as these summer months have been filled with their fair share of struggles and complications, it has become more and more apparent that although medically I may be cleared, financially I am not quite there yet. I have been working part time while attending school and have been saving for years. Yet, as any chronically ill being will tell you, being sick is not cheap. Over the years my expenses have been spread out, paying for specialized diets such as gluten, dairy, and sugar free foods, medical bills galore, medicines themselves, as well as savings. My mom has done her best to balance my financial qualms as well as my siblings, but it hasn’t been easy.
After calculating rent, inevitable medical bills, treatments, medicines, as well as specialized groceries, it has been made clear to me that while I have saved a portion of money, it simply isn’t enough. I am not one who does well asking anyone for money for any reason at all, be it a good one or not. Quite honestly, starting this page is like biting knives to me, as I am nothing if not independent to a fault. This, however, is my last resort, a Hail Mary if you will. I know now that this is not something that I can do on my own. Although I am getting better and am finally well enough to be living on my own, I am not necessarily well enough to work as often as I would like and therefore cannot bring home as much money as I wish I could. As I noted before, the money I am able to bring home is divvied up amongst the various medical costs I encounter. It is an endless cycle of frustration and disappointment as it seems that my illnesses cling to my every move, an undesirable and inescapable shadow.
The goal I have set for this page is as high it is because I have calculated the costs for two years rather than one. Furthermore, while the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is the school that my heart has been set on, the University of Illinois at Chicago has been gracious enough to grant me acceptance as well given that it is quite literally within walking distance of my specialized care team. UIC would be the most realistic option of schools given that my access to health care would be tenfold that of what it would be amongst the cornfields. Yet, financially it is far from realistic as cost of living in our lovely city is quite the feat for my wallet. Although it would be the best option for my health, it is a stretch. The calculated goal is a few thousand shy of what it would cost to attend UIC for the next two years rather than what it would cost to attend UIUC. So if the goal is not met, which I highly doubt it will be given how much it is, UIUC will likely be the school I attend. If all else fails, I will have to postpone my collegiate career until further notice.
So I am calling on friends, family, and strangers, any and all. I am embarrassed and tentative, but determined to get myself to where I need to be, to graduate, and to live my shortened lifespan to the absolute fullest. My thirties are not promised, nor is a comfortable future, but that is not going to stop me. It never would. I am not comfortable asking for money without providing a service in return so on Saturday, July 25th I will be having a bake sale in my hometown and all the proceeds will go towards helping pay for rent, medical bills, treatments, medicines, and specialized gluten, dairy, and sugar free groceries. For those of you who are not Chicago or Chicago suburban natives or dwellers and would still like to contribute because you are amazing and deserve all good things, I am more than willing to make a personalized bracelet made from embroidery floss. My skills in that area are akin to that of a fifth grader after their first or second summer camp, but I would very much like to be able to give something in return. I can/will ship anywhere and have an obscene array of colors. Information for the bracelets can be found below.
So I guess this is it. This is my last shot and I’m pulling out all the stops. Regardless of the outcome, I could not be more grateful to those of you who took the time to read my story and to learn a little bit about me. Hopefully it has impacted you in some way or perhaps inspired you to carpe diem as Robin WIlliams would have wanted us to. Either way, I am paving my way to a better tomorrow and thank you to all who have lended a helping hand, you are loved and thanked far more than you could possibly know. Let’s get to work.
If you would like to see a bit more about my journey feel free to take a peek at my instagram here! OR view this quick video of a journey to the Mayo Clinic with my mom here!
BRACELET INFORMATION/DIRECTIONS:
1. Pick a design.
A). Right diagonal pattern - four colors max
B). Double-Helix spiral - three colors max
2. Pick your colors. Literally any colors, I have them all it's insane.
3. Contact me on this page with your request!
Thank you all!
Sincerely,
Abby Rummage
I had always been a fairly temperate child when it came to health and sickness, rarely falling ill and catching only the commonest of colds and virsues. Yet when I turned eighteen, my body became a war zone, a civil war battle ground as my body’s cells slowly began to betray me. In the early stages, I became anaphylactically allergic to an impossible number of food items, things that had never bothered me before. I had always lived and dealt with a severe peanut allergy and a slight sensitivity to soy and peas, but had no other allergy issues outside of these. I spent the majority of my senior year of high school in a drugged haze, attached to plastic IV tubes, angry heart monitors, and Bane-esque oxygen masks as I learned to relive life as someone who suffers from severe and inexplicable allergies.
Regardless of these new and increasingly frustrating circumstances, I graduated high school and had been accepted and planned to attend North Central College a half hour away. Little did I know, my senior year was meant to be a precursor of what was to come. Not soon after the leaves surrendered to reds and oranges did I find myself having conversations with porcelain toilets as I lost my lunches and dinners. I began to find blood intermingled with vomit, sharp pains crawled along my abdomen, I lost energy and spent time chasing sleep as often as I could, I felt nauseated at all hours, my familiar appetite faded as did my general shine and excitement for life. After several months of tests, being poked and prodded, I was diagnosed with a variety of exceedingly rare and severe diseases: eosinophilic esophagitis, mastocytic enterocolitis, autonomic dysfunction, as well as idiopathic anaphylaxis.
After my freshman year of college, my doctors and my family came to the conclusion that living away from home was simply not an option any longer. Reluctantly, I moved back home with my younger brother and mom and began my collegiate career at a community college nearby. In this way, I was given more flexibility to be seen by the variety of specialists across the country that had garnered an interest. I had appointments at Loyola Medical Center in Maywood, IL, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and at Rush University Medical in Chicago, IL. I spent the majority of my time running back and forth between doctors with test results in one hand and new medical trials and medicines in the other. It was and is exhausting as I slowly became more and more ill. I began at the age of eighteen, simply fighting food allergies. Now, at the age of twenty-one, I face an inability to stabilize my own body temperature, finding the fluctuations between hell and ice, I can go into anaphylactic shock without having eaten a thing and at random times, I deal with mind numbing migraines on a daily basis, as well as a bucket load of unseemly stomach issues.
For the past three years it has felt as if I’ve been running in place, as I’ve watched friends away at school, experiencing their twenties in a way that everyone should be able. Yet, here I was blanketed with paper-like sheets in hospital beds, gritting my teeth with each needle jab and gruesome test, missing out. But I refused to take these feelings of frustration and hopelessness sitting down. Instead, I worked incredibly hard, walked down every medical avenue with an open mind, and tried new diets both liquified and not. I did everything I possibly could to reach a semblance of the balance and peace I had felt at seventeen and younger. In October of 2013, I applied to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign just to see if I could get in and was overwhelmed when I found out that I had succeeded. After being classified as “in remission” in April of 2014, I had high hopes that I would be given medical clearance to attend UIUC in the fall of 2014. Yet come late May and early June, I was slammed with a discovery of suspicious cells in my bladder and kidney and was, once again, denied medical clearance.
After an exhausting year of patience, turbulence, diet management, and my final procedure which was performed on June 3rd, I have finally been given medical clearance by my specialized care team to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I am finally able to restart my collegiate career with vigor and I could not be more excited. Yet as these summer months have been filled with their fair share of struggles and complications, it has become more and more apparent that although medically I may be cleared, financially I am not quite there yet. I have been working part time while attending school and have been saving for years. Yet, as any chronically ill being will tell you, being sick is not cheap. Over the years my expenses have been spread out, paying for specialized diets such as gluten, dairy, and sugar free foods, medical bills galore, medicines themselves, as well as savings. My mom has done her best to balance my financial qualms as well as my siblings, but it hasn’t been easy.
After calculating rent, inevitable medical bills, treatments, medicines, as well as specialized groceries, it has been made clear to me that while I have saved a portion of money, it simply isn’t enough. I am not one who does well asking anyone for money for any reason at all, be it a good one or not. Quite honestly, starting this page is like biting knives to me, as I am nothing if not independent to a fault. This, however, is my last resort, a Hail Mary if you will. I know now that this is not something that I can do on my own. Although I am getting better and am finally well enough to be living on my own, I am not necessarily well enough to work as often as I would like and therefore cannot bring home as much money as I wish I could. As I noted before, the money I am able to bring home is divvied up amongst the various medical costs I encounter. It is an endless cycle of frustration and disappointment as it seems that my illnesses cling to my every move, an undesirable and inescapable shadow.
The goal I have set for this page is as high it is because I have calculated the costs for two years rather than one. Furthermore, while the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is the school that my heart has been set on, the University of Illinois at Chicago has been gracious enough to grant me acceptance as well given that it is quite literally within walking distance of my specialized care team. UIC would be the most realistic option of schools given that my access to health care would be tenfold that of what it would be amongst the cornfields. Yet, financially it is far from realistic as cost of living in our lovely city is quite the feat for my wallet. Although it would be the best option for my health, it is a stretch. The calculated goal is a few thousand shy of what it would cost to attend UIC for the next two years rather than what it would cost to attend UIUC. So if the goal is not met, which I highly doubt it will be given how much it is, UIUC will likely be the school I attend. If all else fails, I will have to postpone my collegiate career until further notice.
So I am calling on friends, family, and strangers, any and all. I am embarrassed and tentative, but determined to get myself to where I need to be, to graduate, and to live my shortened lifespan to the absolute fullest. My thirties are not promised, nor is a comfortable future, but that is not going to stop me. It never would. I am not comfortable asking for money without providing a service in return so on Saturday, July 25th I will be having a bake sale in my hometown and all the proceeds will go towards helping pay for rent, medical bills, treatments, medicines, and specialized gluten, dairy, and sugar free groceries. For those of you who are not Chicago or Chicago suburban natives or dwellers and would still like to contribute because you are amazing and deserve all good things, I am more than willing to make a personalized bracelet made from embroidery floss. My skills in that area are akin to that of a fifth grader after their first or second summer camp, but I would very much like to be able to give something in return. I can/will ship anywhere and have an obscene array of colors. Information for the bracelets can be found below.
So I guess this is it. This is my last shot and I’m pulling out all the stops. Regardless of the outcome, I could not be more grateful to those of you who took the time to read my story and to learn a little bit about me. Hopefully it has impacted you in some way or perhaps inspired you to carpe diem as Robin WIlliams would have wanted us to. Either way, I am paving my way to a better tomorrow and thank you to all who have lended a helping hand, you are loved and thanked far more than you could possibly know. Let’s get to work.
If you would like to see a bit more about my journey feel free to take a peek at my instagram here! OR view this quick video of a journey to the Mayo Clinic with my mom here!
BRACELET INFORMATION/DIRECTIONS:
1. Pick a design.
A). Right diagonal pattern - four colors max
B). Double-Helix spiral - three colors max
2. Pick your colors. Literally any colors, I have them all it's insane.
3. Contact me on this page with your request!
Thank you all!
Sincerely,
Abby Rummage