Help Her Story Continue
Donation protected
Her Story:
I have created this page in hopes of making life a little easier for a beautiful person whom I am blessed to call my friend. Her name is Melissa and she is the kind of woman who brings light and smiles into any room. Melissa is always looking to help others and will go above and beyond no matter how she is feeling or what she is going through.
The Reason:
In September, Melissa started having severe gastric pain with many painful symptoms. After many tests, the specilists have found a rare digestive condition called SMA (Superior Mesenteric Artery) syndrome. They do not believe this is the main cause, but can be contributing to her gastric distress. However, further extensive testing has not provided anymore answers and has left Melissa debilitated both physically and mentally. Because of the pain level, narcotics were given to Melissa early in the diagnostic process. At this time it is believed they are contributing to her condition and she is working on different options to lessen them until complete removal. Her doctors need her to be free of these drugs, as they cause gastric issues and there is still not a clear picture of what may be going on.
Melissa is currently on many medications and needs assistance keeping track of them throughtout the day. They need to be coordinated with food and they may cause confusion.
Melissa's Health Journey:
Melissa has been battling mental health issues for over fifteen years. Throughout those years, Melissa was taught many things which has made her want to become a peer advocate. The one thing she never did was give up. Over the past few years, Melissa has been able to balance her life better. She was able to stop all drinking and she had set goals to become a peer advocate ,
She had three stomach ulcers before the age of 15.
In October 2016, Melissa became very ill, with stomach pains and debilitating weakness. There were four hospitalizations for 5+ days at a time, as well as multiple trips to the E.R. Melissa's most recent vist lasted for 3 weeks.
Doctors found that a particular medicine she had taken for years to help with her mental illness caused her white blood cell count to drop drastically. So on top of the gastric pain, she now has to cope with not having a medication which has helped her mental illness for years. Removing this medicine has caused increased anxiety which increases gastric pain.
I am creating this page to help with medical expenses and to hopefully aqcuire, the things Melissa will need to help herself get better at home, with the assistance of a home health aid. The pain meds they have her on make her very confused, as well as being very weak and forgetful.
The Issues:
-Medicaid and Medicare have been applied for but do take a long time to get all the paperwork done. They are applying for assistance but in the mean time, private care needs to be brought in to care for Melissa at home, at her expense.
-Private psychiatrists do not accept this insurance, nor does a private therapist. She is working with a mental health program right now, but there are many issues with a clinical-type setting when a person is also physically ill. If a miracle were to happen and there were enough donations, this type of help would be a Godsend.
The government can only offer so much help, it isn't enough. We CAN'T do this without your help!
How YOU Can Help:
Melissa has been a fighter all of her life and we need your support now, more than ever, to help her fight and lead a life which she, along with her family and friends, envisioned.
Anything you can donate would be appreciated, even if it is just words of encouragement.
Thank you for your support! Let's help Melissa live the exciting and active life that she dreams of! Even if you cannot afford a donation, would you please help by sharing this post? Let's get the word out there! Please help share her story.
I have created this page in hopes of making life a little easier for a beautiful person whom I am blessed to call my friend. Her name is Melissa and she is the kind of woman who brings light and smiles into any room. Melissa is always looking to help others and will go above and beyond no matter how she is feeling or what she is going through.
The Reason:
In September, Melissa started having severe gastric pain with many painful symptoms. After many tests, the specilists have found a rare digestive condition called SMA (Superior Mesenteric Artery) syndrome. They do not believe this is the main cause, but can be contributing to her gastric distress. However, further extensive testing has not provided anymore answers and has left Melissa debilitated both physically and mentally. Because of the pain level, narcotics were given to Melissa early in the diagnostic process. At this time it is believed they are contributing to her condition and she is working on different options to lessen them until complete removal. Her doctors need her to be free of these drugs, as they cause gastric issues and there is still not a clear picture of what may be going on.
Melissa is currently on many medications and needs assistance keeping track of them throughtout the day. They need to be coordinated with food and they may cause confusion.
Melissa's Health Journey:
Melissa has been battling mental health issues for over fifteen years. Throughout those years, Melissa was taught many things which has made her want to become a peer advocate. The one thing she never did was give up. Over the past few years, Melissa has been able to balance her life better. She was able to stop all drinking and she had set goals to become a peer advocate ,
She had three stomach ulcers before the age of 15.
In October 2016, Melissa became very ill, with stomach pains and debilitating weakness. There were four hospitalizations for 5+ days at a time, as well as multiple trips to the E.R. Melissa's most recent vist lasted for 3 weeks.
Doctors found that a particular medicine she had taken for years to help with her mental illness caused her white blood cell count to drop drastically. So on top of the gastric pain, she now has to cope with not having a medication which has helped her mental illness for years. Removing this medicine has caused increased anxiety which increases gastric pain.
I am creating this page to help with medical expenses and to hopefully aqcuire, the things Melissa will need to help herself get better at home, with the assistance of a home health aid. The pain meds they have her on make her very confused, as well as being very weak and forgetful.
The Issues:
-Medicaid and Medicare have been applied for but do take a long time to get all the paperwork done. They are applying for assistance but in the mean time, private care needs to be brought in to care for Melissa at home, at her expense.
-Private psychiatrists do not accept this insurance, nor does a private therapist. She is working with a mental health program right now, but there are many issues with a clinical-type setting when a person is also physically ill. If a miracle were to happen and there were enough donations, this type of help would be a Godsend.
The government can only offer so much help, it isn't enough. We CAN'T do this without your help!
How YOU Can Help:
Melissa has been a fighter all of her life and we need your support now, more than ever, to help her fight and lead a life which she, along with her family and friends, envisioned.
Anything you can donate would be appreciated, even if it is just words of encouragement.
Thank you for your support! Let's help Melissa live the exciting and active life that she dreams of! Even if you cannot afford a donation, would you please help by sharing this post? Let's get the word out there! Please help share her story.
Organizer and beneficiary
Melissa Carroll
Organizer
Pearl River, NY
Carol Carroll
Beneficiary