Tonya's Fight for Health Fund

Donna Ries is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Tonya Frazier.

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Hello my name is Donna Ries; I have created this fundraiser in hopes to get some much needed money for my dear niece Tonya Frazier. In the last couple of years she has been in a serious fight for her life. Now, due to circumstances beyond her control she is in great need of items such as car repairs, help with bills, and items to make her life more comfortable. Please read her story below along with the updates. They explain everything to help bring an understanding to what Tonya is going through. Our Tonya is a fighter and a true inspiration of strenght! Please take the time to read!

This is “Tonyas” story! I have summarized it as best as I can to give an understanding to why she is in such serious need of help. It began; at the age of 18 when Tonya had gone for a job interview, during her drug test, by a fluke, it was discovered that she had Type-1 Diabetes. As the years past she has fought through several health scares because of her diabetes, including being in a coma. In the last couple of years she has been in a serious fight for her life, due to her kidneys shutting down. Tonya has always battled back hard, but things have taken a turn to where it is greatly affecting her quality of life. In 2015 she was rushed to the hospital due to severe stomach pains in her right side. The doctors had ordered some serious tests, with some strong medications and IV dyes. They had proven to be too strong for her body to handle, causing her to developed stage 3 kidney disease. From 2015 to 2016 she went to a kidney specialist regularly as an outpatient, fighting to get her kidneys strong again. But in 2016 it was discovered that her kidneys were working at a extremely low percentile, never to be strong enough to work on their own again. Five days after Tonyas 37th birthday, in March of 2016 her dialysis began. It was immediately ordered that she needed to have dialysis every other day to keep her alive, until she could receive a kidney donation. Since that time she has been in and out of hospitals multiple times for many health scares, along with having her dialysis treatments. But Tonya is a fighter in every sense of the word, and bounces back!

Tonya has also been dealing with a condition called “Neuropathy” in her feet, which causes them to swell severely making her feet numb to the touch. The neuropathy has taken its toll, to the point that she is now unable to feel them. Tonya was still working, with special needs and disabled children, to help get them back and forth from school, before things turned badly. Because her feet were giving her such difficulties to walk, along with her dialysis every other day draining her she was unable to continue her work and became disabled. Because of the neuropathy of her feet she has suffered some very bad falls within the last year, causing her more pain and damage to her body. Her latest fall resulted in her hitting her head at the temple area, that caused serious damage to her right eye. The fall could have been life threatening because of the blood thinners she has to take to help with the dialysis process, making bleed-outs possible. This is when Tonya was admitted to the Heartland Medical facility, to help her heal and rehabilatate. During this time it was learned that Tonya’s foot had been broken, and had been for a while because she has now developed a condition called “Charcot Arthorpathy”.   This condition is caused by of the poor circulation in her feet due the severe swelling of the neuropathy, causing her bones to become weak and brittle. Because her feet are so numb she was not having any signs of severe pain. So the doctors assumed at the time that it was just a small infection and continue to treat it as such. A normal person would have felt the intense pain of a broken foot, but the nerves of her feet are so damaged she was completely unaware. It was later discovered that her other foot was also broken, which explained her having so many falls.

Due to the severity of her conditions she has been placed in at Heartland Heath Care in Ann Arbor (which is a rehabilitation facility) to help her regain her strength. Before the broken foot was discovered, there were talks of Tonya going home, along with being strong enough to finally be placed on the Kidney Donors list. But after they discovered her other foot had also been broken she had to remain in that facility, and wheel chair bound. During a rehabilitation treatment Tonyas knee had suddenly snapped, because of the weakness of her bones. So on October 21rst she had to have a corrective surgery to repair her damaged knee. A couple of days later, they had to do another complicated surgery. This one on her other eye; to repair the damage caused by her diabetes, other wise she would have gone blind. Following this surgery her knee developed sepsis (an infection). So on November 29th, Tonya had to go through yet another surgery, in hopes to save her knee/leg. Due to all these complications our Tonya is now forced to be in a wheel chair full time. She has to wear two large moon boot looking casts on her feet to protect them as they heal, she is not to be on her feet because they are so fragile. It has been over a half year now since she arrived at Heartland Health Care. Tonya has been told that before she is allowed to go home she will need a wheel chair ramp to her home; or another home where she can have easier access with her wheelchair.   When she does go home, she will need transportation to get to her much needed dialysis and back. Her car is in need of some serious repairs to keep it on the road. This is her life line, without it she can not get to the dialysis that is keeping her alive. She wants to be home with those she loves especially her comfort dogs; Wags and Harley. This is even more important for her state of mind, that is her happy place!

Please help our Tonya and take the time to read the updates, which explains a lot about all she is going through. She has always been a very giving and loving person to others. She deserves some happiness with all she continues to go through. Tonya will be in a wheelchair at least another year, so she definitly needs a home that she can have easy access to! She is in great need of having repairs done to her car, to help get her from dialysis and back, along with help to pay off some of her medical debt, and other personal care items to more her life more comfortable. Please help Tonya to get the funds needed, to take the stress of worry from her. She is on a fixed budget due to her disabilities; so any and all help would be greatly appreciated. The funds will go directly to Tonya. I will continue to post updates on how she is doing and what is needed as we go along. Please share her GoFundMe page with others, and help her in any way you can. Thank you!

Sincerely; Donna Ries
      (Tonyas Aunt)