My partner Carli has been searching for an answer for her chronic illness for about 3 years. Those 3 years have been filled with countless doctor visits giving no answers or relief. Her symptoms began with occasional short flare-ups of throat tightness, but eventually progressed to flare-ups lasting days or weeks where she could not speak at all. Starting about 9 months ago, she's been able to speak very little, most times not at all, due to the severity of her symptoms. Because of this, her passions for playing music and singing have become impossible. Due to undiagnosed illness, including undiagnosed chronic pain, she no longer has the ability to work, communicate in person with friends, take calls on her own, or even do basic household chores.

Now that we feel we have exhausted many of the typical healthcare options, we are looking into higher level healthcare in the form of the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix Arizona. Their network of specialists give us hope that they may be able to identify an illness that standard healthcare professionals could not. With this, however, are very costly trips from Central Oregon to Phoenix in order to seek treatment. The cost of going to the Mayo Clinic would include flights, pet sitters, lodging, food, and all out-of-pocket medical expenses not covered by insurance. We are estimating a minimum of 3-4 trips lasting 2-4 days at a time for these initial visits to the clinic.

I'm creating this fundraiser to help my partner continue to look for an answer or to find any kind of relief. All money raised would go not only towards expenses for the Mayo Clinic, but towards gas as my partner is also seeing specialists at OHSU (the university hospital in Portland that is a round trip of 6+ hours) and towards any other healthcare related expenses.

If you feel inclined to support financially, no matter how small, know we are so grateful. If giving in this way is out of reach for you (don't worry, we know how it is) we would be more than grateful if you shared our story.

Peace and love,

Richard + Carli