Hi! Thank you for taking a look into this!

Since December 2021, I have been dealing with health problems that now lead me to entering a doctor's office saying "Hi, I'm Kersten, and I will be your 'wow, you are a complex case' today."

Currently, I am applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) because of having a work history and paying in to Social Security before I became disabled, but the application process takes a long time with complex health cases like myself. I am seeking donations to help bring down expenses and be less of a burden on those who have been supporting me while I am waiting for approval.

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My Story

Junior Year (2021-2022)

It starts off simple, believe it or not:

Through October to November 2021, during my junior year of university, I had an extended bout of strep. I got antibiotics, but no one told me that you need to take the full dosage, so stopping when I felt well enough to function made it come back again and need stronger antibiotics. Around 2 weeks after my last dose of antibiotics, I started having troubles going to sleep because of weird and painful sensations in my toes, so I began seeking medical health. Not too troublesome, right?

A month later, during my first week back from winter break (and the first week of my student teaching) in January 2022, I got sick with COVID-19. I had symptoms for about a week, remained positive for another week, just wanted to start making meaningful progress by the time I was good to leave my room's quarantine with some of the current standard practices.

It took me about 2–3 days after returning to my work to realize that I had Long COVID - brain fog and fatigue, symptoms that had previously been more than adequately treated by my ADHD medication, were no longer going away after taking my normal dosage.

The semester that followed, best described by a teaching advisor I spoke to around a year later, was "a perfect storm".

The painful sensations that started in the toes of my feet would spread through my ankles, knees, and the rest of my body. In addition to the brain fog and crippling fatigue, Long COVID would immediately bring in more new symptoms, like short-term memory issues causing difficulties with communication, headaches and migraines, and Raynaud's syndrome - a condition where for me, temperatures dropping into low 60s or below, stress, or even sitting wrong can cause my toes, feet, calves, or knees to go white and purple from lack of blood circulation as I experience numbness, tingling, and pain.

However, for a long time, my doctors were convinced that my issues must be because of my hypermobility. Hypermobility Syndrome (HSD) is a genetic condition that causes joint laxity (being "double-jointed"), and while this is typically benign, it can cause joint pain. So... I was only given non-effective treatments for the time being.

Being unable to keep up with lesson planning, content preparation, and grading, I ultimately would fail my student teaching practicum, which demoralized me and brought on a lot of shame as I believed this to be a regression in my ADHD that I had put so much work in to improving during my freshman and sophomore year. I still, however, believed that I could improve and finish my double major in Robotics Engineering and Psychology.

Senior Year

As symptoms would continue and worsen over the summer and into senior year, I would attempt to further my medical treatment, trying to manage disbelieving doctors alongside schoolwork and out-of-school activities.

However, this balance is an impossible one, and I was forced to dial back on both of my club officer positions' responsibilities and call out of the vast majority of my non-academic socializations, worsening my depression and making my stress worse. Symptoms continued to worsen regardless - I began using a cane and then forearm crutches, and began having stomach issues, double vision that would creep up randomly, tachycardia that would make my heart rate race and make me dizzy until taking a half hour or more to rest, and more. I was having to take 2x as long on school work when I was able to work, and for as much time I spent on academic work, I would be forced to spend just as much time taking care of my body, as brain fog would make my mind would become too scrambled to function or fatigue would make my body feel like lead and force me to nap wherever I could find. I considered quitting university then, a decision I still question if I should have made, to stop racking in the student loan debts.

One day, in December 2022, an intense pain began on the left side of my lower back. I dismissed it - surely it was hypermobility or stomach issues, just like the doctors have been saying all along! - and even forced myself through making it to campus for one class, but had to call out of a meeting later that day to go home. Still, surely it would improve in 24 hours, I believed...

Throwing up from pain that night was what finally convinced me to go to the ER with my boyfriend's help. It was a kidney infection, and by the time they brought me in, it had gone septic as my blood pressure dropped and confusion and fatigue seeped in.

I was hospitalized for a week and recovering for another. As finals week happened during this time, I failed one of my three classes as I was unable to contribute during the final push to finish a project, in addition to the previous double vision struggles interfering with my ability to code, got away with another class only through good previous exam scores, and had to rely on my ongoing senior project's team and the flexibility of the advisors for making it through the remainder.

It was at that point that I was forced to realize that prioritizing anything beyond my health would continue to make my situation worse, and even risk death, with the close call on the sepsis.

Given double vision interfering with coding, I dropped my Robotics major down to a minor, as I already had the class credits for that.

I stopped seeking a teaching license, as the difficulties I faced during the original student teaching practicum had only gotten worse, so another practicum would be pointless.

During the last semester of my senior year, the only time I spent on things other than academics was spent on taking care of my health, and I would only socialize with others when it was for academic work or when my boyfriend would visit and help me with things like food and laundry.

Even this was not enough to finish my degree on time. While I had enough credits to walk with my class year, I had to take another semester to finish one more class, which meant I did not graduate until December 2023.

After Senior Year

Naturally, I still did not get the medical help I needed until the summer following commencement, and this help did not even come from my own care team. Following denial after denial for MRI or CT scans from my care team, I decided to schedule an appointment with a doctor when visiting my hometown in another state, who gave me no hassle over approving an MRI scan for both of my forefeet.

In July 2023, despite being only 22, this MRI identified early-onset osteoarthritis in both of my big toes, alongside bursitis and bone marrow edema in other toes. Follow-up MRIs of my knees would also find osteoarthritis in both of my kneecaps, as well as a baker's cyst. Results came as a relief - doctors would finally start taking me seriously, I could finally get treatment, and it validated my pain and the struggles I had through the end of college.

Having done work in high school and my first two summers in college, I began seeking SSDI in September 2023, having taken August to collect my records. I would move in with my boyfriend, and have relied on financial support from him and my parents, continuing to see doctors 2–3 times a month and physical therapy twice a week. Moving states caused further delays in my SSDI application's, and I received my initial denial in August 2024, denial for my reconsideration in March 2025, and am currently waiting with my legal team to get an ALJ court hearing date, a process that averages about 9 months but has the highest approval rate among all the steps, and a step that many on disability income have been forced to wait out.

State of Health

Between diagnoses during university and since then, my list of health conditions that I am comfortable sharing is now:

(*) = associated with Long COVID

(**) = maybe associated with Long COVID?

... Yeah, that's right, double digits, even after leaving some out and doubling up other conditions. Proving to Social Security becomes complicated because no individual health condition is "severe", but when there are this many health conditions, I am never without a health condition actively causing me problems. My joints may make it painful to walk, I may be having a migraine so intense that I can only sit in a dark room and hope to fall asleep midday, my legs may need heat and rest as my Raynaud's flares and I suffer sharp freezing pain, my ADHD's executive dysfunction wants to enjoy a rare low pain day and I can't manage to stay on track with a boring productive activity, or I think I can do more than I should and end up flaring my pain up for the next few days from over-doing it. Any major activites I engage in require for me to plan for the next few days to be flare-up/ crash days.

But a court hearing is needed to actually hold a conversation with someone who makes the important decisions to explain this...

Why the GoFundMe

In the meantime, medical bills continuing needing to get paid, car gas and maintenance is needed for doctor's appointments, and existing debt from university continues to gather interest. The incredibly generous help of my boyfriend and family helps me to stay afloat and pay off the minimums, but until my application gets approved, I continue to be a burden that constantly needs more money on these people supporting me.

It isn't fair for me to constantly be asking for money and support, but life and health is not fair, and the government is not fair to the disabled.

So I am asking for money to ease the burden on these people in my life.

The initial money will be used to:

If we hit that point, all further money will go to:

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I am beyond grateful if you send along any support during them time :)