Help Leah Get Her Life Back
Donation protected
Hello everyone, my dear friend Leah was shutting this down for many reasons. I have taken over so she does not have to run this anymore. She is not in any state to do this. She is a good person with a good heart and I cannot sit by and see her give up. Leah will be needing routine surgeries and pays over a thousand dollars a month for her medical needs including but not limited to insurance, hospitals visits, Drs apt, procedures, and medicines. I have been trying to encourage her to file for disability, but there are more circumstances at play.
I have gotten permission to discuss how greatly and sadly all of her illnesses have effected her. She suffers from severe anxiety, agoraphobia, panic disorder, and major depressive disorder. These are all on top of the physical disabilities she has. A bladder disease (interstitial cystitis), a woman's disease she deals with constant surgeries and complications from called endometriosis, fibromyalgia, and ehlers danlos syndrome type 3. This lethal combination of these illnesses has completely disabled her. For the last day in a half she was in the hospital due to a lethal combination of prescription Medicine she was on. And after any trio even if it's a day, she is bed ridden and disabled for weeks after.
This is where you guys come in. Leah is too proud to ask for help, and has been solely relying on her online store and patreon. It has not been enough to cover the thousands of dollars spent on medical care for her. The private insurance alone costs anywhere from 500-800 per month.
I've taken over this campaign to help Leah get the right medical treatment she needs. Her friends and family as well as myself are scared for her well being. Leah spends almost every day in bed with a heating pad and a basket stacked high with medicine. She is only 26 years old. She has been through nearly 7 years of being a victim of severe domestic abuse but is now in a safe place with a good person who truly loves and cares about her.
Any donation means so very much and we appreciate all of your help, support, and thoughts. Please pray (if you believe that) for Leah. Her life depends on having consistent medical care and attention.
NONE of the Drs have said these diseases are not irreversible. They all have no cure and are permanent, but with the right medical treatment and Mayo clinic month's long program, they can be repressed and put into remission.
Please share this message as much as you can, because it is torment seeing someone who brings so much light into this world being stuck in an endless cycle of darkness and misery simply due to such terrible diseases.
If you want to support and get something in return, head over to her online store and Patreon. Please understand that any orders or rewards sent through there will take longer to be shipped due to the condition she is currently in.
Thank you for everything and for your understanding.
www.calliescloset.storenvy.com
www.patreon.com/calliecosplay
Original Bio:
Why GoFundMe?  I've created this go-fund me to not only help me get off my feet after 4 disabililty disagnosis, a horrible divorce involving 2 domestic violence cases and a literal new start to my life by moving around the country, but MOST IMPORTANTLY TO TAKE MY HEALTH AND LIFE BACK to afford to take the trip to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL and do that 3 week program with the 100% guarantee that I been promised by the BEST MEDICAL INSTITUTE IN THE SOUTHEAST. First, before I go, I need TWO IF NOT THREE SURGERIES here in South Dakota before I go. Luckily, I have a fantastic group of doctors and specialists who believe in me and are rooting for my progress. Now there IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY HEART THAT WE ARE STILL WORKING ON FIGURING OUT. IT IS POSSIBLE I COULD HAVE A VERY RARE AND NEW DISEASE. I KNOW I can do this. But I cannot do it without your guy's help. I need 3-4 weeks room and board, a car to get me to and from, plane tickets, etc.....this is literally a matter of life or death. I cannot do it alone. I know my father would have helped me, but he is no longer here. So I'm shedding any ounce of pride and asking for help. I need my life back. After that miracle of life and second chance I was given after my OD, I realized I have a purpose. We all have a purpose. I want to help people. I want to make their lives better. I've been blessed with years upon years of lifetime experience thrown at me in the course of 7 years. What I've learned and gone through can help so many people, and that's what I am meant to do. But I cannot do this until I help myself. And it is so hopeless sometimes, but I haven't and will never give up. I just need help. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story. You are a beautiful, amazing person. Everything that doesn't kill us truly does make us stronger. Sometimes we just need people there to help pick us back up. I need that now, more than ever. Thank you for your time and consideration. Much love and light to all of you. My Story: Hi guys! After friends and family telling me I should start one of these to help out with medical stuff, I finally bit the bullet and did this. I'm in a position where I have several disabilites. Last year, I went to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville and they diagnosed me with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Hypermobility type. This is a disability. Before this, we knew I already had very bad endometriosis (I have routine surgeries every 2-5 years to go have my uterus and other woman areas cleaned out due to this very painful and emotional disease). I was diagnosed with this in Sep. 2011. I began dating who would eventually become my husband only 8 months prior. Turns out, stress is one of the MAIN triggers of every disease I have. In 2013, I noticed another lump around where my first endometrioma had been. I was worried, so I had many tests and eventually had a surgery gone horribly wrong. This was in April 2013. I was under the scare of lymphoma, and I was having what was a very abnormally swollen lymph node removed. Thankfully during this time, Geek Girls and many of my close friends and so many wonderful people in the cosplay community supported me and helped raised a little over $10k to help afford surgery and medical bills due to the fact I did not have insurance at the time. I was so thankful and cried tears of jow that I had the support from this amazing community and people who I loved and loved me back. Luckily, it was not lymphoma. Sadly, there was way more money to be paid. I filed for financial assitance, tried getting on disability, but was unsuccessful because my husband made 1K over the sut off limit for disabled people. After that botched surgery in 2013 though, I developed septic MRSA in the surgical would. I have PTSD from it nearly all the time. It was one of the worst things I have ever gone through in my life. I had multiple surgeries while awake and was hospitalized for well over 2 weeks. Once I was discharged, the wound about 4 inches deep in my lower abdomen (right inguinal area) had closed up and I had to go back to have it cut open for a 4th or 5th time and have it drained. I had the MRSA hole for another 2-4 months afterwards with a home nurse coming every other day to measure it and clean it out. MY DR AT MAYO BELIEVES THIS IS WHAT TRIGGERED THE HEREDITARY DISEASE EDS TO GO FULL FLEDGED AUTOIMMUNE, which to put frankly, slowly began killing me and progressing faster and faster. During this time, and because I was a scholarship student only two classes and a few imcompletes away from graduation, I was kicked out of school. I tried going back in twice but was told I was an embarassment; that if I were to go on an internship, I would embarass my school and give them a bad reputation. I was again forced into a medical withdrawal. That was in 2013 and 2014. I became depressed. In August 2013 I married who I thought was the love of my life. In June 2014, he hit me in the face and was arrested for battery. Although he was wonderful (the good side of him) and I loved him more than anything (heck he even introduced me to cosplay and a lot of the wonderful things I do now are because of him), he was emotionally, verbally, and physically abusive. It only got worse and worse. He would call me useless, a waste of time, tell me how no one else could or would love me as much as he did. In July 2015 I became, yet gain. very physically ill. Worse than ever before. On August 13th that year I had a laperoscopy to clean out new endo. There was no new groths. So my doctor (while I was under) performed a cystoscopy and expanded my bladder only to find severe Interstitial Cystitis. This is a disabling disease. I was put on ocycontin, antidepressants for anxiety, dissolvable Xanax, percocet, just to name a few. A couple months went by and I got worse and worse. The meds stopped working so dosages were upped and things seemed foggy and I truly felt like I was in a nightmare. On Oct. 13th, 2015, there was a confrontation with my husband early that morning. He was arrested for battery by strangulation. That night, while he was gone and after a fight with my mentally ill brother, I drove home and ODed. I have no recollection of calling my father and leaving what was described to me as a scary message, but it scared my father enough for him to call the local police in my area for a well being check. I was found not breathing with barely a heartbeat. I was rushed to the ICU in critical condition. No one. Absolutely no one thought I was going to make it. Finally, 18 hours later I woke up from life support. It was literally the biggest wake up call of my life. I literally had to learn how to breathe again, and then convince the doctors through scribbbling on a piece of paper that I could in fact breathe on my own. A few days later, they took all the tubes out and I recovered. I was sent to a place where I was humbled and met people who truly needed help. I realized I was one of those people as well. I came back home with a new attitude towards life. I went months without talking to my husband, trying to be strong. I saw counselors and a psychiatrist. I was diagnosed with panic disorder and agoraphbia. Also batterered wife syndrome which, to this day, still effects me. But 6 months later, I was back with him. the counseling sessions became few and far between. We ended back up in the same cycle. I was completely dependent upon him for everything. One night, I drove while having a panic attack, one of the worst of my life, and was in a horrible accident. I was lucky to survive. My car however, was not. I have not had my own car since, since I have struggled as a disabled person. So that's the backstory. In Feb/March 2017, at Mayo clinic, one of the best doctors diagnosed me with Ehler's-Danlos Syndrome and Fibromyalgia ON TOP of the endometriosis and Interstitial Cystitis. My life consisted of little eating, barely any nutrients, and basically a life living in bed 24/7. My health sacrified my future of graduating. It took away my independence. It stole my abililty to do what I love fully and completely with costuming, modeling, photography, and music. I felt hopeless. I was told to file for disablility, given I had several. physical disabilites as well as a few mental ones (sever depression was one I could never truly admit to myself but it is very real and surely there). I refuse to give up. I refuse to limit myself. In no way am I saying disability is a bad thing. But I have hope. I have a possiblity to get healthy. With the right diet, more independence, more physiacl therapy, and most importantly, the 100% guaranteed program to put my EDS into full remission by Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville's three week program they have designed exactly for me, I can and will get better. Right now I am struggling to pay nearly $500/month for my cobra insurance. It is saving my life with drs and ER visits constantly. I recently moved from Florida to South Dakota near the Air Force base with my best friend after my father passed away last October. I don't know what I would do without my best friend. I don't know what I would do without any of you. I've started a Patreon and still shoot as much as I can. Most of my editing is done from the speciality EDS bed I sleep on. My goal is to never give up. Focus on what I love doing and use it as a means of living. I tried working a full time job, but it progressed my diseases so much to the point where I have become fully crippled. Don't Want to Support me on GoFundMe? Check out where I work my butt of as a shut in disabled woman doing costuming, photography, and editing. I have a store and a Patreon. Links: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/calliecosplay  My Future Plans I want to make a difference in this world. People everywhere suffer from disabilities. Mental, physical, emotional, etc. I want to advocate for all of them. More specifically, people with mental and what I call "invisible illness." I'm in the process of writing blog posts and compiling a book, but I need to do more. I want to get out in the world and advocate for these people. I especially want to advocate for anti suicide, being a survivor myself. And our veterans and active duty troops need more support as well. The suicide numbers are devastating. It breaks my heart to know and see how much wonderful people suffer. I know I'm just one person, but together we can truly change the world.
I have gotten permission to discuss how greatly and sadly all of her illnesses have effected her. She suffers from severe anxiety, agoraphobia, panic disorder, and major depressive disorder. These are all on top of the physical disabilities she has. A bladder disease (interstitial cystitis), a woman's disease she deals with constant surgeries and complications from called endometriosis, fibromyalgia, and ehlers danlos syndrome type 3. This lethal combination of these illnesses has completely disabled her. For the last day in a half she was in the hospital due to a lethal combination of prescription Medicine she was on. And after any trio even if it's a day, she is bed ridden and disabled for weeks after.
This is where you guys come in. Leah is too proud to ask for help, and has been solely relying on her online store and patreon. It has not been enough to cover the thousands of dollars spent on medical care for her. The private insurance alone costs anywhere from 500-800 per month.
I've taken over this campaign to help Leah get the right medical treatment she needs. Her friends and family as well as myself are scared for her well being. Leah spends almost every day in bed with a heating pad and a basket stacked high with medicine. She is only 26 years old. She has been through nearly 7 years of being a victim of severe domestic abuse but is now in a safe place with a good person who truly loves and cares about her.
Any donation means so very much and we appreciate all of your help, support, and thoughts. Please pray (if you believe that) for Leah. Her life depends on having consistent medical care and attention.
NONE of the Drs have said these diseases are not irreversible. They all have no cure and are permanent, but with the right medical treatment and Mayo clinic month's long program, they can be repressed and put into remission.
Please share this message as much as you can, because it is torment seeing someone who brings so much light into this world being stuck in an endless cycle of darkness and misery simply due to such terrible diseases.
If you want to support and get something in return, head over to her online store and Patreon. Please understand that any orders or rewards sent through there will take longer to be shipped due to the condition she is currently in.
Thank you for everything and for your understanding.
www.calliescloset.storenvy.com
www.patreon.com/calliecosplay
Original Bio:
Why GoFundMe?  I've created this go-fund me to not only help me get off my feet after 4 disabililty disagnosis, a horrible divorce involving 2 domestic violence cases and a literal new start to my life by moving around the country, but MOST IMPORTANTLY TO TAKE MY HEALTH AND LIFE BACK to afford to take the trip to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL and do that 3 week program with the 100% guarantee that I been promised by the BEST MEDICAL INSTITUTE IN THE SOUTHEAST. First, before I go, I need TWO IF NOT THREE SURGERIES here in South Dakota before I go. Luckily, I have a fantastic group of doctors and specialists who believe in me and are rooting for my progress. Now there IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY HEART THAT WE ARE STILL WORKING ON FIGURING OUT. IT IS POSSIBLE I COULD HAVE A VERY RARE AND NEW DISEASE. I KNOW I can do this. But I cannot do it without your guy's help. I need 3-4 weeks room and board, a car to get me to and from, plane tickets, etc.....this is literally a matter of life or death. I cannot do it alone. I know my father would have helped me, but he is no longer here. So I'm shedding any ounce of pride and asking for help. I need my life back. After that miracle of life and second chance I was given after my OD, I realized I have a purpose. We all have a purpose. I want to help people. I want to make their lives better. I've been blessed with years upon years of lifetime experience thrown at me in the course of 7 years. What I've learned and gone through can help so many people, and that's what I am meant to do. But I cannot do this until I help myself. And it is so hopeless sometimes, but I haven't and will never give up. I just need help. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story. You are a beautiful, amazing person. Everything that doesn't kill us truly does make us stronger. Sometimes we just need people there to help pick us back up. I need that now, more than ever. Thank you for your time and consideration. Much love and light to all of you. My Story: Hi guys! After friends and family telling me I should start one of these to help out with medical stuff, I finally bit the bullet and did this. I'm in a position where I have several disabilites. Last year, I went to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville and they diagnosed me with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Hypermobility type. This is a disability. Before this, we knew I already had very bad endometriosis (I have routine surgeries every 2-5 years to go have my uterus and other woman areas cleaned out due to this very painful and emotional disease). I was diagnosed with this in Sep. 2011. I began dating who would eventually become my husband only 8 months prior. Turns out, stress is one of the MAIN triggers of every disease I have. In 2013, I noticed another lump around where my first endometrioma had been. I was worried, so I had many tests and eventually had a surgery gone horribly wrong. This was in April 2013. I was under the scare of lymphoma, and I was having what was a very abnormally swollen lymph node removed. Thankfully during this time, Geek Girls and many of my close friends and so many wonderful people in the cosplay community supported me and helped raised a little over $10k to help afford surgery and medical bills due to the fact I did not have insurance at the time. I was so thankful and cried tears of jow that I had the support from this amazing community and people who I loved and loved me back. Luckily, it was not lymphoma. Sadly, there was way more money to be paid. I filed for financial assitance, tried getting on disability, but was unsuccessful because my husband made 1K over the sut off limit for disabled people. After that botched surgery in 2013 though, I developed septic MRSA in the surgical would. I have PTSD from it nearly all the time. It was one of the worst things I have ever gone through in my life. I had multiple surgeries while awake and was hospitalized for well over 2 weeks. Once I was discharged, the wound about 4 inches deep in my lower abdomen (right inguinal area) had closed up and I had to go back to have it cut open for a 4th or 5th time and have it drained. I had the MRSA hole for another 2-4 months afterwards with a home nurse coming every other day to measure it and clean it out. MY DR AT MAYO BELIEVES THIS IS WHAT TRIGGERED THE HEREDITARY DISEASE EDS TO GO FULL FLEDGED AUTOIMMUNE, which to put frankly, slowly began killing me and progressing faster and faster. During this time, and because I was a scholarship student only two classes and a few imcompletes away from graduation, I was kicked out of school. I tried going back in twice but was told I was an embarassment; that if I were to go on an internship, I would embarass my school and give them a bad reputation. I was again forced into a medical withdrawal. That was in 2013 and 2014. I became depressed. In August 2013 I married who I thought was the love of my life. In June 2014, he hit me in the face and was arrested for battery. Although he was wonderful (the good side of him) and I loved him more than anything (heck he even introduced me to cosplay and a lot of the wonderful things I do now are because of him), he was emotionally, verbally, and physically abusive. It only got worse and worse. He would call me useless, a waste of time, tell me how no one else could or would love me as much as he did. In July 2015 I became, yet gain. very physically ill. Worse than ever before. On August 13th that year I had a laperoscopy to clean out new endo. There was no new groths. So my doctor (while I was under) performed a cystoscopy and expanded my bladder only to find severe Interstitial Cystitis. This is a disabling disease. I was put on ocycontin, antidepressants for anxiety, dissolvable Xanax, percocet, just to name a few. A couple months went by and I got worse and worse. The meds stopped working so dosages were upped and things seemed foggy and I truly felt like I was in a nightmare. On Oct. 13th, 2015, there was a confrontation with my husband early that morning. He was arrested for battery by strangulation. That night, while he was gone and after a fight with my mentally ill brother, I drove home and ODed. I have no recollection of calling my father and leaving what was described to me as a scary message, but it scared my father enough for him to call the local police in my area for a well being check. I was found not breathing with barely a heartbeat. I was rushed to the ICU in critical condition. No one. Absolutely no one thought I was going to make it. Finally, 18 hours later I woke up from life support. It was literally the biggest wake up call of my life. I literally had to learn how to breathe again, and then convince the doctors through scribbbling on a piece of paper that I could in fact breathe on my own. A few days later, they took all the tubes out and I recovered. I was sent to a place where I was humbled and met people who truly needed help. I realized I was one of those people as well. I came back home with a new attitude towards life. I went months without talking to my husband, trying to be strong. I saw counselors and a psychiatrist. I was diagnosed with panic disorder and agoraphbia. Also batterered wife syndrome which, to this day, still effects me. But 6 months later, I was back with him. the counseling sessions became few and far between. We ended back up in the same cycle. I was completely dependent upon him for everything. One night, I drove while having a panic attack, one of the worst of my life, and was in a horrible accident. I was lucky to survive. My car however, was not. I have not had my own car since, since I have struggled as a disabled person. So that's the backstory. In Feb/March 2017, at Mayo clinic, one of the best doctors diagnosed me with Ehler's-Danlos Syndrome and Fibromyalgia ON TOP of the endometriosis and Interstitial Cystitis. My life consisted of little eating, barely any nutrients, and basically a life living in bed 24/7. My health sacrified my future of graduating. It took away my independence. It stole my abililty to do what I love fully and completely with costuming, modeling, photography, and music. I felt hopeless. I was told to file for disablility, given I had several. physical disabilites as well as a few mental ones (sever depression was one I could never truly admit to myself but it is very real and surely there). I refuse to give up. I refuse to limit myself. In no way am I saying disability is a bad thing. But I have hope. I have a possiblity to get healthy. With the right diet, more independence, more physiacl therapy, and most importantly, the 100% guaranteed program to put my EDS into full remission by Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville's three week program they have designed exactly for me, I can and will get better. Right now I am struggling to pay nearly $500/month for my cobra insurance. It is saving my life with drs and ER visits constantly. I recently moved from Florida to South Dakota near the Air Force base with my best friend after my father passed away last October. I don't know what I would do without my best friend. I don't know what I would do without any of you. I've started a Patreon and still shoot as much as I can. Most of my editing is done from the speciality EDS bed I sleep on. My goal is to never give up. Focus on what I love doing and use it as a means of living. I tried working a full time job, but it progressed my diseases so much to the point where I have become fully crippled. Don't Want to Support me on GoFundMe? Check out where I work my butt of as a shut in disabled woman doing costuming, photography, and editing. I have a store and a Patreon. Links: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/calliecosplay  My Future Plans I want to make a difference in this world. People everywhere suffer from disabilities. Mental, physical, emotional, etc. I want to advocate for all of them. More specifically, people with mental and what I call "invisible illness." I'm in the process of writing blog posts and compiling a book, but I need to do more. I want to get out in the world and advocate for these people. I especially want to advocate for anti suicide, being a survivor myself. And our veterans and active duty troops need more support as well. The suicide numbers are devastating. It breaks my heart to know and see how much wonderful people suffer. I know I'm just one person, but together we can truly change the world.
Organizer
Leah Burroughs
Organizer
Box Elder, SD
