Julie Boeding-Teacher in need of medical care
Donation protected
My sister, Julie, is 35 and has devoted her entire life to giving young children a low cost, high quality, excellent Christ centered education. She has taught 1st/2nd grade at a small private Christian School in Wyoming for the past 7 years. She has sacrificed so much in her life to help others. She is the person in my life that most embodies the spirit of Christ. Her employer is not able to offer health insurance, and she does not make more than the federal minimum wage, although she does have lower cost housing through her employer. She is not eligible for Wyoming Medicaid/Medicare as a single woman with no dependents. She has no savings and lives a modest lifestyle. She relies on Christian ministry cost sharing plans for healthcare needs, but the reimbursement is limited. I hope that whoever reads this will be able to financially help my sister because even though they do not know her, they do know her as a sister in Christ. I hope she will be able to focus on healing and recovery rather than worrying about money.
Julie has suffered catastrophic, mysterious health issues that began in late August 2020. She has not been able to work since October and has incurred immense medical bills. Furthermore, our mother has taken on the role of full-time caregiver and she needs some respite care. We still do not know her prognosis or the cause of her illness, but she is left with neurological deficits and memory problems that might limit her ability to return to work for the foreseeable future. We want more answers than the doctors have given us. The short version is that she became severely malnourished because of vomiting and this caused huge problems.
Things took a very scary, dangerous turn in early December. She had surgery to place a feeding tube since she could not keep anything down. In the days before this surgery, she started to become unresponsive, could not walk, and was just not making sense when she talked.
She was having memory problems and confabulating to fill in the gaps. For example, she thought she had already had a feeding tube and kept asking why she had to have a second surgery. Julie is also a storyteller and an aspiring writer. Sometimes her brain used her story ideas and book plotlines to fill in her memory gaps. Because of covid, no one was able to be with Julie and explain to the doctors what was true and what was false. Our mother was calling doctors and nurses several times a day desperate for information. Unfortunately, covid also caused the hospital to be unbearably shorthanded at this time. We were terrified because we didn’t know if Julie was going to live or die at this point. Luckily, she regained her personality after a few days and she was able to answer her phone and we knew she was going to be okay. Although her short-term memory was gone and her memory of the last few months was poor, she was ‘Julie’ again.
She ultimately spent about a month in the hospital. Her coordination and memory are making great improvements. Her feeding tube was removed but the wound did not heal so she spent several weeks with a wound vac. She is eating again and can keep down most things. At the time I am writing this, March 29, 2021, she still isn’t able to care for herself. She has had some additional problems with recurring hives, swollen limbs, and most recently, a horrible tooth infection. (And a broken washing machine to boot.) She is getting a liver biopsy and a tooth pulled in the next few weeks.
I hope to give updates along the way, so please stay tuned in.
When this all began, I started trying to figure out what was wrong with her. I believe she had a severe thiamine deficiency and developed an often fatal condition known as Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome. It explains all her symptoms. She received IV thiamine in the hospital, and it began to reverse the effects of the disease and with continued thiamine therapy she is improving. People with this condition have a wide spectrum of disability. Only time will tell if Julie returns to full function. She can walk again, and she can knit again, but she still has a long way to go. It is hard to imagine her returning to her teaching job at this point because of her memory lapses. It is honestly hard to imagine her in any paying job right now. However, she is working hard at finding ways of being productive while regaining the strength and ability to care for herself.
Most people with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome suffer from alcoholism. Since Julie does not drink alcohol, it was completely overlooked as a cause of her symptoms. The condition itself is not well known because of the stigma attached to alcoholism. I hope to spread awareness of this disease in addition to helping my sister. I realized I, myself, had many symptoms of thiamine deficiency after researching for my sister. I asked my doctor to test me and I was indeed extremely low and have now started taking supplements.
Julie does have an Etsy page where she has her amazing photography skills on display. So if you need any amazing images of Wonderful Wyoming, check it out!!
hadacaptures Mountain Landscape and Smallscape Photography
Her employer and local Church family have helped her as much as possible, but they obviously were not able to financially support her indefinitely.
So we are reaching out to her extended Church family and asking for people to share her story, raise awareness for Thiamine Deficiency, and financial support.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for any way you can help!!!!
Julie has suffered catastrophic, mysterious health issues that began in late August 2020. She has not been able to work since October and has incurred immense medical bills. Furthermore, our mother has taken on the role of full-time caregiver and she needs some respite care. We still do not know her prognosis or the cause of her illness, but she is left with neurological deficits and memory problems that might limit her ability to return to work for the foreseeable future. We want more answers than the doctors have given us. The short version is that she became severely malnourished because of vomiting and this caused huge problems.
Things took a very scary, dangerous turn in early December. She had surgery to place a feeding tube since she could not keep anything down. In the days before this surgery, she started to become unresponsive, could not walk, and was just not making sense when she talked.
She was having memory problems and confabulating to fill in the gaps. For example, she thought she had already had a feeding tube and kept asking why she had to have a second surgery. Julie is also a storyteller and an aspiring writer. Sometimes her brain used her story ideas and book plotlines to fill in her memory gaps. Because of covid, no one was able to be with Julie and explain to the doctors what was true and what was false. Our mother was calling doctors and nurses several times a day desperate for information. Unfortunately, covid also caused the hospital to be unbearably shorthanded at this time. We were terrified because we didn’t know if Julie was going to live or die at this point. Luckily, she regained her personality after a few days and she was able to answer her phone and we knew she was going to be okay. Although her short-term memory was gone and her memory of the last few months was poor, she was ‘Julie’ again.
She ultimately spent about a month in the hospital. Her coordination and memory are making great improvements. Her feeding tube was removed but the wound did not heal so she spent several weeks with a wound vac. She is eating again and can keep down most things. At the time I am writing this, March 29, 2021, she still isn’t able to care for herself. She has had some additional problems with recurring hives, swollen limbs, and most recently, a horrible tooth infection. (And a broken washing machine to boot.) She is getting a liver biopsy and a tooth pulled in the next few weeks.
I hope to give updates along the way, so please stay tuned in.
When this all began, I started trying to figure out what was wrong with her. I believe she had a severe thiamine deficiency and developed an often fatal condition known as Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome. It explains all her symptoms. She received IV thiamine in the hospital, and it began to reverse the effects of the disease and with continued thiamine therapy she is improving. People with this condition have a wide spectrum of disability. Only time will tell if Julie returns to full function. She can walk again, and she can knit again, but she still has a long way to go. It is hard to imagine her returning to her teaching job at this point because of her memory lapses. It is honestly hard to imagine her in any paying job right now. However, she is working hard at finding ways of being productive while regaining the strength and ability to care for herself.
Most people with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome suffer from alcoholism. Since Julie does not drink alcohol, it was completely overlooked as a cause of her symptoms. The condition itself is not well known because of the stigma attached to alcoholism. I hope to spread awareness of this disease in addition to helping my sister. I realized I, myself, had many symptoms of thiamine deficiency after researching for my sister. I asked my doctor to test me and I was indeed extremely low and have now started taking supplements.
Julie does have an Etsy page where she has her amazing photography skills on display. So if you need any amazing images of Wonderful Wyoming, check it out!!
hadacaptures Mountain Landscape and Smallscape Photography
Her employer and local Church family have helped her as much as possible, but they obviously were not able to financially support her indefinitely.
So we are reaching out to her extended Church family and asking for people to share her story, raise awareness for Thiamine Deficiency, and financial support.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for any way you can help!!!!
Co-organizers (2)
Emily Averill
Organizer
Casper, WY
Julie Boeding
Co-organizer