Please Help Loretta's Family
Update 9/30/21: On September 28, 2021, Loretta passed away after a tremendously difficult battle with the progressive neurodegenerative disease, ALS (aka Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's Disease).
The future of her fundraiser will be to support Loretta's daughters as they care for their brother who has special needs. We ask that in lieu of flowers, please make a donation. All donations will go towards assisting in her final arrangements and the financial stresses for her family.
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In 2017, a couple of years after suffering an allergic reaction during a gallbladder surgery, which required her to be on a ventilator and caused a stroke, our Mother - Loretta - began to notice a pulling sensation in her tongue which turned into slurred speech and difficulty eating by 2018 -- and resulted in full loss of speech and ability to eat by 2020. During this time, Loretta also began to lose mobility in her right foot and hand. In the summer of 2019, she was diagnosed with the motor neuron disease ALS (aka Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's Disease).
This progressive and fatal disease attacks the motor neurons and nervous system, and weakens the muscles; you lose function of your limbs, ability to talk, eat and eventually the ability to breathe.
My sister and I are our mother's caregivers and we also work to provide for our household and our brother (who has had cerebral palsy since birth), but her needs are priority and require around-the-clock care -- and the pandemic has severely impacted our small business.
Our Mom is the mother of 5 and a Nana of just as many; she's a cat and dog mom who lost one of her four "fur babies" last year due to canine seizures. Loretta is a former nurse, administrator, software specialist and music promoter who we have always nicknamed "Barbie" because she had so many talents in career fields...but now Barbie is 75% paralyzed.
On top of an already devastating disease that chips away at her every day, Loretta also suffers from Lupus, a blood disorder and a parotid mass which complicates her salivary glands even more. These health issues have impacted her teeth as well; a few have broken down into the root and she's in need of extensive dental surgery. This causes extreme pain and infections, and due to her MND and blood disorder, oral surgeons covered by insurance are hesitant to perform the surgeries as they would need to be done in the hospital. All of the specialists we've found who will do the surgery are not covered by our insurance and they're very expensive.
While my sister and I do our best to support the family, between household bills, medication for Loretta (not covered by insurance) and transportation expenses for doctor visits, we're left with zero financial room to save for additional testing, the critical surgeries and equipment such as wheelchairs and other devices for ALS patients that insurance doesn't cover.
According to the ALS Association, $250,000 is the estimated out-of-pocket cost for caring for a person with ALS.
It is because of all these reasons that we decided to create this GoFundMe to seek support from those who can help our Mom. Struggling with ALS is already the hardest part, but suffering from pain in her mouth every day and not having access to equipment to make moving a little easier makes it worse.
If you would like to support, we'd really appreciate your donations and spreading the word about help for Loretta's care.
What Funds Will Be Used For:
• Dental Consultations and Surgery (not covered by insurance)
• Medical Tests and Stem Cell Treatments (not covered by insurance)
• Optometrist Care (not covered by insurance)
• Medications and Supplements (not covered by insurance)
• Household Expenses
• Transportation Expenses for Doctor Visits
• Adaptive Devices (includes Eye Gaze, motorized chair, Tecla Switch Control for iPhone, accessible van and ramps)
• Air-Pressure Cushions (to prevent bed sores)
• Generator for Power Outages (so that her suction machine doesn't fail)
