Hi everyone! Jenn and Charlene here. Our amazing friend Janelle was diagnosed with a pituitary brain tumor in March of 2023 after a lengthy battle with terrible systemic medical symptoms. Janelle, being the rockstar she is, self-diagnosed her tumor and went to multiple healthcare providers to search for answers. The tumor requires immediate surgery to remove. The bills have been astronomical not only due to the pursuit of an answer, but also the brain surgery itself. To know Janelle is to love her. Her strength and positivity throughout this journey has been nothing short of inspirational. She would never ask for help on her own, so on her behalf, we graciously ask that you give whatever you are able, or share this page! Please see below for Janelle's story:

"Back in September 2022 I started experiencing some unpleasant symptoms (weight gain, acne, fatigue). I decided to go to my PCP letting her know something was wrong, at first she wrote it off as “women’s bodies are changing / you’re getting older / you could be stressed”. The appointment got me nowhere so I tried to fix the problem on my own. I started dieting and exercising really hard. Despite how healthy I was eating/working out every day I couldn’t lose the weight. The acne continued and the fatigue got worse. I went back to my PCP she ran some tests thinking it may have been a thyroid issue. This was around November. The tests came back negative. This time she chalked it up to PCOS + hormones. Which is common for women in their 20’s. She put me on a couple different medications to treat the PCOS. I started these medications in December and after a while I still felt the medications weren’t working. Things were getting worse by the day and the symptoms started to consume my life. I started researching on my own and eventually came to the decision based on my symptoms and feelings that I had Cushing’s disease. Thank god that I went to nursing school and was familiar with this illness because there was no other way I could’ve come to this conclusion myself. So I went back to my PCP, listed all of my symptoms and asked for a Cushing’s work up. She ordered the tests and confirmed that I did in fact have Cushing’s disease. Cushing’s disease can be caused by one of two things: excessive steroid use or a tumor. I’ve never been prescribed any steroids so at that point I knew it was a tumor. My PCP referred me to an endocrinologist who ordered an MRI. But the wait for an MRI was months, I finally got the imaging in March and discovered that I did in fact have a brain tumor. Now after months of different medications and treatments to stabilize the illness and tumor I’m finally able to get surgery.

My anticipated surgery is in November, this has been a long journey, over a year, but it’s finally (hopefully) coming to an end."