Dianna's Urgent Surgey Fund

My sister, Dianna, was surgically diagnosed with endometriosis in 2011 and it has been a long drawn out battle for her ever since. She is 26 years old and spends more days than not in chronic, debilitating pain making it impossible for her to live a normal life. As a disease, endometriosis can take away many aspects of a woman’s normal life. She experiences grinding fatigue sometimes as severe as that experienced with advanced cancer. Even at this stage, she just fights the disease, refusing to let it completely take over her life. Many of you know her and have had no idea of the devastation she is dealing with. As much as possible, she gets up, puts on a brave face and does the best she can to live as normal a life as possible.

 After two surgeries, countless ineffective "treatments", and a ton of research we have come to learn a lot about her disease and the type of care and knowledge it will take to manage it; especially from a doctor. We have found a specialist, Dr. Andrew Cook, located in San Jose/Bay Area California that does wide excision surgery which is the most effective for removing endo. Dr. Cook  dedicates his whole health center to helping women like Dianna not only get the correct surgery she needs, but develop a plan for afterward to help get her life back. Unfortunately, he must look into other problems she may be having with her bladder and other organs. Like most specialists, he is out of network and she must pay at least $15K up front for her surgery. Her surgery is scheduled for 3/9/17, which means she needs at least $15K by 2/21/17, which doesn’t leave us much time.  After that she will need anywhere from $5-10K for the hospital care, anesthesia etc...

Here is just a little bit of information on a couple of her conditions.  Endometriosis by definition is a disease process whereby tissue somewhat like the endometrium (the lining of the uterus) exists outside the uterus. This “rogue” endometrial-like tissue most commonly involves the peritoneum, a thin layer of tissue that lines the pelvic structures, the bowel, the bladder and the ovaries. It is unfortunately incurable and causes her chronic pain and can lead to infertility. She also suffers from Adhesions , which are bands of fibrotic tissue (scar tissue) that form between adjacent organs and structures, such as between the ovaries and pelvic sidewall, between the uterus and bowel or between intestines. Adhesions can be thin and cobweb-like or dense and thick like hardened glue. They arise from pelvic disease such as endometriosis.

She doesn’t like to ask for help, but it is now, more than ever that she needs it and as her big sister I’m reaching out to ask for her.  I'm asking my family and friends for any help they can give to her. Even if it is just a dollar or an encouraging comment we will be more than grateful to you. All I want is for my baby sister to have her life back and it kills me to watch her suffer in pain every day.

I also invite you to visit the Vital Health Institute  website to learn more about her disease, Dr. Cook, and the facility so that awareness can spread and more young women like Dianna can get the proper help earlier. Click any of the links above to learn more. And even if you just took the time to read a little of her story I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart and I know she will too. Lastly, if you would, please share this with all of your family and friends.

I know that my family and I, especially my sister, will be forever grateful for the help given. 

 
All My Love,

Ariana