Do it for Tinky!

This Go Fund Me page is set up to help with the expenses of people dealing with the chronic, incurable diseases of Gastroparesis, EDS and POTS.

“First thing you need to know is Tink is a #badmf that throws down with a couple different chronic diseases every single day,” said her husband of 16+ years. “She is tougher than you.”

Felicia (Tink) Richardson has been diagnosed with, Gastroparesis, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and still faces more medical tests. She spends most of her day hooked up to IV’s for hydration and a feeding tube for nutrition yet still runs a household, takes care of a family and manages her son’s racing career. She worked for Agri-lines irrigation until 2019 when these diseases got to be too much to handle with work and truly became a disability.

She is currently hospitalized with an inflamed gall bladder and is facing surgery. Tink also handles her household’s finances and has become overwhelmed with the medical bills. The energy she spends thinking and worrying about these should be spent on healing.

She has a strong support group of family and friends. However, all of this love and support doesn’t pay the medical bills. Those bills also prevent her and others like her from living life and doing things they may enjoy.

Insurance only covers a portion of the expenses. It makes it difficult for her and others with these debilitating diseases to live normal stress free lives and concentrate on healing. Because they do not accept badassery as a bill payment, Tink and others like her need some serious help.

Dealing with one disease can be overwhelming, but handling all three and who knows what else with grace and style and modesty is Tink Richardson. She doesn’t like to ask for help, but is first in line to help others in need.

The only way she would agree to this Go Fund Me page is if we would request it be set up not only for assistance with her medical bills, but for others as well. Any money earned in excess of what Tink needs to survive would be donated to help others with the same diseases.

There are very few statistics on the prevalence of gastroparesis, however, statistics suggest that more than 1.5 million Americans suffer from severe gastroparesis, Women are more commonly affected than men, with approximately 80% of gastroparesis sufferers being female.

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is listed as a "rare disease" by the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It affects less than 200,000 people in the US population.

There are an estimated 1-3 million Americans living with POTS, making POTS more common than the other diseases. About 85-90% of POTS patients are female, most between the ages of 12 and 50. POTS is a disorder of the autonomic nervous system.

Please help us keep this amazing woman going!!!