Hannah Garside's Hope for Healing

Hannah Garside is organizing this fundraiser.

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For those of you who know my Birth Giver, Hannah, you know how special her heart is and how much she gives to others with her time, talents, and spirit of love. She is going through an incredibly tough time and I am hoping we can all pull together to help her.

Last December, Hannah's GI doctor told her that the Crohn's disease that was surgically removed in March 2011, had come back to the same location and it needed to be aggressively treated. Years of turning down a powerful drug used for auto-immune diseases, she finally agreed to try Remicade. Given through IV infusions, she started that treatment in January. Remicade completely drained her immunse system and starting in July she began having tremendous pain in her joints. It eventually moved into the muscles all over her body as well. She was referred to specialist after specialist looking for the cause. It has been really hard to watch this special woman in my life go through so much...and then watch her get up to take care of Mekhi, Niah and go to work everyday. With me just moving out here to be live with her...I know she wanted to be in better health and spirits...and I have tried to reassure her that there is purpose in this time.

Last Wednesday, Hannah was hospitilized with excrutiating pain and inflammation all over. She was finally diagnosed with Remicade induced Lupus and also has an acute case of Parvo-virus (also known as Fifth Disease in children), which settles in the joints and bone marrow of adults. Her pain has settled in every joint, even her jaw, making it difficult to chew. Her throat and chest is also severly inflammed making swallowing and breathing difficult at time. Somedays, we are happy to celebrate good days where she is in less pain, but this is going to be a slow healing process.

The doctors are saying she has to rest, take time off work, allow her immune system to build up, and get the Remicade completely out of her system. We are told the end of October is when that poison will finally be gone.

For those of you who don't know my Birth Giver, she is one of the strongest individuals to walk this earth. She has overcome some truly difficult obstacles in her life, and is still standing tall. She gave me up for adoption at the age of sixteen, and has overcome so much adversity since then. She did not let her challenges define her and keep her down, but rather she allowed those experiences to inspire her to help other people who are experiencing life's trials and tribulations. She has such a beautiful spirit of service, and she lives that out every day in her career and how much she gives back to the community. Her service to others, Pearls For Girls, her generous sharing of wisdom in all of her relationships, and most importantly the sacrifices she makes for me and my two siblings have been so immense. I have tried to comprehend the emotional complexity of giving your child up for adoption and what my Birth Giver must have felt in each phase of that journey, and all I can conclude is that this woman has immeasurable strength and trust in The Creator to keep her in the palm of His hand and guide her into new peaceful, beautiful, plentiful, and abundant seasons of life. I know that that is where her heart is now. Awaiting a beautiful new season of love and peace and joy and a season where her beautiful spirit will thrive once again, like she deserves to.

Donations will assist with being able to stay afloat financially through this time. She is out of sick time and vacation time...and short term disability is 50% of her normal income when that kicks in two weeks from now. Additionally, some of the tests that my mom needs with her new Functional Medicine team are not paid for by insurance and she is also now on a specialized anti-inflammatory diet with no gluten, dairy, or processed sugars...which can also be costly, but is much needed.

We thank you for your continued prayers, love, reaching out...

Sari