Educator Family in Great Need
Donation protected
I would like to introduce you to my friends of many years, if you don’t know them already, Janna and Eric Vipperman. We have shared many adventures together as we engage in our life’s ambition as high school science teacher’s which, as everyone knows, never allows for a dull moment. But as of late Janna’s fate, along with her family’s, has taken a turn that has left them in a predicament they could never have expected to be in.
All of her life Janna has experienced digestive issues that were beyond what anyone should have to endure but doctors could never come up with any workable solution to the problem. Finally, a few months ago, one doctor, with the aide of imaging techniques, figured out a promising diagnosis and solution, that none of the others had done. Janna’s stomach was actually upside down and lying above her diaphragm. He would use a laparoscopic bariatric type procedure that would reposition and by pass the stomach. After convincing insurance companies that this was a necessary medical procedure and waiting for the hospital to drop its “elective” COVID policies. She was finally able to schedule surgery in the beginning April. It was to be a minimally invasive, one night stay over, back to work in a week, 90-minute tops, little operation. Instead, it became a four-hour ordeal that required scraping the inside of her inner body cavity because not only was more of her stomach out of position than the imaging showed but part of her intestine had also traveled up past the diaphragm and together were attaching themselves to her insides.
As you can imagine, she was in severe pain and discomfort after this. Janna tried returning to work but was very weak and suffered from a persistent cough that caused a great deal of pain and inability to hold down her food. She was back in the hospital within a couple of days. Her lungs had started filling with fluid and would, eventually, partially collapse requiring a liter of fluid to be removed. But worse yet, her stomach found a way to become mobile again and actually moved up through her diaphragm and was constricting her esophagus so that she had a hard time swallowing and keeping food down. It was also trying to reattach itself.
No reason could be found for this persistent stomach action. She was treated for pain, allowed to rest and returned home. But again, this didn’t last. She had to return to the hospital suffering from uncontrollable vomiting and severe pain. To make a long story short, Janna is now back in the hospital, on morphine, no closer to curing (and in fact farther from) her initial condition with no end in sight. Because of other family emergency situations, she started this procedure with no available sick or personal leave. She has now lost a month’s worth of salary and reached her maximum out of pocket while Eric tries to settle disputes with the insurance company and take care of their young daughter.
I am setting a goal of $15,000 to help out this struggling family that has given so much to the Houston area community through their service of teaching. I know money isn’t going to make Janna better but at least we can try and relieve some of the stress by taking some of the financial burden off their plate as soon as possible. Thanks for your consideration.
All of her life Janna has experienced digestive issues that were beyond what anyone should have to endure but doctors could never come up with any workable solution to the problem. Finally, a few months ago, one doctor, with the aide of imaging techniques, figured out a promising diagnosis and solution, that none of the others had done. Janna’s stomach was actually upside down and lying above her diaphragm. He would use a laparoscopic bariatric type procedure that would reposition and by pass the stomach. After convincing insurance companies that this was a necessary medical procedure and waiting for the hospital to drop its “elective” COVID policies. She was finally able to schedule surgery in the beginning April. It was to be a minimally invasive, one night stay over, back to work in a week, 90-minute tops, little operation. Instead, it became a four-hour ordeal that required scraping the inside of her inner body cavity because not only was more of her stomach out of position than the imaging showed but part of her intestine had also traveled up past the diaphragm and together were attaching themselves to her insides.
As you can imagine, she was in severe pain and discomfort after this. Janna tried returning to work but was very weak and suffered from a persistent cough that caused a great deal of pain and inability to hold down her food. She was back in the hospital within a couple of days. Her lungs had started filling with fluid and would, eventually, partially collapse requiring a liter of fluid to be removed. But worse yet, her stomach found a way to become mobile again and actually moved up through her diaphragm and was constricting her esophagus so that she had a hard time swallowing and keeping food down. It was also trying to reattach itself.
No reason could be found for this persistent stomach action. She was treated for pain, allowed to rest and returned home. But again, this didn’t last. She had to return to the hospital suffering from uncontrollable vomiting and severe pain. To make a long story short, Janna is now back in the hospital, on morphine, no closer to curing (and in fact farther from) her initial condition with no end in sight. Because of other family emergency situations, she started this procedure with no available sick or personal leave. She has now lost a month’s worth of salary and reached her maximum out of pocket while Eric tries to settle disputes with the insurance company and take care of their young daughter.
I am setting a goal of $15,000 to help out this struggling family that has given so much to the Houston area community through their service of teaching. I know money isn’t going to make Janna better but at least we can try and relieve some of the stress by taking some of the financial burden off their plate as soon as possible. Thanks for your consideration.
Organiser
Sherry Kelly
Organiser
Spring, TX