Help Erin continue to fight Crohn’s-related complications

GoFundMes are never done lightly, for anyone who knows the absolute powerhouse that is my older sister, Erin, knows exactly just how much she gives - and how infrequently she accepts generosity from others.

I wish this was some kind of uplifting story but the reality is, my sister has been dealt yet another shit blow to her health and is sitting in hospital awaiting surgery to restore the function in one of her arms. She’s 41, a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister and one of the single most generous, selfless, caring, loving, loyal, fierce women I have ever met in my life. She has given her life to advocating for, and fighting for, those most vulnerable in our society and now she needs for us to do that for her.

This surgery is a resulting complication of Erin’s ongoing health issues - something you’d probably never know about unless she’d explicitly told you because she shows up for everyone else - always. But for the curious, or just not aware, Erin was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in her early 20s and it has robbed her of a lot - but one of the most common complications outside of the gastrointestinal tract is Arthritis.

Last week, opening a sliding door to her home, Erin felt a twinge and when she woke up the next morning was in excruciating pain. In true Erin fashion, she ponied up to work for the rest of the week and figured she slept funny. The pain got progressively worse, and she lost the ability to lift her arm.

On Sunday following loss of the ability to conduct her own self-care tasks she was admitted to hospital after a CT showed an Osteophyte (bone spur) growing into her spinal cord in her neck. An MRI was up next to confirm the extent of the damage and the news was less than ideal - with two crushed discs in her neck, for any chance of returning function to her arm, spinal surgery is the only option.

Spinal surgery is scary at the best of times, spinal surgery in your neck is something I cannot even fathom considering.

Unfortunately, despite having comprehensive health insurance the out of pocket medical costs are exorbitant and increasing daily, compound that with loss of incomes (because her husband Dave is by her side, to take note of important medical information and provide the support Erin needs) and the forever increasing cost of living, with a potentially long road of recovery ahead - the financial burden is one thing I don’t want my sister to have to worry about whilst she’s focussing on getting well.

I pre-empted with, anyone that knows my sister, knows she’d never ask - which is why I am here to swallow my pride for her, because life doesn’t stop just because you’ve been dealt a shit one, the bills are still coming and so are the out of pocket medical costs.

My sister has a heart of gold and would give the shirt off her back to someone in need - so sometimes you swallow your pride, because sometimes it helps to know you have a village. I am hoping to raise some money to offset the cost of these unexpected medical bills and reduce the financial stress, to keep the bills paid so my sister can focus on herself and her recovery.

The expected recovery from surgery ranges from 6 weeks to upwards of three months.

So far her medical bills exceed $7000, with the surgery being quoted at $25000.

To be clear: all donations will go directly to either Erin’s ongoing medical care, to facilitate maintaining their family home, pay utilities, mortgage or food and any post-surgery costs that arise.

If you prefer to skip the GoFundMe but still want to help, direct donations can be made - please reach out and I am happy to facilitate ☺️

Please help me, help my sister who I know has helped so many people and has many more people to help

UPDATE 14/08/2024:

Tomorrow afternoon Erin will be undergoing her spinal surgery to replace a herniated disc with a titanium one and remove the osteophyte (bone spur) pressing on her spinal cord between C4 and C5 which has caused the loss of function in her left arm due to the nerve impingement over the last ~week and a half.

Thank you to everyone who has followed along with us, donated and sent well-wishes. We as a family are so appreciative and in absolute awe of the generosity of our village.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions, or want to check in. Much love

UPDATE 16/08/2024:

By way of an update: Erin has had the surgery and returned to the ward recovering after being in the ICU overnight. The surgeon is very pleased with how it went, but he did say the bone spur was quite large and that left untreated could’ve had catastrophic complications. So we are very pleased it’s been taken out.

Incredibly, with the donations we have received so far we almost half way to reaching our goal based on the information we had when we set up to the GoFundMe.

Our family is so humbled and grateful to the generosity of you all, for the well-wishes, the donations, the phone calls, texts and interactions on our posts. Please know, we understand that the cost of living is hurting everyone, so if you are unable to donate and want to show continued support we would be forever grateful if you could share the GoFundMe to your networks.

As for where we’re going; Erin will be off work for minimum four weeks in a collar recovering, right now it is anticipated she will be in hospital for at least another week. But we don’t have any news about ongoing recovery and post-surgical intervention.

As always, please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or want to check in.

UPDATE 19/08/2024:

Thank you everyone for your support. We have cracked the halfway mark of our initial fundraising goal. Truly, we are so grateful for the support. There has been a lot of gratitude and disbelief in the last week. We are absolutely blown away.

Erin is still in hospital but the great news is she is being discharged to inpatient rehabilitation, this will likely be tomorrow for at least a week but we are watching and waiting to track progress. She isn’t lifting her arm just yet, but we are optimistic given how much of a fighter she is.

As always, feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions or would like an offline donation facilitated, and if you’re feeling extra generous we would love if you could share Erin’s story with your networks too.

UPDATE 25/08/2024 - from Dave:

Morning,

Just wanted to provide an update on my wife and her health at the moment. I also wanted to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has reached out to us, to our kids and extended families, who have offered support and encouragement, dropped off food, and offered to help in all kinds of ways at such a difficult and challenging time. It has been tough, it's been emotionally tough, it's been physically tough, it's been stressful and it's been financially tough. There's been days we have all felt very positive, there's been days filled with worry and fear, and there's definitely been days where we are just hanging in here! Without the support of everyone we wouldn't be getting through this so it really does mean so much. Erin initially went to emergency on the 11/08 where we thought there might be a few scans done- a shoulder injury and we would go home and conservatively manage. The scans were done and we definitely were not expecting to hear she had arthritic bone growing into her spinal cord, crushed discs and another 2 discs which were bulging in a 'domino effect' waiting- like ticking time bombs. We were not ready for the news that this was the cause of the loss of use in her left arm. We were not ready to hear her whole cervical spine was full of chronic arthritis- which required decompressive intervention and we definitely were not ready to hear the only way to save her arm was emergency spinal surgery and extensive rehabilitation- with no guarantee's of returning full function. This was not going to be a walk in the park. Erin had the spinal surgery on 15/08 and recovered in ICU and then was transferred to the neuro/spinal ward. From there her recovery was monitored until she was well enough to be discharged to inpatient rehabilitation on the 21/08. In this time Erin's case was heard at the medical panel and a treatment plan devised consisting of pain management, high dose steroid therapy, antibiotics to prevent infections, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, nutrition, and other holistic services. After 5 physio sessions, 2 OT sessions, and the prescribed medication regime- WE HAVE MOVEMENT! Hand function and forearm function has vastly improved, with some work still to do on strengthening and lifting of her arm and ability to complete self care (dressing left side, washing hair, putting her hair up, lifting above elbow/shoulder height etc) there's no real solid timeframe in mind- bit of the old how long is a peice of string- and she will be in a cervical spinal collar until her surgical review on 18th of September which means no driving and definitely no working. We wanted to say a huge thankyou to everyone who has shared the gofundme page and who have been in a position to donate- we are forever grateful as this is what is supporting us financially right now- paying for specialists, the medical bills, her surgery and treatment, putting food on the table, paying our every day bills, our insurances, our utilities, and our mortgage until we can both go back to work. The words "thankyou" just really never seems enough, but we are so thankful and so grateful- and this has been possible because of the generosity of each and every one of you. In typical Erin fashion she is already planning ways she can give back, post recovery... Thanks, Dave