Family in Need: Brittanie's Health Crisis

'm Brittanie a 36yo married mom of 4 amazing boys whos life just came to a complete stop out of nowhere.

First a llittle about my family and I. My kids and husband are my entire life and more! My 18yo twins who work part time, will be going to prom the end of this month, graduating in May and both starting College for Psychology in September! We couldn't be more proud! My middle one is 14, graduating 8th grade, involved in everything to do with a cello and theater! If it has strings, he's playing it! He's super busy and keeps me on my toes for sure! My youngest is 11, going into 6th grade, he's also getting involved with the cello, and very busy as well! All 4 of them are seriously the sweetest, most caring, and loving boys! My husband and I have been together for over 16 years. He is my best friend and absolutely amazing. On top of him having hemochromatosis of the liver, he is still working his butt off trying to make ends meet while taking care of the house and kids while I worked full time, opposite shifts of him pretty much. He is my superman I swear. They all would do anything to help me or anyone if they could. They don't deserve to be stressing about this during this time. The rest of their school year and their entire summer has just come to a screeching halt. All of our lives have honestly.

This is something that is very hard for me to do. Anyone that truly knows me, knows I don't ask for help. I make it happen. If you have known me for awhile, then you know I have been suffering with a bunch of health issues but mainly my stomach and vascular for YEARS. By the grace of God a GI specialist here in town ran one last test before sending me to IU because he was at a complete loss. I had lost almost 50 pounds in a 4 month period. Ive lost 70 pounds as of now. Well that test finally gave us an answer. Unfortunately on August 14, 2024 I found out I have a rare chronic disease called Chronic Mesenteric Ischemia. After seeing a vascular surgeon on February 24th 2025 and having another CTA scan done on March 17th 2025. On Monday April 7th my world took a turn. I saw the surgeon again and Instead of having a few stents placed like I thought was going to happen, it was confirmed I need a pretty extreme surgery to try to fix this problem. My arteries are way to small for any type of Stent. My arteries, stomach, and intestines are extremely fragile right now. Which means I have to have a transabdominal aorto-celiac and aorto-superior mesenteric artery bypass using a bifurcated Dacron graft. They are going to be cutting me from my aorta to my belly button. They will also be removing anything else deemed necessary while I'm open due to my arteries growing extra veins and connecting to other organs trying to get blood flow to my intestines and stomach. They are not sure of any necrosis until they get inside. I will be intubated and sedated after and in icu for however long needed. There is a chance with how small I am they won't be able to close me up right away which could prolong my healing time by a bit. With this happening on May 21st I have to miss my twins high school graduation, my middle sons 8th grade graduation, and my youngest sons 5th grade graduation. I am completely devastated by all of this.

I was planning to work up until my surgery but unfortunately with what's going on in my stomach it is now affecting my blood pressure and causing me to have spells of passing out. I already suffer from hypertension, arythmias, tachycardia, wolf Parkinson white syndrome, swelling in my right ventricle, palpitations, and more. With the spells happening unfortunately my doctor has taken me off work NOW until after surgery. That's 14 weeks of no income. I bring in about 1500 a month. That's a big chunk of our income right now. I am truly scared of how we are going to pay rent, water, electric, phone bills, Wi-Fi(kids have to have it for school), insurance, etc. That's not including gas to get to all the appointments I have coming up or any household expenses. It's so hard for me to even put a number down for what we need help with because I just don't ask for help but, this is honestly a dyer situation and we desperately could use the extra help. Anything at all even a dollar helps and if you aren't able to donate anything please just keep my family in your Prayers.