Hi! My name is Sascha Gutierrez, and I would like you to take 5 minutes of your time to read about my sister, Sammy.

Sammy is 22 years old, but she doesn't live the same life as other 22-year-olds. Gastroparesis has taken away her ability to eat, her energy, her independence, and the simple freedoms most people never have to think twice about. Gastroparesis has slowed her stomach to the point where food simply does not move. Because she cannot eat, she relies on TPN a form of IV nutrition that has already caused dangerous bacterial and fungal infections. Her quality of life continues to decline, and she is running out of safe options.

This is not the life she chose. It is the life her failing stomach has forced on her.

She starts her days with rounds of medications, the sounds of alarms and timers going off, sanitizing her hands as she preps to push her carefully measured supplements, solutions, and treatments through her feeding tube. Then she gets up to empty her stoma bag and gets ready to prepare food that she can't eat anymore (she also has MCAS) for the people she cares about, hoping not to have an allergic reaction from the small particles in the air. If the weather is nice, Sammy can't really go outside, as the pollen causes a reaction for her. If the sky is super clear and the sun is shining, it makes her time outside uncomfortable.

All this is to say, Sammy's quality of life has been decreasing. She needs a procedure to at least get some slight semblance of normal back. A procedure that her insurance has denied her multiple times. A procedure that even the company that manufactures the device has said she is an ideal candidate for. Sammy needs an Enterra Gastric Pacemaker.

With this procedure, Sammy will be able to go back to food trials and eventually eat and tolerate some foods. The way the gastric pacemaker works is by “waking up” the stomach. It sends small electrical signals to the stomach muscles. When she gets the surgery and starts eating, eventually she won’t need TPN, which has been causing life-threatening bacterial and fungal infections. She will have more energy, and with that, she’ll be able to try to go back to school, go out with friends, and in general get her life back. It will help with her overall health.

I am here to thank you for taking the time to read this far, but also to ask if you could help us out with any kind of donations. If monetary donations aren't possible right now, even sharing this on your social media would be super helpful.