Help Alicia Get Urgently Needed Medical Treatment

Dear Friends, Family, Acquaintances and Anyone who is reading this right now,

 

This is harder than I had imagined. For 2 days it’s been write, delete, change my mind, repeat. Then, this morning, I discovered something that filled me with so much fear that it brought me to my knees and so I started praying. I was covered with large spontaneous bruises all over both of my legs which I will post a picture of. The embarrassment regarding the stigma that surrounds this illness cannot be an excuse that prevents me from trying. It is my health, my life and as a mother of 3, I want to be here for my children for as long as I possibly can. So it is with a humble and hopeful heart that I am asking for your help.

 

In late 2020 I was diagnosed with Hepatitis C. After a battery of tests and procedures, I finally began treatment May of this year. At the time, I had MediCal which paid for everything and after 3 months the virus was no longer detected. Follow up testing was done 1 month and then 3 months later. Both times the virus was still undetected. My son and I moved to Arizona after I received a job offer in October. Then, the last week of October I came down with Covid and had to be admitted. Because of symptoms unrelated to Covid, I had A blood test to check my viral load for Hep C and I learned that the virus had re-emerged and my viral load was 1,500,000. In the following weeks I had more tests done and two different specialists recommended that I do another 3 month regimen of Epclusa. Mind you, Epclusa has a 97% cure rate but some people require more than 3 months of treatment and I am one of those people. I am lucky considering that there wasn’t even a reliable cure for Hep C until 2015. After it was recommended that I complete another round of treatment, I contacted my new insurance company that I obtained through my employer since I was no longer qualified for state government sponsored health insurance. What I learned was that the cost of treatment is $78,000 of which I am responsible for 40% or $31,200. This is utterly shocking as there is no way that I can pay for this. I applied for financial help through the manufacturer of Epclusa, Gilead and was approved for 30% off of my cost. I also applied for assistance through a state organization and was approved for an additional 20% off of the remaining balance. I then applied for numerous loans to cover the remaining $17,472 but did not receive an approval from any of them. Each month of treatment will cost me $5824 and every day that goes by that I don’t start treatment, my viral load nearly doubles. All of my previous symptoms from last year have begun returning- serious brain fog from the over abundance of ammonia in my system from my liver not functioning properly, hair loss, sensitive teeth, bleeding gums, painful joints, weakness, exhaustion, weight loss, incessant ringing in my ears, insomnia, large scale spontaneous bruising, nausea and vomiting episodes, blurred vision and the onset of depression. Each day that I don’t receive treatment the symptoms become worse and additional symptoms can appear. This is a virus that affects people in many different ways. Some will have immune systems that fight off the virus and some won’t know they ever even have it until 40 years later when they are diagnosed with cirrhosis, cancer or any number of conditions that Hep C can cause. Some will have their immune systems overtaken by the virus at an advanced rate after only a short amount of time. This is what is happening to me and at anytime, I might find myself in the throes of a medical emergency. I don’t have time to wait to begin treatment but I can’t afford to even get the first month started unless I can come up with nearly $6k and, even then, I will need to pay for the 2nd and 3rd months of treatment as they arrive.

 

Please consider donating so that I can take back my life and be here for my kids. Anything, even $1 will help with getting enough funds collected so that I can begin treatment. If you can’t donate, please share this with your friends and family. The stress and the worry that my kids are feeling until I can start treatment hurts me so much to see and your donation will help to change all of our lives. I will update you all when I am able to obtain my first month of medication. If there are any questions, please feel free to reach out and I will respond. From the bottom of my heart and with sincerest gratitude, I thank you all.