Help Amy Finnegan Recover from Brain Surgery

My name is Amy Finnegan, and I have been struggling with an increasing amount of health conditions and problems for about 10 years.

The TL;DR

I have been diagnosed with Cushing's Disease. This has caused a plethora of health problems over the past 10 years and is getting worse over time. This is caused by a pituitary tumor (non-cancerous) that has increased in size by half since April 2024. Fortunately, there is a cure. Unfortunately, that cure involves brain surgery to remove the tumor.

My husband and I are asking for your assistance to cover our expenses while I am out of work on unpaid leave for up to 6 weeks. This will include mortgage, utilities, food, bills, medical expenses. We wouldn't ask if we didn't really need to- our credit cards are nearly at their limits, and we can't afford any additional expenses that would come from taking a loan out against our mortgage. Anything you can do to help is greatly appreciated.

Any funds that we raise that we do not need to cover expenses will be donated to the Cushing's Support and Research Foundation, in hopes that future Cushing's patients will have non-surgical options to cure their disease.

The Whole Story...

My Health So Far...

It started with small inconveniences in regards to my health and quality of life. I developed sleep troubles first- having difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, which makes staying awake for import activities (like driving to work) really hard. My mental health started to get worse- the doses on my psych meds were constantly in flux and I felt like I was trying to tame a storm.

Then there was hair. My hair started thinning on the top of my head and thickening in less desirable places, like my chin. Not only was this concerning, it was embarrassing. I already struggled with self-esteem issues, so this was just another thing to contribute to that. After that, there was weight gain. It wasn't much at first. I didn't really notice when I looked in the mirror. It was only really evident when I went to wear some of my favorite clothes after a season and found that they no longer fit. I blamed myself. I also struggled with an eating disorder (though never diagnosed, this was most likely either Anorexia or Avoidant-Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) and body dysmorphia. At this point, I tried to work against what was happening- I was dieting, and trying to take melatonin before bed, and practicing pristine sleep hygiene. I was plucking hairs almost daily. I tried to see a nutritionist to get back on track- maybe this was all related to poor nutrition? Nothing. Helped.

In 2019, I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes Mellitus. This came after years of dieting and restriction. I was told that my triglycerides were severely elevated and my blood pressure was off the charts. I thought it could be related to my medication, which lists elevated triglycerides and insulin resistance as side effects. This may have contributed, but I have had no choice but to continue taking those medications to maintain stability. I was put on insulin as soon as I was diagnosed with diabetes. It was the only way the hospital could bring my blood sugar down. I left the hospital with about 5 new medications after that stay.

Things never really leveled off after that. I started getting acne that has gotten worse and worse over time. My dermatologist has given me various treatments, none of which have worked. My diabetes continued to get worse; I started off needing only small amounts of insulin at meals, but that number increased more than threefold over the years since then. The only time I was able to keep my blood sugar in check is when I gave in to my eating disorder again (apparently, it's really easy to maintain good numbers when you're eating less than 850 calories per day). I was diagnosed with sleep apnea in 2021, but still found myself sleeping for 12+ hours and still feeling tired even on CPAP therapy. In 2022, I had a horrible pain in my head that turned out to be a migraine that lasted a month. I've struggled with migraines since then. All along, my weight continued to increase. Since the start of this all, I have gained about 100lbs.

This led to feeling like I have no control over my health or my body. And who could blame me for that? I didn't. The only time I was "healthy" was when I wasn't. None of my doctors were able to find answers for this. I heard variations of "Eat less and exercise more," more times than I could count. I was tired. I was tired of feeling sick all the time, and tired of not having answers, so I gave up. Wouldn't you?

Well, eventually, I started to black out every time I would crouch, or stretch, or exert myself too much. My husband forced me to bring it up to my doctor. And my doctor listened. I went to my primary care doctor, who ordered imaging to check blood flow. When she didn't find anything, she referred me to an ENT to check for vertigo, and recommended a neurologist. I went to see my neurologist, who ordered a slew of tests, one of which was a brain MRI. This is when we started learning.

Answers...

At the end of April 2024, my neurologist called me and told me something terrifying- the MRI found a cyst near my pituitary gland (which, if you don't know, is located near the base of the brain). She said that they needed to do more imaging and requested that I come back for a more specialized MRI. After that, she told me that it was, most likely, a Rathke Cleft Cyst. Surgery to remove it wouldn't be necessary unless I had symptoms.

Me: "About that... I've definitely got symptoms."

So she said that we would need to do more testing to see if the symptoms and the cyst were related. These were blood panels that an endocrinologist would have to do. Fortunately, being diabetic, I had one of those in my back pocket already. So my endocrinologist did the pituitary panel. Everything was normal, except ACTH.

Three months worth of tests and additional MRI's later, we had an idea of what may be going on; The "Rathke Cleft Cyst" was actually a microadenoma (tiny non-cancerous tumor) that was producing excess ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone). What this meant, is that my body, in response, is producing a lot of Cortisol ("the stress hormone"). My endocrinologist told me that she believes I have Cushing Syndrome, and referred me to a specialist in Milwaukee.

I went to see the specialist, and he said he believes she was right, and then did more blood tests and overnight salivary tests, and then called me on October 4th to confirm that yes, I have Cushing's Disease caused by a pituitary tumor and, yes, the treatment is surgery.

Surgery...

I am scheduled to have surgery to fix this problem on December 10th 2024. It is expected that I will have at least a 2 week recovery from surgery, with a potential for recovery to last 6 weeks. After that, I will have a long recovery from Cushing's ahead of me. I won't go into details but, from what I've heard, recovery is rough. It's like coming down from a 10-year steroid use problem.

The Ask...

I am currently a contract worker at Abbott. There was hope from my supervisors that, by this time, I would have been hired on Full-Time as an Abbott employee. Unfortunately, the paperwork on that is currently in limbo. The short version of this is- I'm not going to have paid leave by the time I have to have this surgery. I will be unable to work for at least 2 weeks, and up to 6 weeks. I will be unable to cook or do housework during this time. This means that, during the time that I am out of work, we will not have my income to pay bills and buy food.

This is where I have to ask for assistance- my credit card is nearing it's limit and I already can't afford to pay the payments. We need help. The surgery is a requirement to return to any semblance of health, and I can't postpone that any longer- my health is getting worse at an increasing rate. I wouldn't be asking if we didn't really need it.

Anything that we raise will go towards paying our living expenses (Utilities, Mortgage, bills, medical expenses, food). Anything that we raise that we don't end up needing will be donated to the Cushing's Support and Relief Foundation in hopes that future Cushing's Disease patients will not have to go through what I have and will.