Help Amy Manage MS and Stay on Her Feet

Hi friends

If you know me, you know (or have at least heard of) my lifelong best friend, Amy. I have probably told you all about the times Amy pulled my stubborn ass up off the ground and put me back on my feet.

If you know them, they have probably done the same for you too.

So let’s give them a taste of their own medicine.

Amy has spent the past several years kicking ass, living and working all on their own in Japan–something they had been gearing up to do for a long, long time.

We have all missed them terribly. Some of us were fortunate enough to travel and visit. Most of us wait for the holidays to fight for their attention.

Now comes the complication.

If you've followed Amy thus far, you would also know that they have been plagued by their own immune system. This past year, they have received a multiple sclerosis diagnosis and have started treatment.

What you probably don’t know is that they have been trying to manage work, expenses, treatment, and income all on their own. You probably don't know this because they have not asked for help yet --though the should have-- actually, they still didn’t ask for help.

I had to impose this GFM onto them and, after some agonizing reluctance, they accepted.

MS is not a predictable disease as it involves the immune system attacking one’s own nervous system. What might trigger a flare up? How long will it last? What permanent side effects will it cause? Who knows!

The list of possible symptoms is also all over the place. Each new symptom needs its own testing to rule out other causes and the full treatment plan has to be reevaluated and adjusted, over and over and over….

Amy is currently receiving healthcare benefits and treatment, however, not all expenses are covered.

For example, physical therapy for complications brought on by the disease is not considered treatment by Japanese insurance unless a wheelchair is involved, even though PT it is necessary for long-term MS management. Amy has to pay out of pocket.

Smaller things to manage various symptoms, such as specialty glasses for spots in vision or shoes for leg pains, add up quickly. Effective preventative and management care are proving to be cost-prohibitive.

In addition, there is income-loss and debt accrued during a month-long hospital stay that they still have not recovered from.

In that time, they were unable to work and depleted their savings while waiting for disability benefits to kick in.

On top of that, the time and energy for weekly doctor appointments and monthly treatments leaves little left to earn an income. With no way to tell when the current flare up will pass, and with delays/gaps in benefits eating up resources, Amy needs a massive financial boost to stay on their feet while they seek accommodating employment.

In many ways, Japan has a more accessible and mostly-free healthcare system but it does not cover every single thing. There are cultural issues that impede mental and medical care that necessitate somethings like a western therapist or exclude things like physical therapy. There are also gaps that local friends and family are expected to fill in a not-so-individualistic society. Being a foreigner with all your friends and family on the other side of the planet? You have to pay to fill in those gaps yourself.

Let’s help keep Amy’s housing security and make sure their medical care doesn’t hit any more financial snags.

Money from this GoFundMe will go towards expenses such as:

–rent

–monthly in-hospital IV treatments

medication

–monthly injections for pain management

–physical therapy

–an English-speaking mental health therapist

–train fare

–meals for long hospital days

–additional supplements not covered by insurance and specialty/quality of life aids such as a blood pressure cuff, specialty glasses, and compression garments