Help Ana get the Comprehensive Recovery She Needs

Hi, my name is Karen and I am starting this fundraiser for my friend Ana. She has helped me many times over the years, and now it's my turn to try to help her. Please read her story below:

Ana was born in 1972 with a herniated diaphragm. Due to this condition, while she was still in the womb, the organs in her abdomen moved through the hole in her diaphragm into the chest cavity. The attending doctor failed to identify that there was a problem and sent her home with her parents despite Ana visibly struggling to breath.

Ana grew up in a Mennonite cult and due to religious beliefs, her parents did not bring her for follow up medical appointments.

When she was 6 weeks old, while her parents were driving to Manitoba to visit family, Ana stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest. Somehow she made it to St Boniface hospital where she was immediately admitted. She would spend the better part of 18 months there undergoing multiple surgeries. If you know Ana, you've probably seen her large scars. These are from the surgeries. The one on her stomach went from her right hip to her left shoulder when they did the first surgery at 6 weeks. This large incision was necessary to move her organs back to the right place, deal with a collapsed lung and repair the hole in the diaphragm.

Until the late 1980's, western doctors did not believe infants could experience pain. So she underwent all these surgeries without being anesthetized, meaning she felt everything. She was heavily sedated to prevent her from moving but experienced the pain of being cut open and stitched up. Repeatedly. No post op pain meds were given. This created a great deal of trauma, both physically and psychologically for Ana.

When she was finally able to go home from the hospital for good, the post op instructions were not followed by her parents thus she received no after care.

A child with significant internal scar tissue needs medical intervention to help the scars stretch and grow with the child. Ana did not receive this and as a result has scarring that tethers her right lung to her rib cage, thick scarring under the visible scar on her stomach and severe scarring on her diaphragm. This has resulted in life long episodes of excruciating pain that do not respond to medication. At first these episodes occurred only every few years and typically resulted in a 24hr hospitalization, lots of tests and zero ideas from the medical team as to what was happening. Over the years these episodes came more frequently but typically only lasted a day or so.

About 4 years ago, these episodes became more and more frequent and painful. Since 2023 they have been occurring every few months and have been lasting up to 4 weeks. Pain meds, including opiods, do not provide relief. Through her own research and help from a family member who was present from her birth, she was able to work with her doctor to understand what was happening.

Ana was also in a car accident on May 5 and broke her sternum, bruised her heart, sustained a concussion and whiplash. The accident occurred when Ana blacked out. The medical team has still not been able to find the reason for that happening and therefore Ana is not able to drive.

Ana has worked as a caregiver for elders and individuals with disabilities since was 16. She loved her work but she could not continue to miss work so often. She was the primary family wage earner and having to accept that she could no longer work was heart breaking for her. She used all her sick days, vacation and all the EI that was available to her. Losing her income meant the accumulation of significant debt.

So many days in pain have drained her to the point of having no coping skills left.

She is supported by an amazing doctor and psychologist. But something more is needed as despite their amazing support, the pain does not stop coming, she continues to lose days and weeks of time to the pain.

Last week, someone told Ana about Homewood Ravensview. This facility could finally give her the comprehensive medical and psychological help she needs. It is a private facility in Victoria. It is not covered by MSP and neither will ICBC cover it despite her open claim from the accident. The cost can vary from $30,000 to $60,000.

Ana's greatest joy is helping others. She wants to be well so she can once again help those in need.