Support Angie, Chris and Family Through Medical Crisis

Someone said to me, Angie, start a GoFundMe to see about getting a little help.

Our journey started in Sept 2022 when I went into the hospital for severe abdominal pain. After a scan, the doctor came out and said, "You have an 11 cm mass on your ovary and you have another smaller one on your right." I don't remember much because my sight got blurry, my hearing went crazy, and I think the shock of "OMG" happened next. They gave me a referral, and off to the female doc I went.

From that moment, our journey and rollercoaster began. That doc referred me to Oncology, and surgical preparations started. First, it was a complete hysterectomy. They had to take everything because my whole reproductive system was just covered with cysts and tumors. On Oct 31, I had my first surgery, and from then it's been surgery, treatment, bloodwork, scans, surgery, treatment, bloodwork, scans. Four days after surgery, I got up to take a step and fell over because I had no feeling in my legs from the waist down. I thought it was just the way I was sitting, except it didn't come back. I realized from my elbows to my fingers, I had the same issue. My balance, coordination, walking, and my legs didn't want to work. I was bouncing off walls, falling. Something wasn't right.

We went in, and they did brain, cervical, and thoracic scans. There it was, eating away at my peripheral and central nervous system. Treatment began, ablations began, and then once again treatment had to stop a short time later because my liver was so damaged that if I continued, I could potentially go into liver failure. So, more scans, and one of those scans found nodules, six to be exact, on my thyroid. Here come biopsies and, yes, surgery for a full thyroidectomy. Blood work and scans to check my liver. Liver enzymes are now three times higher than the normal range. Well, we can start treatment back, but with the damage already done and the liver not functioning properly, it's obviously not an option. The doc literally says, "We continue now, and liver failure will kill you." Those words sink in, and your world is already turned upside down. Now I have a mass in my abdomen causing a complete separation of my core muscles in two different significant tears. They tell me it has completely separated and fallen, and I have a significant hernia with all of that as well, which is now creating issues on my already struggling intestinal tract. I already had to undergo emergency surgery and they had to remove 6 inches of my intestines. But right now I'm not strong enough for surgery. But we may not have another option.

The list of referrals and docs and specialists is insane. From PCM, surgical, gynecology, oncology, gastroenterologist, hepatologist, nephrologiat, neuro, pain management. We have a break in hopes the liver will become better and that I can get a bit stronger, and bam, it's scan day. Well, one of them is a CT scan with and without contrast on the abdomen. MRI with and without contrast on brain, cervical, thoracic, and lumbar. Scan 1 comes back, liver is enlarged and is 21.9 cm and has lesions that recommend biopsy. With that I now have to have a colonoscopy and endoscopy.

My three kiddos and husband nor I signed up for this journey. We didn't go to Six Flags and opt in on the roller coaster ride, yet here we are. Stuck on this ride that is exhausting, it is tiring, it is draining, mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially on the whole family. You can't help but feel like a complete burden when you can't walk and your kiddos are assisting you, or you can't dress, and your daughter says, "Mom, do you need some help? Here, let me help you."

You can't help but cry when you can't do the simplest things like walk or move. You literally catch yourself saying to your brain, "Move the left leg" or "Move the right leg." Except it doesn't listen, and you fall on your face. Or you can't be home alone for fear you will fall and no one will be here. You can't help but feel like a burden when you physically can't work. You can't help with the financial burden of co-pays, deductibles, the non-covered services insurance doesn't cover. You can no longer help put food on the table, get your kids their necessities because everything is going to co-pays or a deductible or services the insurance deems non-covered, and now we are liable.

I know the stress of everything has hit us all. We haven't even finished the ride and are hit with a catastrophic scare. On March 3rd, Chris had a heart attack. Our world, our protector, my person was now undergoing heart cath, angioplasty, had to have a stent put in, and it rocked our whole family's world. Our world once again turned upside down. Thankfully, it didn't take full open-heart surgery. But we were so worried and so scared. This was a reminder of how quickly life can change in the blink of an eye. The stress he has endured. The love he has shown me, caring for me, helping me, walking with me on this fight, this battle and the stress of it all is unimaginable.

The medical bills, regular bills, kids needing clothes or shoes, or just the smallest things like buying groceries are piling up and mounting. You can't not pay the copays and still receive treatment. If you can't donate, please donate your time and send our family prayers upon prayers. Thank you all in advance for your time reading this!!