Help Carson Get Vital Thyroid RFA Treatment!

 

This is Carson!
She lives in Portland, Oregon with her amazing 17 year old Alder, her wonderful partner Pico, and their two ridiculous cats, Prax and Pot Roast. She loves spending time outdoors, exploring nature, cross country skiing, and taking Alder to look for new and exciting bugs. She and Alder hope to one day travel somewhere sunny and warm to go on a scuba diving adventure. When not out putting miles on her boots or getting out of town with Pico on an epic weekend roadtrip, she enjoys relaxing at home and reading, gardening, family sci-fi binges, and occasionally trying to unravel the mysteries of the universe, such as “why Prax is like this”.
She works as customer service manager for a wholesale specialty foods distributor, and is currently studying to become a certified electrician. 



For some time, Carson has dealt with a host of various health issues that have made life increasingly difficult, but was never able to figure out what was causing them. Finally, after years of seeing various doctors and specialists, she was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease, an autoimmune disorder that causes the body's own immune system to attack the thyroid, wrongfully identifying it as a harmful threat. Ultimately this eats away at the thyroid gland until it is no longer functional, and must be removed. Those without a thyroid are at a much higher risk of heart disease, hormone imbalance, permanent chronic fatigue, extreme depression, poor circulation, and a host of other major health problems. They are also much more vulnerable to infectious diseases and viruses, such as flu, pneumonia, strep/staph, and especially newer, stronger pathogens such as COVID-19.

Further testing revealed that Carson has a nodule(tumor) growing on her thyroid due to the Hashimoto's. Keeping it from growing too rapidly meant committing to several significant lifestyle changes, including a diet so restrictive that she can no longer eat the majority of common staple foods most of us consume without worry.To make matters worse, the nodule has indeed started to become significantly larger, to the point where it even makes swallowing food a difficult task. Food in all its aspects has always been one of Carson's greatest joys- from cooking and enjoying meals with loved ones, to the science of nutrition and learning about where our food comes from, to inventing new and exciting recipes and occasionally flexing her kitchen skills for anyone wanting a demonstration of just how fast one can dice an onion (Spoiler alert: the answer is TERRIFYINGLY fast...)

But now, with the extremely limited variety of foods she is able to eat, combined with not being physically able to eat without at least some discomfort, food has gone from a source of happiness to mostly just a requirement for survival, if not a source of distress and grief. 
But eating is not the only thing that has been hindered by this disease; it is affecting what kind of clothing she is able to wear; She can no longer tolerate anything touching her neck without it obstructing her breathing, making everyday items like sweaters, necklaces, bandanas, or just about anything that could put pressure on that area unbearable. 
The condition has also begun to affect her voice, especially her ability to sing, another one of her favorite pastimes and a longtime source of comfort and happiness. Simple actions such as talking and laughing are made more difficult by their constant reminder of how urgent the situation will soon become.

So what can be done about this?
The treatment options for Hashimoto's are rather limited, which means there's some bad news, some good news, and then some more bad news. 

Bad news, part 1:
If it gets much worse, the only course of action would be surgical removal of the tumor, and likely the full removal of her thyroid. Like any surgery, this is a harrowing ordeal in many ways, and is a very risky procedure due to its proximity to several major arteries. Then there's the matter of the longer recovery time that comes along with surgical treatment, and the missed work Even a successful procedure would leave her already taxed immune system heavily and most likely permanently compromised, and would require even more extreme lifestyle changes and costly medication regimens, essentially for the rest of her life. 

The good news is: 
Since it's still relatively early, there is still time to treat her Hashimoto's and safely eliminate the growth without surgery, using an increasingly popular and much easier procedure called Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA). RFA is a minimally invasive tissue removal technique which uses ultrasound to guide a a tiny needle-sized probe to the affected area, where it then emits radio waves into the mass. This targets only the dead or irreparably damaged areas, leaving the remaining healthy tissue intact and very much functional. This sends a signal to the immune system that the threat has been eliminated, causing it to recalibrate and begin the process of removing the dead cells, resulting in the size of the nodule shrinking steadily until it is entirely gone in most cases.  For obvious reasons, this option is absolutely the ideal solution. It is significantly less invasive, with far fewer potential complications compared to traditional surgery. Most importantly, it will leave her with a functioning thyroid, which is a vastly better outcome than ending up with no thyroid at all.
However...

Bad news, Part 2:
Although Carson's job provides great insurance, the unfortunate fact is that Thyroid RFA is a fairly new procedure, so there are very few, if any, insurance providers that currently cover it. So Carson is looking at paying 100% out of pocket, which is about equal to this campaign's goal. Simply put, it would be all but impossible save up this amount of money within the ever-narrowing window of time she has to treat this issue before it progresses into a much more critical situation. 

I’m Sean, Alder’s other parent and the organizer of this campaigin. My hope is that putting together this fundraiser can at least help spare Carson the stress and frustration of trying to find a way to pay for this necessary medical care. She has plenty to deal with already, between working 40 hours a week and maintaining a happy, balanced home life, not to mention constantly suffering through the symptoms she needs to seek care for. 

The stress of this unfortunate reality is something none of us should ever have to take on alone, so I'm reaching out on Carson's behalf to ask for your help. Anything you're able to donate would seriously make all the difference in making this treatment attainable! If you're unable to help financially, you can still help in a very major way by sharing this campaign on social media! Oftentimes campaigns like this will earn substantial donations from facebook shares, from people who otherwise wouldn't have known about them! Thank you all for your support and consideration!