Help Chelsey pay for Regenerative Joint Therapy
Donation protected
Hi friends and family,
As many of you know, Chelsey has suffered with severe and sometimes debilitating joint pain for several years. It took a multitude of visits with different MDs, PTs, OTs, energy workers, and chiropractors, a failed spinal surgery, and thousands of dollars in medical costs to find her diagnosis. With the help of an astute ND, Chelsey was finally diagnosed with Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) earlier this year.
Hypermobile EDS is a genetic disorder that affects the collagen proteins throughout the body. In simple terms, the collagen in her joints is malformed, making the joints too stretchy. Overtime, the ability of joints to overextend causes shearing, deterioration and can lead to arthritis and ultimately inability to use the joint. Chelsey has significant pain in both wrists, her right foot, right shoulder, lumbar spine (herniations of L4 and L5), and neuropathy, weakness, and shooting pain in her left leg. Chelsey is surprisingly affable and positive even through the pain. She is just as genuine and excited about life as she has always been, but I can't tell you how sad it is to see the daily struggles. It breaks my heart everyday that simple tasks and her beloved hobbies, like knitting, cause her so much pain.
Chelsey is an extremely talented and successful massage therapist and business owner. She brings so much more to her clients, mostly pregnant women, than massage alone. She holds space, provides education, and empowers women to move through pregnancy and into motherhood. Unfortunately, massage therapy is causing her joints to deteriorate faster. Chelsey has plans to hire massage therapists to work for her as she moves into practicing more energetic healing work, in order to decrease the strain on her joints. This process of transition will be slow, likely taking 2 or 3 years before she is able to meaningfully decrease the amount of massage she gives. Chelsey is the primary bread winner, especially since I just quit my full-time job in order to go back to school. Part of the reason I am going back to school is to increase my earning potential 4-fold so Chelsey can work less. This is a good plan but I'm still 4+ years from graduation.
In the meantime, Chelsey needs to continue to work. Sadly, the nerve pain medications, braces, PT and OT have not made a significant impact to her pain level. But there is hope - a type of regenerative therapy called Prolotherpy! It involves injecting ant-inflammatory agents and growth factors into the bothersome joints. While, this therapy will not cure hEDS, it has been shown to decrease pain in 50-70% of patients. If it works, she will need maintenance injections somewhere between every few months and every 2 years. At this point, we are not looking for a long term cure. We are simply thrilled with the possibility that she may be able to live with less pain and significantly decrease the rate of joint deterioration. The first round of therapy will cost about $4000 and will require her to take off three weeks of work ($6000). We have also been given the name of an excellent hEDS aware PT we hope to use in the coming months ($1000). All of these bills will be a top the many other appointments Chelsey has with specialists. We are making changes to our personal lives in order to deal with these expenses, but we simply cannot stretch to accommodate all of these bills without going back into credit card debt.
This is where you come in - anything you can donate to the cause of Chelsey's regenerative therapy would be greatly appreciated! We are humbled that we have to ask but we are confident that the love and support of our family and friends will carry us through.
In gratitude,
Jessica and Chelsey Swan
PS - I have included some links about hEDS and prolotherapy below if anyone is interested:
Co-organizers (2)
Jessica Swan
Organizer
Kirkland, WA
Chelsey Swan
Co-organizer