Courtney has been experiencing chronic pain in her abdomen for years. She has seen numerous doctors, been through many tests, tried multiple medications, but the doctors have been left scratching their heads, not sure what is causing the problem or how to fix it. About a month ago, the pain got significantly worse. Severe pain would follow eating more than a few bites of food, getting to the point where she could not eat enough food each day to maintain, and she began dropping weight.

On Sept 7, the pain was so bad she went to the Emergency Room. They ran a CAT scan to try and see what was happening. What they discovered was that Courtney has multiple what are called “Compression Syndromes” where blood vessels and other structures are squeezed or compressed that restricts or stops the flow through them, causing a multitude of problems. They identified that she had SMAS (superior mesenteric artery syndrome) and Nutcracker Syndrome.

SMAS, is a condition that occurs when the duodenum (the first part of the small intestine) is compressed between two arteries (the aorta and the superior mesenteric artery). This compression causes partial or complete blockage of the duodenum. That means that very little to no food can get through to digest, and that digestion is extremely painful. This seems to be getting progressively worse for Courtney. In speaking with folks who have had this condition long-term, if not corrected, they end up on a feeding tube and even then, may not be able to get enough nutrition to sustain life.

Nutcracker Syndrome occurs when arteries, most often the abdomen’s aorta and superior mesenteric artery, squeeze the left renal (kidney) vein. This results in pain in that area and can lead to a potentially fatal rupture of the vein.

Now that we know more about these conditions, we are so thankful that the radiologist saw them, as they are extremely rare and typically difficult to diagnose. We’ve also seen that it is common when someone has one compression disorder that they will develop multiple ones over time. Unfortunately, because these conditions are rare and not well understood, our options for treatment are few and poor. The surgeries available to us in the US are drastic, have a low success rate, a high rate of complications and tend to cause other problems.

In doing our research, we found that there are a pair of doctors in Germany who are the leading world experts in compression disorder diagnosis and treatment. They look at the body's systems as a whole and locate hard to diagnose compressions so they can treat the root causes all at once. We sent Courtney’s scans to the German doctor who was able to confirm the diagnosis of SMAS and Nutcracker as well as other probable compression syndromes. They should be able to treat all these in a single surgery using external stinting instead of closing off her veins or rerouting her intestines.

We are so thankful by God’s grace for a friend of ours pointing us to these leading experts. She also had surgery under these doctors and it has greatly improved her quality of life. However the issue comes in that this is not covered by insurance. We will be traveling to Germany in mid October for 5-6 weeks for additional testing, surgery and recovery. People have asked how they can help. Anything you can give towards this is helpful and so much appreciated, as all the travel and medical expenses will be out of pocket. All funds raised will go towards these expenses. Thanks for taking the time to read and share this story. Please pray for a successful surgery, a smooth recovery, and for strength and perseverance for our family during this time.