Help Cure Tanya!

On September 16th 2022 my little sister, Tanya Michel, was admitted to the South Health Campus emergency in Calgary Alberta with a high fever, body paralysis, confusion, body swelling and incredible body pain. The doctors did not know what the reason or source of the sudden onslaught of conditions Tanya was presenting with and when a bed became available, she was moved to the neurological ward and hammered with tests. This included a total of 5 MRIs, 6 CAT scans, and 2 incredibly painful spinal taps. All of this to try and get an answer. After a few weeks, they determined she had a very very rare variant called Bickerstaff Brain Stem Encephalitis, variant of Miller Fisher Syndrome, variant to Guillian Barre Syndrome… To give you an idea of how rare Bickerstaff is, it is rare enough for people to get the main disease of Guillian Barre Syndrome, 2:100,000 people are diagnosed with this per year. Miller Fisher Syndrome is 1-2:1,000,000 WORLDWIDE…. Those that know Tanya, know she is a one in a million girl. But what she was diagnosed with, Bickerstaff, is diagnosed 1:2,000,000 people GLOBALLY.

In short to what this is, this disease is when the autoimmune system attacks the nervous system.

Tanya was in the neurological unit for 6 weeks. During her stay, she battled everyday with issue after issue, terrifying my mother every time a machine beeped wrong. Thankfully with my mother’s medical background, she was able to monitor and intervene for my sister’s behalf. I won’t go deep into detail but 24/7 monitoring was a necessity as some of Tanya’s symptoms were sudden crashes of her breathing, unable to eat and a feeding tube was placed, unable to move and a catheter placed, etc. Even though the doctors could not diagnose officially, they started a wide range of treatments to see what would help. When no changes were made, and test results began to return, they decided to start immunoglobulin therapy. This caused her symptoms to stabilize and decrease, somewhat. This allowed Tanya to be discharged from hospital after 6 weeks even though she still sufferes many residual symptoms. Tanya still requires 24/7 monitoring and assistance, and we are all incredibly grateful that our parents have been able to be there for her during this. However, because her nerves are still fighting to come back online, she is unable to eat solid foods, and her digestive system will even reject what she tries to keep down. Tanya has dropped from 144lbs when she was admitted to the hospital and is now a staggering 108lbs… This disease has affected her every aspect.

But we have hope. A private clinic is willing to take her case on, but it is not cheap. The Neurvana Naturopathic Medicine offers cutting edge brain mapping, combining evidence and results-based medicine with innovative technology to better diagnose and address the issue, not just cover up the symptoms. Even though Tanya’s case has gained celebrity status to those in the neurology world, the public sector is unable to assist any further.

This is the reason we are turning to a private clinic, because as wonderful as our public health system is, they are under funded and overwhelmed to pursue any more answers or therapy to give us. The public health system has told us that Tanya just needs to rest and recover with time. In the few weeks since she has been discharged, we all knew this wasn’t the answer. Tanya has continued to lose weight, and the pain does not stop. We have already begun preliminary testing with Tanya at Neurvana and they have told us otherwise. If Tanya is just ‘left at home to rest and recover’ she will not recover. It will continue to affect her for the rest of her life. She will be dependent on caregivers and her fear of opioid addiction, she has thus refused heavy pain medication.

With the few phone calls I have been able to have with my sister, I see and worst of all, I hear the pain in her voice when she tells me she is being held hostage by her own body. She just wants her life back.

Neurvana is ready to give us not only more answers but a treatment plan through IV therapy that Alberta Health Services is unable to provide. They have her health records but unfortunately they need to do more testing yet and highly recommend she start the IV therapy immediately. We cannot afford this on our own. The initial bill so far is $7500, a blood panel, $3000, and the IV therapy afterwards is roughly $160 per round. She will need lots of IV therapy, of which she has to travel for from Dawson Creek where she is now staying with my parents, to their clinic in Calgary. Our goal for Tanya is $20,000. My family and I are doing our best to cover the travel costs but we need your help for the tests and treatments themselves.

My sister never wanted to be a charity case or be put in the position to have to accept handouts. Before this fall, she worked incredibly hard at all of her three jobs. She is an inspiration to those that know her and I know of no one who has her hard driven work ethic. Her bosses best describe her work ethic as a beast and thrives to leave her work place better than it was when she comes in. Tanya loves to connect with people in every job she has ever held. As a personal trainer, she reached out with her teens in fitness programs, helping kids find an outlet to pursue their athletic goals. She would be the first to greet you at the gym with a sunny smile and cheerful hello! As a server, she was efficient but took her time to talk to you. She was ecstatic enough when she was hired at Starbelly in Calgary, and more so when she was promoted to bartender where she could continue to grow as she explored more of what life could offer. We all want that back for her, but no one more than Tanya. She is a fighter but this battle is draining her physically, mentally, emotionally. Even if it’s just a dollar, every cent will be to her recovery. If you are unable to donate here, e-transfers are accepted to [email redacted]. We are creating a Facebook page where we will continue to update on her progress. Those that know her can tell you the fire truly comes from deep within her. Please help us fan this flame back to life.

*Please note, any excess from covering Tanya’s treatment will be going to the Neurvana Clinic to help any other patients who are in similar need