Help For Lauren’s Health, Medical, and Living Needs

Hello everyone. My name is Susan, and I’m organizing this fundraiser on behalf of my daughter, Lauren Criss-Carboy. Lauren is currently in dire need of financial assistance due to her health condition and living situation. She has been unable to work at all for several months now. I’m with her in Illinois, preparing for her move. Her father and I have been helping her the best we can but she needs additional support to cover costly medical and logistical expenses. We are immensely grateful for anything you can donate during this difficult time.

Lauren grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska and has been living in Champaign, Illinois since 2021. Up until last year, Lauren spent much of her time outside, camping, hiking, swimming, gardening, dancing, and walking her dog. She was an avid painter, artist, and traveler, and she had a vibrant social life in her new home, as well as a remote job she loved.

In early 2022, Lauren was hit with a COVID infection that turned out to be the worst illness of her adult life. It took weeks for some symptoms to pass, but others—like the fatigue, which became debilitating at times, and the brain fog—never did. Although she was able to push to carry on with her life as normal for awhile, as her symptoms worsened, it eventually became clear that something else was going on. In November of 2023, after years of no answers and struggling to find doctors who could help, Lauren was finally formally diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and Long Covid.

ME/CFS presents itself as intense crashes after physical, emotional, cognitive and social exertion that have gotten progressively worse and more severe. Lauren had been largely housebound and unable to return to work since the fall of 2023. Lauren has essentially been bedridden, unable to stand or walk for more than a few minutes at a time. In addition to debilitating fatigue and crashes, Lauren also experiences flu-like symptoms and other Long-Covid complications, such as chronic migraines/exertion headaches, Dysautonomia, and profound neurological symptoms that make it difficult to interact with others or tolerate sensory input.

The devastating impacts have made it difficult for Lauren to feed and care for herself, on top of the financial strain of seeking medical care and accessibility resources while waiting months for her disability application to go through. This also means that Lauren can no longer participate in hobbies and activities she loves so much - drawing, caring for her garden, spending time outside, or visiting with loved ones. The grief and mental toll of this new reality has been overwhelming. It’s been difficult for Lauren to adjust from putting down roots in her new community and feeling optimistic about the future to the realities of the past year.

With these factors in mind, Lauren has decided the best decision is to move back to Fairbanks to access the family support and sustained rest she deeply needs. Any contributions to this GoFundMe will go towards moving expenses, medical debt, and the ongoing costs of Lauren’s medical care in addition to supplies, assistive devices and aids not covered by insurance. Whatever you can give is deeply appreciated and will support Lauren as she, her mother, her dog and her snake travel back up to Alaska in the coming days.

Lauren and her family thank you from the bottom of their hearts for your support.

https://www.nih.gov/mecfs/about-mecfshttps://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/long-term-effects/index.html