Help April with a rare medical condition.

For a little less than a year now April has been dealing with hypoglycemia and the symptoms that result from it.

It started with a few episodes of night sweats, shaking and even at times, the inability to adequately communicate and form rational thoughts. At the time we didn’t know it was hypoglycemia but looking back at the symptoms we now know she was having low blood sugar levels.

Fast forward to February of 2023, I walked into the bedroom to go to bed, April was already in bed asleep. When I laid down next to her she started having a seizure. I called 911 and when the ambulance got there her blood sugar was 22. They administered glucagon and she was taken by ambulance to the hospital. The hospital was able to get her sugars back to normal and she was sent home.

At the time April was also suffering from an ulcer and had already undergone a revision to bypass from vertical sleeve (weightloss surgery). We knew she would need another revision and we were hopeful that the revision would help the hypoglycemia, but we were wrong.

April’s blood sugar is dropping below 70 and at times below 50 multiple times a week, if not daily. So her primary care physician set her up with a blood glucose monitor that she wears 24/7 and an appointment with an Endroconologist.

Last week April went to the Endocrinologist and was told that what is happening to her is very rare. Multiple blood tests were ordered and the results showed that while at low blood sugar (50) she has abnormally high insulin, proinsulin and C-peptide.

Today she received a call from her Endroconologist that the diagnosis is either an Insulinoma (tumor of the pancreas) or, more likely Noninsulinoma Pancreatogenous Hypoglycemia Syndrome (NIPHS), even more rare than Insulinoma. She will go today for another glucose lab, this time getting her blood sugar under 50 so that the labs can be delivered to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota so she can begin testing and treatment with them.

The diagnosis for NIPHS is extremely rare, affecting less than 7% of people with hypoglycemia.

Once she starts treatment with the Mayo Clinic she will be there for at least 2 weeks and that is not including any additional testing that will happen. The two weeks will cover pre-surgery (surgery is pancreatectomy), surgery, recovery and then 6-8 weeks recovery at home.

We are looking for any kind of support that might be available to assist with travel, missed work and medical expenses. It’s difficult to be looking at such a dire diagnosis and being more concerned about how we will afford it and not lose our home and livelihoods.

Support comes in all different forms from messages of hope, prayers, family willing to travel so I can work and even just sharing this Gofundme!

If you’re unable to donate, sharing this post to all of your social media forms will be a tremendous help and support!

We love you all and greatly appreciate your support regardless what form it comes in!