Help Fulfill Jessica Gibson's Final Wish

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28 donors
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$1,590 raised of $10K

Help Fulfill Jessica Gibson's Final Wish

Help Fulfill Jessica Gibson's Final Wish

0% complete

$1,590 raised of $10K

28 donations
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Hi, my name is Alyssa Stanton. I am one of Jessica Gibson's daughters. I come to you regarding my mom. My mom passed away from her chronic illnesses on May 15th, 2025, at 3:10 am. My family needs your help one last time as my mom needs to be buried. It was my mom's main wish for her to be buried and not cremated. I'm going to try my best to make sure that happens. Please help me and my family in making my mom's main wish come true. Here is my mom's journey of her illnesses over the years and how it has affected her life and our family. Thank you and God bless.

Hello, my name is Jessica Gibson. I am a chronic illness warrior. I deal with numerous autoimmune diseases as well as numerous other illnesses that cause severe pain. In 2018, I was rushed to the hospital from work because I passed out. I had been having issues with food making me incredibly sick and got to where I had lost a substantial amount of weight. At the hospital, I was diagnosed with SMAS. Essentially, this is very rare, and basically, my duodenum is blocking food from moving through due to my fat pad being gone, and I throw up everything. I ended up having to have a DDJ surgery to bypass it, and they took several feet of my small intestines. We thought that was going to solve the issue, but that was just the beginning.

I was still extremely ill and ended up being diagnosed with severe idiopathic gastroparesis, and my gall bladder needed to be removed. Gastroparesis is when your stomach stops working. I had 8% of my stomach that wasn't dead. I first had surgery to remove the gall bladder and put a gastric pacemaker in my stomach as well as a feeding tube. They ended up taking it all out several months later, and I had a subtotal gastrectomy done. After healing a bit, it had helped a bit with not throwing up every 5 minutes. However, my body started going downhill, and I was continuing to lose weight. I bounced around doctor after doctor for answers and help. I ended up finding out I have Hashimoto's thyroid disease, which is autoimmune and difficult to treat. I also was diagnosed with severe pancreatic insufficiency. I can't absorb foods, etc., due to no enzymes to help break the food down.

During this time, my legs, feet, and stomach stayed swollen due to these other illnesses. My malabsorption and malnutrition issues had caused non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. I was hospitalized to get this fluid drained. After it was drained, my weight was 83 lbs. I had to get another feeding tube. To make a long story short, I have had 3 feeding tubes, and they want to put another one in and 6 other surgeries. I started going downhill again back in October. Losing weight and swelling and just not feeling well. I have been battling pneumonia since October. I am immunocompromised, so my system has a hard time healing. In March of this year, I dropped and had to be taken to the hospital. I went into a coma state. I was in CCU for several days, and by the grace of God, got stabilized. That was caused by my thyroid. My body wasn't absorbing my medications, which caused a thyroid storm. I was able to come home after they got me stable, but for the most part, I have been bed-bound.

My husband has been on medical leave to take care of me for months. Unfortunately, you get no money for that. We are in a very bad way and don't have a penny to our names. We would be so incredibly thankful for any help with daily living and bills. I apologize for this taking so long. I was trying to explain our situation. I am essentially starving to death and back down to 80 lbs. I am supposed to be on a specific diet and haven't been able to do so due to our financial situation. I didn't tell you all of the health issues, but essentially, it has been a cascading domino effect. Again, thank you if you can help, and if you aren't able to, prayers make all the difference in the world. Much love, please never take your health for granted.
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Jessica Gibson
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Sevierville, TN
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