Life before April 10th:
My name is Stephanie and I am a single mother of one 8-year-old boy. My son and I were pretty active with his soccer club that we've been involved with for 4 years. I was his coach for 3 years and took on a leadership role within the club this past year. I worked full time in the corporate world and tried to stay active in my church. Overall my life was hectic with juggling motherhood, work, and everything in between. I somehow managed to keep it all together and get my bills paid every month. 




The Beginning:
On April 10 my life changed forever. I woke up at 3am with severe pain in my groin and could not lift my leg. I went back to bed hoping I would be better in the morning. In the morning my pain was worst and my leg barley worked. I had to drag it behind me to move around. I pulled myself in work since it was important I be there, but I ended up having to leave early due to the pain I was having. That night I went to my doctor who thought I had just a pulled muscle. Through the night of the 10th to the morning of the 11th my pain and movement was becoming worst. I called out of work telling my boss that I could barely move but hope to be in tomorrow. I sent my son to school the morning of April 11th and had my mom take me to the emergency room. I spent the day in the emergency room were doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with me. I ended up getting an MRI of my whole body where they found a mass on my tailbone/spine. The doctors at this hospital could not treat me so I was transferred to Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. The doctors from the emergency room thought I might have cancer of the spine so they sent me to a place that could care for me. On April 12th I entered Thomas Jefferson spinal unit. I also called my boss and HR department in tears about my situation. I was so scared about my health, but also losing my job. Luckily, I was covered by the Family Medical Leave Act for job protection.  Once at Thomas Jefferson I was put through tons of test to find out what the mass was, which they were now calling a tumor of the spine and to see why I could not lift my leg and why I was having so much pain in my hip. On April 13th I received the lucky news that they received a good image of the tumor to diagnose it as a Sacral hemangioma. This is a benign tumor of the spine, which was great news but we still had to figure out why my leg wasn't working and why I was having such great pain in my hip. I was run through more tests to figure out my other issues and finally received good news [if you can call it that] on April 17th that they figured out nothing was wrong with my hip or leg - that everything was being caused by my tumor. The bad news was that surgery wasn't an option since I could become paralyzed from removing the tumor. The doctors at first didn't think my tumor was causing all my issues, but after seeing that my leg and hip were fine they came to the conclusion that the tumor was the cause of everything. Without much more the doctors could do for me they discharged me with a referral to physical therapy. You see since April 10th my mobility went way down to the point that I was in a walker and could barely walk. I needed someone to help me all the time to the point of needing assistance in the bathroom. As a young mother of 30 who is use to taking care of others this was very hard.  I was finally discharged from the hospital on April 17th with my script for PT and with an appointment lined up for another MRI and specialist appointment. Since surgery was too risky and the risk of the hemangioma getting bigger the doctors wanted to see me in 3 months’ time. 


After my hospital discharge:
I came home from the hospital with a walker and shower chair. My 68-year-old mother had to help me 90% of the time with all my care. She also had to take over 100% of the care for my 8-year-old son. I needed someone to prepare my meals, help me shower, get dressed, get around the house, and to drive me to my many appointments. I found a wonderful physical therapy office close to home that took my case. On April 19th I started going to physical therapy three times a week. The point of physical therapy was to help me gain my mobility back and to help control the pain I was having. Physical Therapy was hard, but I had a therapist who was willing to go the extra mile for me and attempt to get me back to where I was before. During this difficult time of therapy, I was also in the process of navigating the confusing world of disability insurance paper work. I had to fight to receive coverage for my time out of work. I lucked out again and received 60% of my income from my disability insurance with a certification end day of May 31. What that meant was after May 31, I would receive no other money.  I went to physical therapy three times a week for the rest of April and all of May. I was slowly improving and getting better. Near the end of May I was able to move from my walker to a cane, which was a very big deal for me. My therapist and I were also talking about returning back to work part-time and bumping down to therapy two times a week. During this time, I started to receive all my medical bills from my hospital stays and I was paying my $50 copay per visit for physical therapy. My bills were stressing me out especially as I saw my savings account and flex spending account go down. I tried not to worry about my bills too much and put everything on the lowest monthly payment plan they would allow. 


Return to work:
June 4th was an exciting day for me. I was returning back to work for the first time since April 10th. My co-workers were so glad to see me since I left so abruptly they didn't know what happened. I went to work 3 times a week while still attending physical therapy twice a week. At this point my disability insurance closed my case as they thought I should be going back full time.  I was stuck paying my full-time work bills on a part-time work paycheck. Again, I was trying not to stress too much over my bills and hoped that God would take care of me as before. I continued with my 3-day work week until my check in with my primary doctor on June 28. My PCP and therapist thought it would be good to continue the part-time work week for July especially since I would not see the specialist until July 20th. And the three-day work week was necessary as my body is always in pain and it's hard for me to physically do all duties. 

Present Day:
At present I am dealing with a lot. My body is in constant pain and I am always in some state of stress. I have difficulty walking, have numbness in my left leg and my left leg sometimes doesn't want to work. I do not have the stamina of a normal 30-year-old and I cannot do things with my son like I use to.  This week I filed for an appeal with my disability insurance to see if they will reopen my case and cover the income I am not receiving while working part time. I also found out this week that my insurance company has a hard cap of PT visits per year and that I met my limit of 30 last week. I now have to pay for my physical therapy visits out of pocket like I do not have insurance. The office was kind enough to extend a $90 per visit fee and allow me to just pay $150 a month until my account is paid in full. This is kind of them but is something that is going to be very hard for me to manage. I honestly do not know what to do and will soon be depleting my rainy-day fund. More than likely I will not return back to full time work until September. Physical Therapy will continue for an unknown amount of time, but I know for a fact I will be in therapy for the next two months for sure. I am asking for any financial assistance help that anyone could provide. I work so hard as a single mother to better myself. I had my son while in college and never received my degree. I worked my way up in my company to get an okay paying job. It kills me because I have student loans, but no college degree to show for these loans. No one should have to go financially ruined because of a medical issue especially someone who has paid into medical insurance for years. Below I am going to list my medical bills that are outstanding. I am then going to list what physical therapy will cost me for July and August. I will also list the other half of my income I am not receiving. Any help is appreciated and so is a share.  God Bless!

My Need:
Physical Therapy for July: $810 (2x a week)
Physical Therapy for August: $810 (2x a week)
Outstanding Thomas Jefferson bill: $618.76
Outstanding Lankenau Medical Center: $125
Lost Income June: $800
Lost Income July [whole month]: $800
Follow up w/specialist visit: $50
Follow up w/PCP visit: $25

As you can see my need is greater than my fundraising goal, but I wanted to share all the bills I need assistance with. 

Sincerely,
Stephanie