Help Iris-Lee and Allison with hospital bills
Iris-Lee and Allison have had a very rough year. 10 months ago, Iris-Lee woke up to find Allison unresponsive and she was rushed to the hospital with meningitis. After lots of tests and antibiotics, Allison was cleared to go home. She felt better for awhile, but never got back to 100%.
A few months ago, Allison started getting many of the same symptoms as before - terrible nausea, headaches, mental fogginess, and nasal drainage. It was impossible to go back to work even when her preschool reopened from the COVID-19 shut down. She had several more rounds of imagining, lumbar punctures, and other tests to determine what was wrong. The doctors found that she not only had meningitis again, but also a slow leak in her brain lining that was causing CSF to leak from her nose. The only permanent solution for this leak (and the accompanying meningitis) was brain surgery.
Allison was admitted last week, and received both surgeries she needed - one to “patch the leak” and the other to install a permanent shunt to drain excess fluid from her brain to her abdomen. She was forced to shave her head, much to her chagrin. Iris-Lee has been with her through each step of this process - spending every spare moment in the ICU, taking her to appointments, organizing her medications and treatments.
Iris-Lee has been a superhero during all this, trying to keep up with their rent and all their bills on her income alone while taking care of Allison. They are falling behind, and they now face the possibility of hospital bills on top of everything else. While we hope Medicaid and hospital financial aid will cover Allison’s surgeries, it cannot fix their mounting bills and debt. Iris-Lee and Allison need help from their friends to make ends meet. Iris-Lee was dead set against asking for help because “everyone is struggling right now,” but I convinced her to let me do this. Please give whatever you are able!
*Note: story and all photos were shared with the permission of Iris-Lee and Allison.
