Hello all. My name is Janae. I'm a 23 year old professional cellist. I play bass guitar, ukulele, and piano. I occasionally find it within myself to create T-shirt designs.

Lately, I have had difficulty doing any of these things.

In early 2023 I was diagnosed with POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome). If you're unfamiliar with the condition, it causes a person to faint if they are upright, usually standing. It also causes a high heart rate (tachycardia). My resting HR most days is 120bpm haha. Most people with this condition use mobility aids (hence the reason I use a wheelchair sometimes). I was in remission from POTS from August of 2023 until about July of this year, when another condition reared its ugly head.

Gastroparesis is a lot of things. It's the paralysis of your stomach, meaning I cannot digest solids and smoothies/shakes. It's also the reason I had to cut my hair (it was falling out), the reason I lost 30 pounds in two months, the reason I had to take leave from work because I struggle to get out of bed in the morning. I have become progressively weaker without nutrition, because at this point the only thing I can keep down is bread.

The reason GP affects my POTS is because I cannot keep water down. I throw it up most days. With POTS, you need constant water and electrolytes, but I can't get those because I can't keep anything down. Some pills, any variation of Gatorade, etc. comes right back up, or causes me immense abdominal pain.

What started as a kind of interesting challenge to work through turned into a nightmare. The daily vomiting is what caused me to lose the weight. The lack of nutrients is what caused my hair to start falling out. The lack of water has taken away my ability to stand for more than a couple minutes at a time.

Normally none of this would bother me. Those who know me know that I can tough it out. But when my illnesses started taking a toll on my ability to work, things fell apart. I. . .am broke. There is no other way to put it. Ameren is about to cut my electricity off, my phone service is off, my car insurance got cancelled. I have to pay rent, but I also have to pay my car note, which has racked up a significant balance. I fear they're going to repo it soon.

All I need to do is catch up. Because I think I can manage my bills like a normal adult once I'm caught up (though I say this EVERY YEAR and something disastrous happens and drains my wallet).

I have an unbelievably hard time asking for financial help, or help in general. I also have a really hard time saying thank you. I just wanted to say, whether you just opened this out of curiosity to read, or to donate, I appreciate you all. Whatever you end up doing, thank you.

Janae

Past Due (will update as things are paid!

Spectrum: $117 (PAID!!)

Ameren: $150

Spire: $135

Rent: $700 (PAID!!)

Car: $734 (PAID!!!)

AT&T: $61

Meds: $45 (PAID)

edit 9/10/24 - thank you all who have donated here and off of GoFundMe. thank you so much. thanks to y'all my most important bills are paid. i really appreciate it

i have been thinking about a way to give back to those who donated. hopefully i come up with something soon <3