Help Jazzy Get Her Life Back From TSW

Hi everyone, thank you for taking the time to read, share and/or donate.

For those of you who may not know who I am, my name is Jazzy. I am 21 years old and am currently fighting Topical Steroid Withdrawal. I have had mild eczema for my entire life, which I combatted with topical steroids for 8-9 years. Around late 2022, I was having adverse skin reactions that my steroid cream could not keep up with. My skin was bright red, burning, inflamed and was sensitive to touch like a sunburn. Everything I put on it burned, even just showering. I was urged by doctors to keep using the steroid cream but I felt like something was really wrong, I began to try and treat my eczema naturally, stopping my steroid use. Around this time I began to have full body flare ups of symptoms I have never experienced before. I was still not aware of TSW at this time. I was experiencing the same burning feeling, with oozing skin, a bone deep nerve itch I could not satisfy, bright red skin allover, and eventually got diagnosed with an infection (a very common occurrence with TSW). I was doing everything-- multiple bleach baths a week, oatmeal baths, carnivore diet. Nothing seemed to help. Since then, I have sporadically dealt with the intense symptoms on top of developing severely dry skin, elephant skin, white patches, wrinkles, swelling, weight gain, painfully swollen lymph nodes, extreme insomnia, delayed menstrual cycles, nerve damage, constant shivering due to thermoregulation issues and hair thinning.

I became aware of TSW only very recently, but when I did, my symptoms were textbook. After a year of seeing doctors and googling to try and find out what's going on with me, I had finally felt understood and seen. The pictures looked just like me, the stories sounded just like mine.

Life before TSW for me was filled with fun memories with friends and family, finding myself and finding confidence in myself. I was working, travelling, dancing, teaching, performing. I was enjoying life working to pursue my dream career as a professional dancer. Today I am almost bed ridden. It hurts to get out of bed and move around. I am unable to fall asleep until the sun comes up. I've lost sensation in parts of my back and thighs. It is uncomfortable to be awake. I had to take leave from work and stop dance. Growing up dancing, this is the first time I have ever had to put dance on the back burner. This has been an extremely hard journey for me. It is hard to not feel like my life has been swept from underneath me. I don't recognize myself anymore nor do I feel like myself. For someone who was once so passionate about life and knew very clearly what I wanted for myself, and now being someone who can barely get out of bed and shower, I sometimes still can't believe where I'm at now, how did I get here? How did this happen to me?

Unfortunately, TSW is still widely unrecognized, many medical professionals have little to no knowledge on it or how to treat it. While there is no end all cure for TSW, I've found a glimmer of hope with this treatment: Cold Atmospheric Plasma or CAP treatment. It is only offered in 3 places of the world as of now: Singapore, the UK and Thailand. I have been recommended to the Thailand clinic to receive treatment over the course of 4 months, and am planning to relocate and get treatment end of June. By donating to this GoFundMe, you are helping me treat this nightmare of a condition and get back to my life, dancing, and being a functioning human in society.

Here is an estimated breakdown of costs you would be helping me cover:

Lodging: $500 per month including water, electricity, wifi

Treatment: $1,200 - $1,300 per month

Flight tickets: $1,300 - $1,600

Food/transportation/daily expenses: $250 - $350 per month

Visa: $120

Thank you for reading this far and for your consideration to help me afford this treatment. It is not going to go unappreciated!

Thank you to my parents, siblings, and my boyfriend Lloyd who help support and take care of me everyday, let me cry to them, and never look at me differently despite looking (and feeling) like a zombie <3

For more information on TSW: https://www.itsan.org/