$2 Donations to Help Juliana with PANDAS Treatment
Donation protected
Hello, our 8 year old daughter has recently been diagnosed with PANDAS, which is a rarely diagnosed auto-immune disease resulting from Strep infections. Although her current diagnosis is recent, we have experienced behavior issues with her since she was 2 to 3 years old, with ADHD, conduct disorder, and DMDD diagnoses throughout our time trying to treat her behavior. In doing more research on PANDAS, we believe this is something that she could have developed many years ago and has been progressing up to the point of her current unmanageable behavior.
The disease causes inflammation in the brain due to the immune system response to Strep becoming confused and attacking the brain after the Strep both during and after the Strep infection has been treated. The brain inflammation causes numerous mental and behavioral problems that are varied from child to child but can include OCD behavior, tics, aggression, wild mood swings, and eating disorders, among other issues. Treatment for PANDAS usually starts out with steroids to clear the inflammation, and can move on to IVIG Infusions and Plasmapheresis to boost and reset the immune system.
Our daughter has received 1 round of IVIG infusions (5 bags of IVIG over the course of 5 days) in a hospital/emergency setting. This is after the initial steroid treatments did not do enough to get her behavior to a manageable state and we wound up in the ER due to behavior. She initially showed improvement after the IVIG, but developed another Strep infection which set her recovery back a great deal.
We are at the point to where we are seeking help to supplement further IVIG treatment in the home setting, which can range up to $10,000 per treatment. Our daughter will need months of weekly infusions. We are also seeking financial assistance to allow us expand our care team options by taking our daughter to out of state to seek the input of other specialists in the field of PANDAS research and treatment.
We are asking for donations of $2 and for help in sharing this page out to friends, family, coworkers, and others. We ask this not only to help us with the continued costs of treatment, but to also spread awareness of PANDAS, as this is a disease that is not widely known yet it is thought to affect far more children than those who actually get a diagnosis. Any additional money received above what we use for treatment assistance will be used to help promote PANDAS awareness as we are committed to advocating for these children and ensuring that this disease is given the attention it needs.
For more information about PANDAS please see the resources below.
www.pandasnetwork.org
www.nepans.org
The disease causes inflammation in the brain due to the immune system response to Strep becoming confused and attacking the brain after the Strep both during and after the Strep infection has been treated. The brain inflammation causes numerous mental and behavioral problems that are varied from child to child but can include OCD behavior, tics, aggression, wild mood swings, and eating disorders, among other issues. Treatment for PANDAS usually starts out with steroids to clear the inflammation, and can move on to IVIG Infusions and Plasmapheresis to boost and reset the immune system.
Our daughter has received 1 round of IVIG infusions (5 bags of IVIG over the course of 5 days) in a hospital/emergency setting. This is after the initial steroid treatments did not do enough to get her behavior to a manageable state and we wound up in the ER due to behavior. She initially showed improvement after the IVIG, but developed another Strep infection which set her recovery back a great deal.
We are at the point to where we are seeking help to supplement further IVIG treatment in the home setting, which can range up to $10,000 per treatment. Our daughter will need months of weekly infusions. We are also seeking financial assistance to allow us expand our care team options by taking our daughter to out of state to seek the input of other specialists in the field of PANDAS research and treatment.
We are asking for donations of $2 and for help in sharing this page out to friends, family, coworkers, and others. We ask this not only to help us with the continued costs of treatment, but to also spread awareness of PANDAS, as this is a disease that is not widely known yet it is thought to affect far more children than those who actually get a diagnosis. Any additional money received above what we use for treatment assistance will be used to help promote PANDAS awareness as we are committed to advocating for these children and ensuring that this disease is given the attention it needs.
For more information about PANDAS please see the resources below.
www.pandasnetwork.org
www.nepans.org
Fundraising team: Team fundraiser (2)
Judith Shelton
Organizer
Midlothian, TX
James Shelton
Team member
