<div>Hello, my name is Leslie. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I'm a wife and a mother to the most awesome 8-year-old little girl! She makes my whole heart full. Unfortunately, <strong>I have lupus which likes to attack my heart</strong>. And I'm desperately asking for funds to pay for my medical treatments and past due medical bills. I just want more time with my family. I want to watch and be active in my daughter's life for as long as I possibly can. My family can't afford these treatments! <strong>I'm faced with the decision to stop all medications and treatments and get my affairs in order to prepare to not be here much longer, or continue to put my family's financial needs and my daughter's future in jeopardy.</strong>
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<div>I became a mom in 2017. By 2018, I started to feel bad all the time. I really thought it was just new mom exhaustion. I would have pain all over my body, fevers, feeling weak and dizzy, and lastly, my breathing got heavy. I remember it like yesterday. I put my one-year-old daughter in her highchair for lunch, and I woke up in an ambulance headed to the hospital. I was freaking out. I got to the hospital, and they ran test after test after test. Finally, after 3 days, they told me I have lupus and it's attacking my heart. And that I have to have surgery right away to ensure that I still have a heart. I stayed in the hospital for 2 weeks, and I missed my baby terribly. I had health insurance, but once I was officially diagnosed with lupus and acute heart issues, I was dropped from my insurance. Most insurance companies will not even finish the quote with me once I tell them I have lupus. I have not been able to hold a job. I will start working and end back at the hospital. I was working part-time (office work) and passed out, so they had to call 911. After that, my husband didn't want me to work. So we have been paying for mostly everything out of pocket, which means I'm only taking 3 of the 7 prescriptions that I'm supposed to take. I get treatments as we can afford them, not as needed or recommended. And I have over $100,000 in past due hospital bills. I have hired a disability attorney to help with my disability claim. <strong>This money will allow me to pay for my treatments and medication for a year without any more additional financial stress to my family.</strong> And I pray that before the year is up, I will have my full disability! I just want to get well without being a burden. I'm so thankful for our family that has helped with what they can, when they can. But I need real help. I don't want to see that sad, worried, confused, and terrified look on my daughter's face after I have passed out on her. But she's seen so much of my sickness. And I don't want most of her childhood memories to be mommy being sick. So please help me get my treatments so I can go outside and run away with my daughter. She has the best smile and laugh! And I want to hold hands while we jump on the trampoline, I want to chase fireflies at night, I want to run in the sprinklers, and I want her to see me as a real mom! Not a sick mom!
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Jolaine Walker

Michael Wright

M Thomspon Dudiak

Help Leslie Fight Lupus and Be There for Her Daughter

Still $7,000 to go. Help us build momentum.