Help Lisa in her Medical Recovery

At 41 years old, with a daughter not yet in Kindergarten, a diagnosis of a rare Auto-Immune Disease with no cure is frightening. This is Lisa Keating’s story.

Imagine suddenly losing your ability to speak clearly, and experiencing severe chest spasms and stuttering that prevents you talking and expressing yourself as you always did. Picture not being able to think as you always did without mental exertion, and trying to communicate wears you out. Imagine having a happy and very active 4-year-old daughter, who is the center of your world, and you are in unbearable pain due to ulcers and inflammation of blood vessels in your legs. You cannot play with your daughter as you must keep your legs bandaged and elevated, and you have been in this condition for months now. Lisa’s husband, Jamie, is her primary support, but the prolonged stress caused by the devastating effects Lisa’s condition has had on her body, impact of her reduced functioning, and increased strain as Lisa is unable to work, has taken a serious toll on the family financially and emotionally. As Lisa has expressed, there are no words to describe the distress of going from being “normal” to “bed bound” in just a few days, with trouble thinking, speaking, and pain when walking. It is devastating!

Lisa’s story is heartbreaking - gaps in appointments, extended waiting for needed tests, and delays in obtaining reports – while her condition got progressively worse & worse. Lisa was seeking answers over the last year, which did not come soon enough and the impact has been devastating. During this time Lisa had a non-healing leg ulcer that, regardless of treatments, continued to get larger. She then developed non-healing ulcers on her other leg. For over a year, she was prescribed different oral and ointment antibiotics that had no effect. She began attending a wound care clinic twice a week, with frequent bandage changes being done, but the wounds never healed. Following a biopsy, she had stitches in for two weeks on an ulcer, and the stitches never healed which resulted in worsening of the leg wound. Lisa continued with compression wraps on both legs and leg elevation. On October 12, while still awaiting biopsy results, it was decided that steroids would be tried.

Biopsy results showed possible pyoderma gangrenosum and signs of vasculitis, a rare disease with no cure. The condition attacks the skin and other organs, where you are stuck in a stage of never healing and all normal treatments make it worse. This is a serious condition where inflammation of the blood vessels occurs when the body’s immune system attacks the blood vessels by mistake. Lisa was at increased risk developing a blood clot, aneurysm, and organ damage.

On October 13, 2023 an aggressive treatment of high dose steroids (Prednisone) was started in conjunction with 24 hour high compression Coban dressings and leg elevation to reduce swelling. The compression bandages were uncomfortable and painful for Lisa. She could not bathe normally, and had trouble sleeping. Lisa then began to experience serious side effects from the steroids. When trying to wean off the medication, Lisa experienced worsening spasms, weakness in her limbs and hands, and stuttering. She was fearful she had a stroke, and attended the hospital. She was sent home, and had a CT scan 3 days later.

On November 16, 2023 – Lisa was feeling tired and unwell. She made the decision to attend the hospital again. She had gone downstairs to get her purse and MCP, but while walking up the stairs, she lost her ability to move or speak and her whole body went into spasm. An ambulance was called. Once at the hospital, Lisa waited in the ambulance bay for hours while it was believed she had suffered two strokes over the course of a few days. She was eventually placed in the waiting room on a steel wheelchair unable to talk or move, and her legs were not elevated. She then experienced another health episode, and she was wheeled behind triage, where she was in so much pain, she got down on the floor, and was able to elevate her legs with help. She could not talk, but was able to write down that her leg wound was opening. She says it was over 7 hours since the ambulance was called, and she had not been seen by a doctor. When she requested to leave due to being in pain, she was told to follow-up with her family doctor.

We are very grateful that an internal medicine doctor is now involved and overseeing Lisa’s care. Her treatment at this time is focused on stopping further neurological damage, and continuing with assessment. Lisa is continuing with leg bandages 24-hours a day, and medical compression stockings, as her legs have not completely healed. She is on a very high steroid dose. When Lisa becomes overstimulated and is trying to complete a task she always did, like recalling an answer to a question or writing an email, her heart races from exertion. Preventing increased heart rate and blood pressure is critical to her health at this time, as she continues to have inflammation of the blood vessels. With blood thinners she is covered in bruises, and a small scrape can easily bleed and become infected. The need to reduce stress is imperative to her ability to heal from this dreadful and rare condition.

Lisa has a long difficult road ahead to recovery as all areas of daily functioning have been impacted by her illness and the damage caused to her body. Lisa has been unable to work for over 8 weeks, and now has to pay 100% out of pocket to keep medical insurance in place. She is in receipt of sick EI benefits, which is less than half her regular salary and payments are becoming difficult to manage. System delays in the initiation of any disability insurance and financial strain is causing overwhelming stress.

Lisa now requires medical equipment to assist daily living, such as a wheelchair, walker, leg elevating chair, and physical changes will need to be done to their home. Supplies and equipment are badly needed to be purchased right away. The family is in constant worry now about finances, with medical expenses now coming in on top of normal day to day living bills.

Your very kind financial support will help alleviate a little stress allowing Lisa, Jamie, and their beautiful 4-year-old daughter to adjust to the situation, purchase needed supplies, and make some changes to their home in Paradise. The unforeseen medical expenses have exhausted their financial resources, and your financial help will allow Lisa to focus on getting better.

Thank you in advance for supporting Lisa in the days ahead. They cannot do this without help from you - their friends, family, and community. She is fighting every day to get well.

Funds raised will assist Lisa with treatment-related items and medical equipment. Thank you for any donations. We sincerely appreciate any support and encouragement offered to Lisa and her family during this extremely difficult time.

I will share the link to social media, and ask family and friends to please share and donate to support Lisa.

A few words from Lisa:

“Thank you to those that are my voice when the words won’t come out, thank you for those that are doing the easy so I can concentrate on the hard. And thank you to everyone that continue to make sure Addison still feels special, safe, and loved, as my biggest concern is that she is ok.”