Help Lluiza get her Parkinson's brain surgery

Hi everyone - I'm asking for help for my mom Luiza. She was diagnosed with Parkinson's when she was 45 and has been living with this debilitating disease for almost 18 years. Despite all this, she has always taken good care of my family for all of our lives.

Growing up in Albania, we lived through a harsh dictatorship until communism ended and we went through a Civil War in 1997. Even though life could be very hard or dangerous, my mom kept our family happy and safe. Through the years, different political parties would rise to power and claim they would make life better... but that never happened. My father always worked hard and paid his taxes, but the government offered very little help to him or any of Albania's citizens.

During the pandemic shutdowns, my father and brother weren't allowed to work, but the government only offered 75$ per month for our entire family. Food in Albania is more expensive than in North America. Can you imagine trying to feed your family on $75 a month?

Healthcare in Albania is even worse. It is literally ranked last in all of Europe. The government was supposed to give my mom the medication she needed for her Parkinson's, but they often went months without filling her prescription. When she does get her medication, most of the time, the medicine is expired. This failure by the government to take care of its tax-paying citizens forces us to buy more expensive medicine from Greece, just so my mom can keep her symptoms down and do everyday things that most people take for granted. My mother was never able to see a Parkinson's specialist in Albania and I have had to max out my credit cards to get her some proper treatment in Greece.

I came to Canada in 2014 to make a better life and earn more money to help cover my mom's medical expenses. It's been hard but I have been doing it for eight years now. Recently my mom's Parkinson's has become more advanced and her condition has gotten worse. She has fallen on a few occasions while trying to clean; one time, she broke her wrist, another time, she hurt her back badly. My mom has some days where she can't stop shaking no matter what she does. I'm worried that my mother will seriously hurt herself the next time she falls. It breaks my heart that I can't help her more. It is even harder for me to ask you for help, but I feel I am out of options as she has lost so much weight and has built up a tolerance to her expensive medication.

This month we heard about a private clinic that treats patients with Parkinson's, so my mom went there. The doctor said my mom needs DBS brain surgery because the medicine is no longer helping. I still hesitated to ask anyone for help, but the Doctor says my mom won't be eligible for the surgery by the end of next year because of her age. I don't know how I can come up with over 25 thousand Euros before then - and that's just for the surgery and initial visit, that doesn't cover all of the follow-ups and additional treatments she may need.

So here I am, asking for your help--so my mom can smile again and be the Lluiza I remember as a child.

I want her to be able to hold her first grandchild and meet my husband before it's too late. I know times are tough right now for everyone, so if you can't spare anything - please share this for me in hopes that we can raise enough to get her the surgery she needs. If you have taken the time to read this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and hope you have a wonderful year.

Sincerely,

Xhensila (Jenny)