Help Mackenzie's battle against Endo!

Hey everyone,

This is Ally, and I normally don't do these kind of things, but this is important and can maybe make a difference in the life of my friend and co-worker, Mackenzie Ashby. I've known Mackenzie for years now and have witnessed her tireless dedication to veterinary medicine. She's always exhibited exemplary patient care as a veterinary technician, and I can count the numerous times she's even taken sick patients home with her to make sure someone was with them at all times, ensuring they received exemplary care. Her dedication to her patients and her team members is admirable. She is always there for us when we need her, and now she needs us.

Mackenzie has been battling endometriosis for years, and has undergone three surgeries for this condition, with the most recent being out of province (home province: New Brunswick, surgery was done in Ontario). She had remained stable for quite sometime, or at least so she told us, as she is not one to complain or speak out. However in early 2023, she began to experience symptoms that would soon become life altering. She was unable to eat any foods without vomiting, and this progressed to not even being able to drink water. She lost considerable amount of weight and had to be hospitalized numerous times for dehydration and malnutrition. All the while doctors could not figure out what was causing these issues. She had to take a five month medical leave of absence from her work in order to focus on trying to get better and figure out what was causing these dire symptoms. Even when she returned back to work, she could only manage working sporadically, and often times from home, despite her best efforts. She has progressively declined further, and after finally getting an MRI, it was shown that her symptoms were the result of endometriosis on her intestines leading to intestinal stasis. This has also caused gallstones that required emergency surgery, and her chronic vomiting has lead to esophageal issues that will also require surgery. She has continued to lose weight (she has now lost 35% of her body weight), her fertility, her ability to work, sleep and enjoy the things she used to love...and despite being on every medication under the sun, she is not getting better. She is desperately hoping for surgery to remove the endometriosis from her intestines, as well as surgery on her esophagus, but she is continuing to wait for care while her condition worsens. She is on the urgent wait-list but so far there has been no success on getting her in for a procedure despite all her efforts.

Mackenzie's primary care doctor is concerned that if she doesn't get surgery soon, she won't be able to survive surgery. Still the NB healthcare system is not budging on helping her get care faster. She has started the process to look elsewhere for care given her dire prognosis, including in Romania and the United States. Mackenzie and her husband have worked tirelessly to try and get care in New Brunswick, and have exhausted all options. She has tried everything in her power to save her own life. This condition has caused Mackenzie to miss a fair amount of work, use up her savings, and with having to possibly travel for care, I'm reaching out to everyone to see if we can help to cover some of her expenses. Mackenzie is not the type of person to ask for help, but sometimes even the strongest people need a little extra support. The funds raised here will go directly to fund Mackenzie's expenses to travel for medical care, seek surgery out of country, or help cover her day to day expenses as she goes for another extended hospital stay. Any extra amount raised will go towards endometriosis research of Mackenzie's choice to help others not have to go through this terrible disease.

I know times are tough for everyone right now, but if you're able to donate anything at all, it would be greatly appreciated. If you can't donate, please share this page or consider researching endometriosis to learn more, or reaching out to your local MLA to help us show that women's health should be more important in this province.

Thank you!

Here is a recent article CBC did on Mackenzie and endometriosis if you want to learn a bit more. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/endometriosis-surgery-wait-new-brunswick-1.7218405