Hello everyone,

this is arguably one of the scariest things I've ever done.

But after a lot of kind and encouraging community feedback, I've decided to ask for help with affording my life-changing lipedema surgeries after my insurance refused to cover their cost.

After about two years of struggling immensely with my health, going to doctors and being dismissed again and again, I got my answer: I was diagnosed with POTS and lipedema. Both are chronic illnesses that greatly affect my energy levels, mobility, day to day life and pain levels.

But what is lipedema?

Lipedema is a pregressing chronic illness that causes an abnormal accumulation of subcutaneous fat tissue in the body. Unlike normal, healthy fat that is tied to your metabolism, lipedema fat cannot be reduced by exercise or dieting.

Most importantly, lipedema is extremely painful, both to touch and during everyday movements such as walking up stairs, carrying things, brushing your hair or even just standing.

It also gets inflamed easily, leading to a variety of additional symptoms such as brain fog, fatigue and sensitivity. The illness is regarded to cause a major loss in quality of life.

How it affected me:

To me, life before lipedema was a life full of energy. It was a life full of exercise, being outdoors, fun and overcoming any challenges. It meant waking up feeling rested, it meant moving pain-free and not thinking twice about making plans that involved anything other than sitting.

Now, a lot of that has unfortunately changed.

I believe my greatest strength is my resilience, but man, lipedema kicks my ass hard sometimes.

I recently realized that I no longer remember what it's like not to feel pain, or what it's like to wake up truly rested and energized. There's constant pressure and pain, bruises I can't explain (that rhymed) and an endless exhaustion that was so bad before my first surgery, that I would need multiple naps just to get through an easy day.

Examples from my job are that I had to cancel so many livestreams and temporarily pause streaming in general, because I simply don't have the energy to in the evenings anymore. And with filming, I need to take frequent breaks because my arms hurt so much just from holding the camera.

And although I firmly believe that nobody can truly lose their spark, I started feeling like a dull version of myself.

The good news:

Lipedema can be removed via liposuction.

Per definition, it's a chronic illness so on paper, I'll always have lipedema.

HOWEVER: With a good surgeon and enough tissue removed, there's a good chance that I can live a symptom-free life.

Best case, I will need one surgery per area in total. According to my surgeon, this will amount to 6 surgeries.

And after my first successful surgery, I am happy to share that I have MUCH more energy already and the lipedema pain is truly gone. I have a much larger range of motion and love discovering little things I have won back: such as holding hands with my partner (which was previously painful) or looking far left and right (also, weirdly, very painful before).

And surprisingly, my POTS symtoms have also gotten considerably better!

The bad news:

My insurance doesn't want to cover my surgeries.

Before my surgery, I was assured multiple times that it would "for sure" be covered. I was also told that I would get a letter with their final decision within a few days.

I was especially optimistic due to the recent LIPLEG study that proved the effectiveness of liposuction as treatment, which in turn led to surgery being covered by insurance for not only lipedema stage III, but also stage I and II.

So I scheduled my first surgery in April.

This was an urgent decision for me, because at that point, my quality of life had decreased immensely. I was in constant pain and so fatigued that I barely managed my day to day life anymore.

The deadline for feedback kept getting pushed back and before I knew it, it was surgery day.

Then the bad news hit: My insurance doesn't want to pay. Anything.

Six separate doctors indicated the medical necessity but one doctor hired by my insurance decided: Nah.

And according to my lawyer (that I had to get), I was the 8th person with my specific insurance that month to contact her due them not wanting to cover any lipedema surgery.

Apparently, it's a much larger issue.

It's especially frustrating because I didn't choose to be sick. I didn't choose to have a chronic illness, pain, fatigue or a condition that can only be truly treated via surgery. And apparently, a lot of people have to go through this.

That being said, although I do have a lawyer and will fight my insurance on this, there is unfortunately no guarantee that we will win. And worst case, it has to be handled in court and can take YEARS before we have any answers.

And right now, I'm looking at just over 50,000€ of surgery costs just to get my health back.

This is where you guys come in:

And this is also the scariest part for me. What I mean is, I usually really struggle with asking others for help. I'm much more comfortable offering my help to others.

But I realized over the past weeks that I can't do this alone.

Good lipedema treatment is very expensive. And additionally to the 54,000€ surgery cost, the financial burden is even higher due to travel expenses, accommodation, post-operative care, compression garments, recovery-related costs, and the loss of income due to reduced mobility, chronic pain, and recovery time.

For now, I was able to dig into my savings for the first surgery, but to be completely honest (and it's SO scary to talk about this online): I can't afford all surgeries. I have already reached the point where I took out a loan.

And then you guys brought up starting a GoFundMe.

I was very very hesitant at first and still am, but you all have been so kind that words cannot describe how much it meant to me. You guys offered your help and when I later directly asked how you'd feel about a GoFundMe on my Youtube Posts, you gave me the confidence to really do it.

I know that this is a huge amount of money. It's the combined cost of all six surgeries.

If even just a fraction of it can be reached, you will have my eternal gratitude. You will have contributed to changing my life significantly for the better, in ways that I can't describe.

And please only consider donating if it really and truly is okay for you as well!

It doesn’t have to be a big donation either, even 1€ helps a lot!

Non-monetary support is also greatly appreciated. Whether that is supporting me as a viewer, sharing my videos about lipedema, sharing this GoFundMe or being more aware of chronic illnesses in general.

As for me, I will continue to use my platform not only with the intention of spreading joy through my comedy, but with the intention of educating about my illnesses and spreading awareness for others. <3

And finally, should my insurance eventually cover my surgeries in full or in part, I will donate the difference.

Thank you for reading all of this. I love you guys.

Vicky