Hi, I am fundraising for Nora to help with her medical and family expenses. If you can only give one time this month, I hope you will consider supporting her.

 

Nora is a fifteen year old vivacious, intelligent, beautiful young lady. She is the second of four sisters. Before getting ill, she hoped to attend an ivy league college after high school. She had the brains and determination to do it.

 

About seven months ago, she developed severe neurological issues that affect her sight, hearing, ability to learn, memory, balance, digestion, and passing out. Would you please support her with your donation?

 

Nora was an acolyte in the church, she qualified for nationals in archery, she was in the National Honor Society, she placed at State for public speaking, she placed 2nd with her team at Nationals with cheerleading, played lacrosse... the list of accomplishments goes on. But even as busy as she was, she made time to volunteer. She would shovel snow in the neighborhood and she always had a soft spot for helping little kids, especially her baby sister.

 

Last Halloween, Nora had her first allergic reaction and over the course of the next several months was in the ER 9 times with her throat closing and difficulty breathing. Allergy tests can not find the cause so it can't be avoided.

 

In January, she began having hearing issues with it going in and out.

 

Then in March her vision started to go. It became blurry and she lost the ability to see color correctly. She describes it like always looking through sunglasses. The doctors think it is neurological. The eye doctor can't get it corrected with glasses.

 

In April, she had acute onset of many serious symptoms which included passing out and becoming incoherent. She was admitted to the hospital and underwent several days of testing including a lumbar puncture. She was sent home only to be readmittted a day later with a severe spinal headache from the lumbar puncture leaking. She was in so much pain that every time she sat up she would vomit. They attempted a blood patch that failed but they hit a nerve. She then had such severe nerve pain that she couldn't lay down flat, but would throw up when sitting up because the blood patch failed to stop the spinal headache. The pain was so intense they had to sedate her. She lost the ability to walk.

 

But Nora being Nora, she pushed through and wouldn't let this set back stop her. By the time they sent her home days later, she was able to walk 15 feet again with assistance. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, she clawed her way back to walking. However, that one solid spinal headache lasted five months without stopping. She still gets intermittent headaches.

 

However, the passing out and throwing up never went away. She has both multiple times a day. At her worst it was up to 7-8 times a day. None of the medicines or doctors she has seen to date has been able to make it stop. They don't know if it is seizures or autoimmune or infection. This seems to be beyond the expertise of local doctors. She has seen dozens of specialists in the three cities closest to her, but needs additional testing and visits to out of state specialists to try to get her back to normal.

 

Her passing out is so common place now that her 4 year old sister would follow her around so she could announce, "Mom, Nora is passed out in the backyard again." or wherever she passes out. Multiple ER trips have happened just from head injuries from the falls. She has to always have supervision because we never know when she will pass out or go into anaphylaxis.

 

This neuro condition has also affected her ability to learn. Her cognitive testing shows her memory is now in the .1 percentile. That means 999 out of 1000 kids test higher than her, this formerly gifted kid. Despite her never give up attitude, she hasn't been able to complete her ninth grade classes from last year or any from tenth grade this year. She is devastated to watch her ivy league dreams slip away. She just can't remember the material and will have to go over a lesson multiple times just to take a quiz. By the time she needs to take a test, all of the information is gone.

 

We desperately need to get her to specialists that can figure out what is going on and how to fix it. But, over a year of only one parent working has drained all family savings. Out of state doctors, additional tests, and alternative treatments are all 100% out of pocket. It would mean so much if you could provide support to Nora and her family to get Nora the additional help she needs. Thank you.