Help Sharon pay medical bills from severe illness

Hello friends and family,

We wanted to give you an update of some things that have been going on. Our beautiful, fun-loving youngest sister, Sharon Klug-Santmyer, has been going through some pretty traumatic health conditions, and is currently in Johns Hopkins Hospital, located in Baltimore, Maryland. Sharon has been very private with her health condition, but many have been praying and fasting consistently for her.

Starting in October last year, food started coming back up and leaving her body within a very short period of time, right after eating them. It didn't matter what kind of food it was. Weakness in her hips came out of nowhere. Going on 9 months now, her health condition has taken a huge toll on her body. Because of not holding down food, malabsorption has been a very 'real' problem in her body. Since food has not been absorbing into her system, she has had bout after bout of severe edema (fluid) all over her body and primarily in her stomach and legs. Some days, literally 100 pounds of edema (Dr. said) makes walking or movement of almost any kind pretty much impossible. The Doctor has told her that if all the edema were to come off, she would be 100 pounds or less.

Hospital stay after hospital stay and currently today, it makes 4 weeks at Johns Hopkins Hospital. All of the hospitals do the same test and then some; trying to find a root cause, but so far the testing has been unsuccessful. From mid January to the end of April, Sharon stayed with Kathy and went to some really good doctors in West Virginia with more hospital stays, and then to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio for several weeks. Again and again, they couldn't find a root cause. Sharon has such tiny veins, so they end up having to use toddler and infant needles as well as a scanner to find her veins, but this is usually after sometimes 7 or 8 grueling, very painful tries). Infection in her stomach (Doctor's say probably half of the population has) and severe rashes all over from medications, both of which have now cleared up pretty good. The edema level of how bad comes and goes from bad to worst, to severe immobility...lasik does help, but not completely. A blood clot formed in her legs in December and then 2 weeks ago, a blood clot was in each lung and in her arm. A couple of blood transfusions followed. They put in a feeding tube, and this was in for over a week which allowed nutrients to get into her body, but the doctors took the tube out yesterday. The fear is the same as before - the tube went in, but then she couldn't get enough food in her body to get all the nutrients that her body really needs. Her voice box was damaged with the first feeding tube the doctors put in, sadly. It had to go in through her nose because they didn't think she would survive a surgery, and without it, she would not make it. The second NG tube also in her nose, did not affect her voice box (her voice is pretty much back to normal as of a couple days ago), but the second one gave her headaches. All 4 surgical teams at John's Hopkins have refused to put the tube (old school way), in her stomach, partly because her body still has too much edema, and partly because they are pushing each team to find the root cause... what is happening to Sharon has dumfounded many medical professionals, as well as her family. There are days that the edema is so bad in her hands, that she cannot text or even hold her phone. Her vision is blurred, and some days are worse than others, making it difficult to read much of anything. Her body is drained of all its muscles, as well. There are many days that her voice is barely a whisper from the weakness, and even responding to a text is more than she can do. This is all in addition to watching her ongoing long-time thyroid and diabetes conditions. There isn't enough space to write all that has gone wrong in her body in the last 8 months, so we just named some of the major ones. All of the hospital stays, tests, biopsies, ultrasounds, CT scans, X-rays, endoscopy's, EKG's...over and over...they are extremely expensive. Insurance has paid quite a bit, but some of the tests and procedures were not covered by insurance, and the co-pays and out of pocket is now beyond imagination. The financial strain on Sharon and her family is staggering.

Reaching out to each of you is just a way that others who you know, love, and care for this family...you and they can play a part in a very helpful way. Your thoughts and prayers are crucial and appreciated more than words could ever convey. Today, we are still believing and trusting for Sharon's healing, strength in her whole body, holding all of her food down, and her muscles building back up. God is her rock and her salvation, and through all of this, she has not wavered, knowing her God is faithful through every situation! God has a reason, and His plan is perfect!