Help support Abby Karr's surgery!

Story

Since adolescence, my sister has suffered from a complex of seemingly unrelated symptoms including dizziness, difficulty swallowing, low exercise tolerance and a variety of cardiac and pulmonary issues. Despite the impact these symptoms have had on her quality of life, she has forged an active career as a performing violinist and maintained a studio teaching piano and violin. Finally, two years ago, she received a diagnosis that explained these symptoms: she has a severe case of pectus excavatum, or "funnel chest". Normally detected and corrected in childhood, this is a condition where the ribcage is sunken, compressing the internal organs. Abby's condition is so severe that her heart and lungs have been squeezed into kidney shapes, drastically limiting their function. Correcting this condition in adulthood is a major, difficult surgery. Furthermore, until recently it was considered mostly of cosmetic benefit. However, a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix has refined the technique so that it has significant impact on quality of life, which is my sister's only interest. A consultation there gave us great optimism that her lifelong symptoms will finally be resolved, an enormously exciting outcome for all of us. However, this surgery is not covered under her insurance plan. She is stretching her resources to the absolute limit and as a family we are supporting her to the degree that we possibly can, but the fact is this is an extremely expensive surgery with a long, difficult and very painful recovery which will impact her ability to work for a while. So I am turning to our community to ask for help in supporting her through this major, life-altering experience. Even the smallest amounts will help support her through the surgery, recovery and in mitigating some of the personal sacrifice being made in order to have this procedure done in the safest and highest quality environment. Thank you so much for your attention and support!