- K
- E
Quick Summary
See below "Meet Tee" for full story.
In short, due to numerous health issues my mother Teresa Fignole got a successful bypass done in 2019 allowing her weight to get back to a healthy level. She lost her husband at the end of 2019 only to then find out she had an unrelated bacteria inside her eating a hole through her stomach and organs. This hole developed into a bridge into her colon that carried anything she ate straight through her and into the toilet, with her sometimes uncontrollably vomiting what did not make it out. Overtime, this lead to her being hours away from slipping into a coma and possibly death due to malnourishment aka skin and bones.
Insurance is denying covering the costs to remove this bridge due to an initial misdiagnoses. 2ND AND 3RD OPINIONS HAVE SHOWN THIS IS NOT THE CASE. She is currently at home appealing insurance and receiving denial after denial being forced to be dependent on a feeding pump and financially responsible for the ensure she needs to survive. While she can technically eat little bits by mouth, there is great risk of complications from this and longterm use of the pump can cause numerous other health issues. We have been in communication with a few local news stations in hopes they can pick up her story to pass along and have received some positive feedback. Even if you can’t donate, prayers and shares will help keep her faith and motivation to continue fighting.
Meet Teresa aka "Tee!"
Teresa Fignole has worked as a Lead Rehabilitative Behavioral Health Service Counselor with Horry County School district since 2014. After raising four children, Teresa went back to college to earn her Bachelor and then Masters degrees, motivated and dedicated to help children in her community. She is an active member of her community and her church, always putting others before herself.
Life changed suddenly in December of 2019 when her husband passed away after years of caring for him. Shortly after his death, Teresa found herself with gastrointestinal issues that left her feeling uncomfortable and weak. In May of 2020, she was admitted to Conway Medical Center (CMC) in an attempt to find a cause for her gastrointestinal bleeding. An EGD diagnosed her with H Pylori and a bleeding ulcer. She was discharged with antibiotics and a follow up appointment with GI. Despite finishing the antibiotic and following up with GI, she continued with extreme symptoms of gastrointestinal issues that left her weak, losing weight drastically and trouble walking due to swollen legs.
Her PCP sent her on a number of occasions between June and October to CMC for severe dehydration. After long waits in waiting rooms, Teresa would receive fluids and a reminder to eat more protein before being discharged with no follow up. On more than one occasion, fluid was denied with medical staff just insisting Teresa needed to drink Gatorade.
Her last trip to CMC in October of 2020, she was wheeled to her car after receiving fluids and still being too weak to walk, before being sent home. The following day, one of her sons visited her after being unable to get her on the phone and found her in a delirious semi-concious state. After calling her PCP, he grabbed a bag of clothes and drove Teresa straight to MUSC’s emergency room.
The findings at MUSC revealed she was severely malnourished due to a hole that had formed in her stomach and created a fistula (bridge) between her stomach and intestines allowing anything taken by mouth to flow freely back and forth.
Everything that Teresa ate and drank from food, to water and protein drinks; to Gatorade’s and supplemental medications had been going straight to her intensifies and leaving her body in unorthodox ways without giving her any nourishment. With her hair extremely thinned and mobility all but gone, this finding left doctors and nurses wondering how she was still alive and not in a coma or worse as her body was essentially running on no nutrients. GI surgeons informed Teresa she needed to undergo emergency surgery to correct this fistula or she would not survive.
When they went in to correct it they were unable to proceed due to how badly the malnourishment had left the state of her organs. Doctors placed a feeding tube and sent Teresa home to allow her body to heal internally before returning in two months for the surgery.
Unfortunately, once returning home, the battles with insurance began. Insurance has refused to cover the ensure her doctors have prescribed and days before her fistula repair in December they notified the doctor and Teresa they would not be covering the procedure due to Teresa having bypass surgery back in 2019. Insurance insists they do not cover bypass surgery or complications from bypass surgery and while there is a paper trail of medical records confirming diagnoses and proof of this hole in her stomach being caused by H Pylori, they have dug in to insist that this is a byproduct of the bypass to avoid paying any portion of the life saving surgery.
Her doctors are attempting to appeal this insurance issue in a timely manner due to the serious need for this surgery to keep her alive but continually hit dead ends. Insurance has even denied peer to peers appeal with the doctor and continue to put the stress and responsibility on Teresa to appeal it herself. Written letters and hospital records have all been sent to her insurance while her family attempts to help her keep up hope and faith that it will be approved despite constant rejection.
During these past months Teresa has been out of work, has depleted all of her savings, and is also responsible for paying for the ensure to stay alive and gas to make the trip to and from Charleston for appointments for her feeding tube out of pocket. Her sons have done all they can to lessen the financial burden while also taking turns to take time off of work to stay with her and help facilitate her use of the feeding tube out of concerns of her being left alone and found in the same state she was back in May of 2020.
Before even scheduling the procedure, Teresa needs to have 20% of the total cost surgery paid with the remaining portion paid before the date of the surgery. This is with the amount needed even with financial assistance applied for through the hospital and the surgeon offering to do his portion Pro Bono. Together, with her family consisting of four sons, three daughter in laws, a dozen grand kids and great grand kids — we are hoping to relieve any of the financial stress that Teresa is under currently or may be facing in the future between the cost of the surgery, the cost of the ensures while awaiting the surgery and everyday bills that continue to pile up while she is out of work.
Teresa has been the first person to step forward to provide for others, always giving her all in everything she does, and we as a family are hoping to be able to give a little back so that she can keep up her own motivation and faith to get better. Teresa longs for the opportunity to get back to work; to relax around her yard with her grand kids, and to feel like herself again. Possibly even more so, her family longs to see her regain her strength so she can finally take the time she needs to grieve her husband and begin enjoying the world again.
Thank you for reading, sharing and for any prayers or donations you can give.
- The Fignole's & Greens
See below "Meet Tee" for full story.
In short, due to numerous health issues my mother Teresa Fignole got a successful bypass done in 2019 allowing her weight to get back to a healthy level. She lost her husband at the end of 2019 only to then find out she had an unrelated bacteria inside her eating a hole through her stomach and organs. This hole developed into a bridge into her colon that carried anything she ate straight through her and into the toilet, with her sometimes uncontrollably vomiting what did not make it out. Overtime, this lead to her being hours away from slipping into a coma and possibly death due to malnourishment aka skin and bones.
Insurance is denying covering the costs to remove this bridge due to an initial misdiagnoses. 2ND AND 3RD OPINIONS HAVE SHOWN THIS IS NOT THE CASE. She is currently at home appealing insurance and receiving denial after denial being forced to be dependent on a feeding pump and financially responsible for the ensure she needs to survive. While she can technically eat little bits by mouth, there is great risk of complications from this and longterm use of the pump can cause numerous other health issues. We have been in communication with a few local news stations in hopes they can pick up her story to pass along and have received some positive feedback. Even if you can’t donate, prayers and shares will help keep her faith and motivation to continue fighting.
Meet Teresa aka "Tee!"
Teresa Fignole has worked as a Lead Rehabilitative Behavioral Health Service Counselor with Horry County School district since 2014. After raising four children, Teresa went back to college to earn her Bachelor and then Masters degrees, motivated and dedicated to help children in her community. She is an active member of her community and her church, always putting others before herself.
Life changed suddenly in December of 2019 when her husband passed away after years of caring for him. Shortly after his death, Teresa found herself with gastrointestinal issues that left her feeling uncomfortable and weak. In May of 2020, she was admitted to Conway Medical Center (CMC) in an attempt to find a cause for her gastrointestinal bleeding. An EGD diagnosed her with H Pylori and a bleeding ulcer. She was discharged with antibiotics and a follow up appointment with GI. Despite finishing the antibiotic and following up with GI, she continued with extreme symptoms of gastrointestinal issues that left her weak, losing weight drastically and trouble walking due to swollen legs.
Her PCP sent her on a number of occasions between June and October to CMC for severe dehydration. After long waits in waiting rooms, Teresa would receive fluids and a reminder to eat more protein before being discharged with no follow up. On more than one occasion, fluid was denied with medical staff just insisting Teresa needed to drink Gatorade.
Her last trip to CMC in October of 2020, she was wheeled to her car after receiving fluids and still being too weak to walk, before being sent home. The following day, one of her sons visited her after being unable to get her on the phone and found her in a delirious semi-concious state. After calling her PCP, he grabbed a bag of clothes and drove Teresa straight to MUSC’s emergency room.
The findings at MUSC revealed she was severely malnourished due to a hole that had formed in her stomach and created a fistula (bridge) between her stomach and intestines allowing anything taken by mouth to flow freely back and forth.
Everything that Teresa ate and drank from food, to water and protein drinks; to Gatorade’s and supplemental medications had been going straight to her intensifies and leaving her body in unorthodox ways without giving her any nourishment. With her hair extremely thinned and mobility all but gone, this finding left doctors and nurses wondering how she was still alive and not in a coma or worse as her body was essentially running on no nutrients. GI surgeons informed Teresa she needed to undergo emergency surgery to correct this fistula or she would not survive.
When they went in to correct it they were unable to proceed due to how badly the malnourishment had left the state of her organs. Doctors placed a feeding tube and sent Teresa home to allow her body to heal internally before returning in two months for the surgery.
Unfortunately, once returning home, the battles with insurance began. Insurance has refused to cover the ensure her doctors have prescribed and days before her fistula repair in December they notified the doctor and Teresa they would not be covering the procedure due to Teresa having bypass surgery back in 2019. Insurance insists they do not cover bypass surgery or complications from bypass surgery and while there is a paper trail of medical records confirming diagnoses and proof of this hole in her stomach being caused by H Pylori, they have dug in to insist that this is a byproduct of the bypass to avoid paying any portion of the life saving surgery.
Her doctors are attempting to appeal this insurance issue in a timely manner due to the serious need for this surgery to keep her alive but continually hit dead ends. Insurance has even denied peer to peers appeal with the doctor and continue to put the stress and responsibility on Teresa to appeal it herself. Written letters and hospital records have all been sent to her insurance while her family attempts to help her keep up hope and faith that it will be approved despite constant rejection.
During these past months Teresa has been out of work, has depleted all of her savings, and is also responsible for paying for the ensure to stay alive and gas to make the trip to and from Charleston for appointments for her feeding tube out of pocket. Her sons have done all they can to lessen the financial burden while also taking turns to take time off of work to stay with her and help facilitate her use of the feeding tube out of concerns of her being left alone and found in the same state she was back in May of 2020.
Before even scheduling the procedure, Teresa needs to have 20% of the total cost surgery paid with the remaining portion paid before the date of the surgery. This is with the amount needed even with financial assistance applied for through the hospital and the surgeon offering to do his portion Pro Bono. Together, with her family consisting of four sons, three daughter in laws, a dozen grand kids and great grand kids — we are hoping to relieve any of the financial stress that Teresa is under currently or may be facing in the future between the cost of the surgery, the cost of the ensures while awaiting the surgery and everyday bills that continue to pile up while she is out of work.
Teresa has been the first person to step forward to provide for others, always giving her all in everything she does, and we as a family are hoping to be able to give a little back so that she can keep up her own motivation and faith to get better. Teresa longs for the opportunity to get back to work; to relax around her yard with her grand kids, and to feel like herself again. Possibly even more so, her family longs to see her regain her strength so she can finally take the time she needs to grieve her husband and begin enjoying the world again.
Thank you for reading, sharing and for any prayers or donations you can give.
- The Fignole's & Greens
Organizer and beneficiary
Jaclyn Fignole
Beneficiary