Help to Pay Loan for Medical Equipment Needed for My Family

Hi my name is Melissa and I am organizing this fundraiser for my younger sister, mom and dad who are all currently battling severe health challenges.

As those of you who know our family, you may remember that most years at Christmas we ask our family and friends to help us with an Outreach Project of some kind to support those in our community who are struggling.

However, after the very challenging 5 months we have just faced, which followed an already extremely difficult 4 years for our family, it was very hard for us all to admit that this time the help we needed to reach out for was for ourselves.

My family and I are very aware that many people are facing struggles that are far worse than ours and I have many times questioned whether reaching out to ask for help is the right thing to do. But all I know is I can not mentally, emotionally, physically or financially continue to support my loved ones on my own without help. So I am humbling myself to ask for the support of family, friends, neighbours and strangers.

My younger sister Claudia has a rare genetic disorder called Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS), which has no cure and progressively gets worse with age. EDS affects your bodies ability to produce proper collagen that supports your connective tissues. Collagen is basically the glue that holds all our organs, bones, joints and muscles in place, since Claudia’s is faulty, her body is literally falling apart from the inside out. EDS is extremely painful all the time and affects mostly every part of her body and daily life on some level.

Although she has only recently received an official diagnoses, it’s an illness she has battled her entire life. From her first hospital stay at 3 years old, to being in a wheelchair at 13, to battling a severe case of Covid-19 in March 2020 when the virus was its strongest. I’ve watched my sister face health trials her entire life and walk through it with such strength and faith.

However, in the last 4 years as her illness has become increasingly worse and harder to manage, she has developed many other conditions such as Gastroparesis (partial paralysis of the stomach) and POTS (a nerve disorder affecting your heart function), just to name a few.

This means she now relies on weekly outpatient IV therapy, visceral manipulation physiotherapy, acupuncture, nebulizers, medications, a walker and braces just to manage the symptoms and pain she battles everyday.

Since Claudia’s condition is genetic, we have since learned that my mom battles the same illness. However, since her illness onset was a little later in life, her symptoms have been slightly less and have come on gradually. But as she has gotten older, she faces many severe complications, such as histamine rashes and organ prolapse. The pain she lives with daily is not often seen and, as Claudia does, my mom covers it well with a smile and finds her strength in her faith. Claudia often says that she never would have learned to carry the cross of her own illness with such grace, if she hadn’t had a mom who showed her how.

However, because EDS is mostly an invisible illness, on top of their physical pain, I have seen both Claudia and my mom face an additional challenge of others not understanding the severity of their disease. But I see the pain they carry daily, so can easily say they are the two strongest people I know.

As our family was facing not only Claudia’s ongoing worsening illness, but also my mom’s, my dad had a stroke in July of this past summer. He spent 4 days in the trauma unit as we waited for the blood clot in his brain to pass and then another 2 weeks in hospital, before he was transferred to a stroke rehab centre for an additional 6 weeks. The stroke affected his left side, a lot of short-term memory, cognitive abilities and he has continuously been at high risk of aspiration pneumonia. However, after facing a few infections, he has began to make many slow, but steady, improvements. He came home in early September, however is still using a walker and at times a wheelchair. This has left him unable to work and since his disability payments are capped, his income is now nowhere near his average commission.

As if that wasn't already enough, 4 days after my dad finally returned home, my Nonna who lived with us full time the last 3 years, was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. She began to decline very quickly and sadly after a 17 year battle with cancer, she was called home to heaven on October 4th. The loss has been incredibly hard for our family, especially my mom, and it has taken a toll on us all mentally.

Currently, out of the 4 people living in our house, I am the only one physically healthy enough to hold a full-time job, which means the majority of the financial responsibility of caring for my family has now fallen on me. However, in the midst of working 40+ hour weeks, I am also a full-time caretaker.

Due to the significant decrease in our household income, we are struggling just to pay our monthly rent, groceries and essential living costs. Claudia has had to lessen the frequency of which she is suppose to be receiving her treatments, which has caused her to face flare-ups the last few months. She has had a setback in her baseline symptoms, resulting in infections and an increase of pain.

Before my dad had his stroke, my family had slowly begun saving to purchase a red light therapy system which we know offers Claudia some pain relief, both from constant joint dislocations to inflammation of her organs and much more.

However, in the last months we have needed to use these savings, and even with them we are still barely paying bills. Our accounts are frequently in overdraft, we have sold our car, and are doing everything we possibly can to avoid yet another move, as we just went through one about a year and a half ago.

Therefore, one of Claudia’s past physiotherapist, who has become a dear family friend, decided that the red light therapy was a device our family needed urgently. Not only for Claudia and my mom’s daily battle with chronic illness, but also to help my dad after his stroke. Therefore, she has given us an interest free loan in order to purchase this medical equipment, in the agreement that we would setup this GoFundMe in order to pay off the loan as soon as possible.

Any amount that is fundraised beyond the return of the loan to our friend, will go directly to paying for the ongoing medical treatments my younger sister, mom and dad need.

Any help you can offer, no matter how small, is truly a gift to my family that will never go unnoticed. I promise to pay it forward in the future however I can, because I will never forget the kindness of those who have and continue to step up for my family as we continue to face a season of such trial.

We know as a family we will, as we always have, continue to get through the crosses we are carrying with each other and the grace of God. His strength alone is sufficient for each day and even in these very challenging times we continue to walk in faith.

Thank you for any support you can offer and for sharing the link.

Please keep us in your prayers.