PLEASE HELP AMANDA!

As most of you know, Amanda was diagnosed with a very rare thyroid disorder, Riedel’s Thyroiditis, a couple of years ago. Her journey thus far has been long and hard, but she has battled every day with a smile on her face and positive thoughts in her mind. She had surgery to remove fibrosis tissue from her neck as it was wrapped around all of her organs including her trachea and major arteries. During surgery the nerve that controls one of her vocal cords was paralyzed. The fibrosis tissue continued to grow and evade her trachea to the point that there was no longer room to pass enough air for her to be able to breathe and get the adequate oxygen her body needed to survive. The tissue also paralyzed her healthy and only functioning vocal cord. She underwent another surgery to have a tracheostomy placed so that she would be able to keep breathing. She started IV infusions to help slow the growth of this fibrosis tissue and it was actually working, she regained function of one of her vocal cords. This medication has serious side effects and suppresses the immune system and unfortunately wiped out her B cell count which helps to make antibodies to help the body fight against infection. She has been treated in the hospital twice in the past few months due to serious pneumonia infections. Due to the side effects, she is unable to continue these infusions and her medical team is trying to figure out what else they can do to treat her.

Amanda is a teacher and loves her job, students, and co-workers. Even as she was going through all of these medical issues she tried her best every day to get up and go to work. It was very difficult for her to try and maintain working full time due to frequent days of not feeling well and managing all of her doctors appointments. She has a medical team of endocrinology, rheumatology, hematology, ent, and I’m sure I missed a few. Not to mention, working in a school and her risk of infection.

In April, after being hospitalized for over a week, she decided that her body could not handle working anymore. She resigned from her position as an emotional support teacher and applied for disability. This decision was not an easy one to make. As of now, her disability was denied. She had to get a lawyer to help her appeal that decision and is still waiting to hear if she will be approved or not. Her life savings is dwindling down to almost nothing and she is very worried about how she will continue to pay her bills so she can live and not lose her house.

Amanda is the kindest person and will go out of her way to help anyone in need. She would give her last dollar to someone that needed it more than her. NOW SHE NEEDS OUR HELP!

Please, if you can, donate to help her. And please share this post!