** Check the updates section for all updated info on our journey ** 
 
Hi, my name is Kyshawna, I am here as a single mother to raise funds to assist my daughter Samaria and I through a tough time. Samaria is now 18 years old as of yesterday and was born with Sickle Cell Anemia. Overall Samaria’s health wasn’t affected as often as some of her counterparts even though she has what is said to be the “worse” type, type SS. When she was 5, the doctors accidentally found out she had AVN (Avascular Necrosis) in both her hips by way of an Xray of her stomach during one of her hospitalizations and stated she’d eventually need a full hip replacement. AVN is caused by the bone not receiving enough blood and oxygen which then causes the bone to die. The AVN didn’t cause Samaria too many problems initially, but she has been very limited in things she could do. 

As of December 2022, she has been hospitalized multiple times a month up to her most recent hospitalization on March 29th in which she was discharged on April 3rd. Her birthday is coming up on April 8th and she didn’t want to spend it confined to a hospital bed. She has experienced consistent pain in her hips to the point of being unable to walk at times. She went from walking short distances, riding her bike, going swimming, and going to school to now having to be in a wheelchair almost every day. She had a core decompression surgery in an attempt to help the AVN heal, which was unsuccessful. We are currently trying to get her a total joint replacement but are having difficulties due to the high amount of IV pain medications she needs to control her pain amongst a few other things within the hospital. My baby went from being on 1 pain medication to 14 different medications in a matter of months. And none of them have helped control or relieve the pain she’s experiencing. Over time her pain has now moved to other areas including her knees, ankles and full back. 

This situation has not only affected her physically, but her mental health has decreased tremendously. She went from being a happy social butterfly to being sad, stressed and depressed. She’s unable to be in school in a traditional sense, where she can have friends and do the things teenagers do. She’s instead homeschooled. She feels alone because most kids don’t understand what she’s experiencing. And it’s hard to make and keep friends being online and you not being able to actually go out and interact with them. She has older siblings that are no longer home so it’s just me and her and our pup Bonnie we adopted for emotional support. 

With all that we are experiencing, the financial strain on me is making matters worse. I am a full-time mom and I have a full-time job. But with the cost of running a household and taking care of a child with a serious medical condition can be extremely costly. I have been trying my best to work and handle all that is going on, but I am barely holding us above water. I’m constantly having to leave work early or miss days for the many doctors’ appointments and hospital stays. The bills are increasing whereas the income not so much. I’m grateful that I have insurance through my job, but they only cover 80% of the costs and the rest is up to me. We can’t get Medicaid due to my income and I can’t afford to pay for secondary insurance. I’m not here to get rich, I just need some help to prevent me and my daughter from drowning in bills and possible homelessness due to co-pays, medication changes and hospitalizations. She currently has over 180k in medical claims pending. And so far there is no ending in sight with this crisis she’s experiencing. Funds will be used towards all medical and living expenses during hospital stays and possible future surgeries. 

We are grateful for any assistance anyone can afford to give. I know it’s tough times for many around the country and I pray we all can find relief somewhere.

Celestine Victor

James Nash

Cathy Solomons

Kiara Lee

Linda Anderson

Laura Rutherford

Charmain Powell

Andrea Blankenship

Anonymous

Susan Beale-Scott

Vanessa Ross

Chika Achike

How Sickle Cell has impacted our lives

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

be_supporter_comments_enabled_supported_funds

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

currencyCode

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

writePath

Stream Notification

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

Influencer - Prod

US fundraisers and US users

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

How Sickle Cell has impacted our lives

Still $66,134 to go. Help us build momentum.