Izzy's CIDP Medical Expenses

My little sister, Izzy, has been experiencing some unexpected, major health problems recently. Everything was going great as Izzy and I started a new adventure together when we opened Charlie’s Porch Tutoring Center in July 2021, yay! It was a dream come true to open a business together and to work alongside my baby sister. However, in August of 2021, she woke up one morning with tingling in her hands that never went away. She eventually started experiencing muscle weakness in both her arms and legs, and started having difficulties walking. Even with these symptoms, Izzy still showed up to work everyday with a smile on her face. As her older sister, seeing her regress was one of the hardest things I have had to watch, but more than that, I was feeling helpless.

Eventually, after two months of unanswered questions, she saw a neurologist and was diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS). Basically her antibodies started attacking the outer layer of her nerves called the myelin, which makes it so her muscles can’t receive signals, and therefore don’t work. She underwent her first round of treatment, called IVIg, which is five consecutive days for about 4-5 hour sessions, and she was on her way to making a full recovery.

Then, she unfortunately got COVID-19 at the beginning of January, which triggered her GBS again. She was luckily able to recover from COVID-19 fairly easily, but within a week after quarantine, she was rapidly declining with her GBS symptoms. She could barely move her arms, and was quickly losing the ability to walk. She was able to start another round of IVIg treatment, but kept declining. She ended up in a wheelchair for about three weeks and was almost completely paralyzed this time. After helping get her to her treatments and assisting with all of her everyday tasks, it became very real to me how terrifying this disease actually is. She began to recover, but still had to continue treatments every two weeks. Her neurologist was still optimistic that her symptoms were just brought on by COVID-19 and it was not the chronic version of this illness.

Over the next few months, Izzy was doing well and was fully independent again. She continued with her IVIg treatments and was not experiencing anymore symptoms. However, in April, she started to feel weakness in her legs again and in mid May she started to regress even more and did another round of IVIg, but unfortunately it did not work as well this time. Within a week, she was having more difficulty walking and could not move her arms again. While she was at home with us, we were attempting to do a basic daily task when her knee fully gave out and she ended up falling. She rolled her ankle and hurt her toe and was unsure if it was weight bearing. This was a very traumatic experience for Izzy and I both, and something I never thought either one of us would have to go through. After this, we soon realized that Izzy needed more help than our family could provide as her safety and our safety were at risk. So, it was time to seek help, and the only thing left to do was go to the hospital. She ended up spending the night in the ER, two days in Med-Surg, and then she was finally able to make it to the Acute Rehabilitation Unit at Dominican. Over the next three weeks, she was able to undergo intensive physical therapy, occupational therapy, and IVIg treatments. She was finally released on June 15th, and she is making more and more progress everyday, but it has been and will be a long road to recovery.

Izzy has now been officially diagnosed with a very rare autoimmune disorder called Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP). She will have to continue doing IVIg treatment and she is on a high dose of steroids for the next few months to make sure she doesn’t relapse again. Her hospital bills accumulated very quickly, and she was already trying to pay for her numerous IVIg treatments that are very expensive all while running a new business! She is hoping to start at home IVIg so she does not have to be at the infusion center so frequently, but that is even more costly. This is why I decided to start this GoFundMe in hopes of alleviating this financial burden now and in the future as this will be a lifelong battle.

We are so thankful for any donations, or even sending good vibes during her recovery. Any donations will go straight towards her hospital bills, previous IVIg treatment expenses, and hopefully her at home IVIg. We are so incredibly grateful for your generosity and encouragement during this time. We are thankful to have such an amazing support system and could not get through this without all of you!