Help Sarah fight TAK and win!!

HELP SARAH BATTLE TAKAYASU ARTERITIS!!! What is Takayasu’s arteritis? Takayasu’s arteritis (TAK) is a rare form of vasculitis affecting medium and large sized blood vessels, primarily of the aorta (the main blood vessel that leaves the heart) and it's large branches going to the arms, abdominal organs, legs and the head. As with other forms of vasculitis, inflammation of the large blood vessels may cause segments of vessels to weaken and stretch, resulting in an aneurysm (weakening of the vessel wall) or, more commonly, the inflammation of the vessel wall leads to thickening and subsequent partial blockage (stenosis) or complete blockage (occlusion) of the artery. These blockages can result in the surrounding tissues being deprived of an adequate blood supply which causes mild to very severe problems including claudication (cramping) in the arms and legs, kidney damage with severe hypertension, strokes, or heart attacks. Many other symptoms and problems can be seen in TAK including joint pains, fevers, fatigue, and others. Sarah's story begins after she gave birth to her 3rd beautiful baby girl on August 26th, 2013, a very welcomed gift from God!! She was now living the American Dream having graduated nursing school with an immediate offer to a position in the newborn nursery of the hospital 5 miles from her home, married her high school sweetheart, buying their first home and raising their 3 beautiful girls. 6 weeks after giving birth to Cammy, Sarah began having back pain, which at first, she believed she had pulled something doing her Jillian Michaels videos as she attempted to get her prebaby body back. After a couple weeks though, she went to the doctor where they did the first MRI and they told her she had a tarlov cyst in her lumbar spine, degenerative discs and bulging discs. So she made an appointment for ortho as they told her, but with hpn HMO insurance she had to jump thru hoops and wait forever for it to go thru, all the while she was getting worse. She never told anyone she was sick but those close to her could see it. She would cry at work from the pain calling our mom and I on her lunch break overwhelmed with her pain, but still determined to be the dedicated nurse, strong woman and wonderful mother she has always been. She started to get fevers, vomiting, having extreme lethargy, she lost over 20 lbs, extreme night sweats and the worst neuropathy in all her limbs to the point they would contract in a decorticate position (decorticate posturing present with the arms flexed, or bent inward on the chest, the hands are clenched into fists, and the legs extended and feet turned inward. A person displaying decorticate posturing in response to pain gets a score of three in the motor section of the Glasgow Coma Scale). A few different times she went to the ER on different occasions and they would tell her they couldn't help, but offered her meds which was not what Sarah wanted to hear, she was not satisfied and was beginning to believe she was really sick? On several occasions she would call our mom and tell her she thought she had cancer and cry because she was so frustrated that no one would help her. She began physical therapy 3 days a week, but nothing helped. She went to her primary care physician 14 times from April to August of 2014 and on August 29 Sarah was in so much pain, she laid on the floor at the mall where she was shopping with our mom and told her she needed to go back to the hospital but this time she insisted on going to another valley hospital. They immediately took her back to trauma thinking she had a abdominal aortic aneurysm. They did a CT of her abdomen and saw that the entire descending aorta and all her blood vessels were markedly inflamed and thickened with occlusions over 90%. They were baffled and said they have never seen this and had no idea how to help her. They stabilized her and started her on high dose steroids and discharged her with a referral to a rheumatologist. She got into the rheumy, thanks to our angel mom who wouldn't take no for an answer and believe me when I say if they could have just ignored Sarah, they would have! It was immediate that they diagnosed Sarah with Takayasu Vasculitis, she started treatment with weekly chemo treatment, high dose steroids and a plethora of meds to keep her stabilized; mind you through all of this her blood pressure had been in stroke range 200/125. During the next 4 months she started having crazy head aches to find out she had an abnormal EEG that was from brain ischemia (loss of blood flow) or seizures. Her kidneys at that point were 90% occluded and after 4 months of treatment they are now at 50-60%. She had an angiogram done at the hospital December 3rd and they decided not to put in a stent because her body was already rejecting itself and her vessels are like old bread frail. After reading the angio report on 12/31 and she sent it to her PCP and they called and said get to the ER. Sarah is now in UMC with >90% occlusion to her superior mesenteric artery, inferior mesenteric artery, celiac artery (those 3 arteries are all you have to get blood to your large intestine all intestines, pancreas, spleen, colon, appendix, etc.). She is unable to have bowel movements and sometimes can't even pass gas which is like a cruel joke! She has a little pooch belly hard as a rock which makes her look 4 months pregnant and is very painful all because she is full of shit hahaha not funny though! They plan to transfer Sarah via medical helicopter or ambulance to UCLA to seek care from an acute center with an experienced rheumy who specializes in TAK. Sarah's disease is super rare, 1/1,000,000 and even more so because many time the disease affects only one organ while with my sister it is aggressively going after all organs at once. During this process Sarah has not lost her faith, she believes she will be healed and will be there to watch her babies grow into young ladies and mothers. Sarah has faced many attacks, not just with the TAK which has also cost her her drivers license which they insisted she surrendered after the abnormal EEG, she has been out of work for more than 6 months while waiting and fighting to get her short term disability to send payments while trying to satisfy the requirements of paperwork for her long term disability to kick in when her short term expires. Every time FMLA was coming close to ending Sarah would call and say she was going back to work and even though she didn't feel physically well she loved her job and knew God would get her through, but every time something new was thrown at her with her health. Sarah has made great choices in life, always done the right thing, always filled with love and compassion, took the high road to life seeking an education, getting married, having a career and every step of the way Satan has battled Sarah and challenged her faith whether the financial crisis that would arise or the 6 miscarried babies but Sarah has stood firm on the promises of God and gives Him praise and glory for the amazing life she still has regardless of the trials she faces! This money will be used to help cover the medical bills that insurance doesn't cover, especially the transport bill from Las Vegas NV to UCLA. I'm hoping we can all pull together enough that she can have her husband by her side and not worry about losing their home, so paying some of the monthly home bills for as long as they are in CA. It's a lot to ask but any little bit will help, even if you can't offer anything monetary, all the prayers you would give are greatly appreciated and we know that when two or more come together in prayer there I am with them (Mathew 18:20)!!! This is a very humbling experience for Sarah as she has always done things on her own with God leading the way she has never had to ask for help. She always tells me "I don't want everyone to worry". Well I am worried, I don't want her to worry about anything except coming home to her beautiful home, to her beautiful babies, married to her best friend, with a renewed hope of continuing her dream career serving The Lord and loving everyone she comes in contact with.