Katies Cancer/Medical/Surgery bills
Donation protected
My name is Katie Curran and I am currently 31 years old and the mother of a beautiful 8 year old little girl. In 2013 I became a wife to a wonderful man and I gained 4 more beautiful children.
Anyone who knows me knows that this is so hard for me to be doing this as it is not the way I do things. I have always been so stubborn that I never ask for help even when it’s little things because I hate to burden people in any way. I was once told by my bishop that my pride was a sin. I give and help everyone I possibly can and yet I was denying people the blessings that they would receive from helping and giving to me also.
When I was 23, I was found to have pre cancer in my colon. If they would have not removed the cancerous polyps I would have died pretty quickly and a very young age. They told me that I would not need to come back for another 10 years as this was very rare and I should be fine. About a year or so later I was bleeding and having problems and again they went in and found more Cancerous polyps. To this date I have had 6 Colonoscopies… anyone who has had one of these should understand my pain as the prep day is worse than anything they do the next day! ;)
In July of this year I was in and out of the Emergency room with excruciating pain, constant vomiting and bowel issues. Every time I was sent home with a different explanation. This went on for over a month. The hospital ran a bunch of tests and they said that my gallbladder and Appendix were perfectly fine and that the only thing they could tell is that my intestines were swollen and infected.
The vomiting and pain kept continuing and got worse so I went to see my normal Dr. He was stumped with what was going on as well however he wanted to get to the bottom of it so he took more blood and ran more tests and also got me scheduled to see a gastrointestinal Dr.
I ended up seeing an Amazing gastrointestinal Dr and like the others he was stumped but he was going to do more procedures to get me better. So once again… I went through the horrendous prep and had a colonoscopy and a endoscopy procedure. Everything came back normal and so my Dr. ordered a Hydra Scan.
A Hydra Scan is where they inject a radioactive material into your veins and wait for about an hour to check and see if your gallbladder is functioning correctly. Well during this we found out that my Gallbladder was not healthy like the hospital had originally told me. This test does see more and I am thankful that my Dr. scheduled me to do it when the hospital Dr. would not when I asked saying that it was at this point a virus and there was no point for this test. He was obviously very wrong.
So my Dr. calls me the next day explains to me that I have Gallbladder Disease and that I am presently living with a non-functioning gallbladder, and I most likely have been for many years. For those of you who are familiar with this, it can be quite painful, and comes on almost randomly. As of the last few months it is a rather persistent pain as my Gallbladder has gotten worse.
My Dr. gets me referred to a surgeon and we had an appointment to speak with him and get information on what to do next. Long story short I will be going in for surgery in October to have my Gallbladder removed as it is more of a parasite in my body at this point.
I was hoping that it would all come to an end with all the tests , Dr. Appointment and Procedures but I was very wrong.
In the beginning of July before I got extremely ill I went to my normal woman’s Dr. Appointment. They did the Pap smear and also were concerned because of symptoms I was having that I may possibly have breast cancer. I ended up having a Mammogram as well as a Ultra sound of my breast and they came to the conclusion that they are most likely Benign and we just need to continue to watch them.
I thought that was done and I could move on and wait another year. Until I got the call from my Dr. saying that they had found abnormal cells and I needed to come in and get my Cervix Scraped as well as Samples cut out to test. So on top of it all while being super sick and not knowing what was going on at this point, I went in and had this most uncomfortable and painful procedure done.
A week later I get that call that I never thought I would get at my age. I had cervical cancer and needed to come in and soon as possible to start with the first step which is to burn/freeze my cervix in the hope that the cancer would all die and it wouldn’t spread. I went in recently to have this procedure done and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
While my husband works on HAFB and we make a decent living, we have a lot of obligations including helping to support the 4 children he brought into our marriage. This in addition to us taking a 35% decrease in income a couple years ago has made things rather difficult for us financially and we are very much paycheck to paycheck.
As you can imagine I am drowning in medical debt and there has been no relief and no way out. I have been too sick to get a job and also lately extremely depressed as I feel like I am just a burden on my family.
I don’t know what else to do other than ask for help… I hate doing this and It makes me feel so ashamed and mad at myself but when you have over $20,000.00 in medical debt and you already are failing your family, you push pride aside and you do what you have to do.
I am so appreciative of anyone who helps and I cannot thank you enough. I wish I could repay you somehow and maybe one day I will.
Thank you for taking the time to read this as well as your loving support in so many ways.
Anyone who knows me knows that this is so hard for me to be doing this as it is not the way I do things. I have always been so stubborn that I never ask for help even when it’s little things because I hate to burden people in any way. I was once told by my bishop that my pride was a sin. I give and help everyone I possibly can and yet I was denying people the blessings that they would receive from helping and giving to me also.
When I was 23, I was found to have pre cancer in my colon. If they would have not removed the cancerous polyps I would have died pretty quickly and a very young age. They told me that I would not need to come back for another 10 years as this was very rare and I should be fine. About a year or so later I was bleeding and having problems and again they went in and found more Cancerous polyps. To this date I have had 6 Colonoscopies… anyone who has had one of these should understand my pain as the prep day is worse than anything they do the next day! ;)
In July of this year I was in and out of the Emergency room with excruciating pain, constant vomiting and bowel issues. Every time I was sent home with a different explanation. This went on for over a month. The hospital ran a bunch of tests and they said that my gallbladder and Appendix were perfectly fine and that the only thing they could tell is that my intestines were swollen and infected.
The vomiting and pain kept continuing and got worse so I went to see my normal Dr. He was stumped with what was going on as well however he wanted to get to the bottom of it so he took more blood and ran more tests and also got me scheduled to see a gastrointestinal Dr.
I ended up seeing an Amazing gastrointestinal Dr and like the others he was stumped but he was going to do more procedures to get me better. So once again… I went through the horrendous prep and had a colonoscopy and a endoscopy procedure. Everything came back normal and so my Dr. ordered a Hydra Scan.
A Hydra Scan is where they inject a radioactive material into your veins and wait for about an hour to check and see if your gallbladder is functioning correctly. Well during this we found out that my Gallbladder was not healthy like the hospital had originally told me. This test does see more and I am thankful that my Dr. scheduled me to do it when the hospital Dr. would not when I asked saying that it was at this point a virus and there was no point for this test. He was obviously very wrong.
So my Dr. calls me the next day explains to me that I have Gallbladder Disease and that I am presently living with a non-functioning gallbladder, and I most likely have been for many years. For those of you who are familiar with this, it can be quite painful, and comes on almost randomly. As of the last few months it is a rather persistent pain as my Gallbladder has gotten worse.
My Dr. gets me referred to a surgeon and we had an appointment to speak with him and get information on what to do next. Long story short I will be going in for surgery in October to have my Gallbladder removed as it is more of a parasite in my body at this point.
I was hoping that it would all come to an end with all the tests , Dr. Appointment and Procedures but I was very wrong.
In the beginning of July before I got extremely ill I went to my normal woman’s Dr. Appointment. They did the Pap smear and also were concerned because of symptoms I was having that I may possibly have breast cancer. I ended up having a Mammogram as well as a Ultra sound of my breast and they came to the conclusion that they are most likely Benign and we just need to continue to watch them.
I thought that was done and I could move on and wait another year. Until I got the call from my Dr. saying that they had found abnormal cells and I needed to come in and get my Cervix Scraped as well as Samples cut out to test. So on top of it all while being super sick and not knowing what was going on at this point, I went in and had this most uncomfortable and painful procedure done.
A week later I get that call that I never thought I would get at my age. I had cervical cancer and needed to come in and soon as possible to start with the first step which is to burn/freeze my cervix in the hope that the cancer would all die and it wouldn’t spread. I went in recently to have this procedure done and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
While my husband works on HAFB and we make a decent living, we have a lot of obligations including helping to support the 4 children he brought into our marriage. This in addition to us taking a 35% decrease in income a couple years ago has made things rather difficult for us financially and we are very much paycheck to paycheck.
As you can imagine I am drowning in medical debt and there has been no relief and no way out. I have been too sick to get a job and also lately extremely depressed as I feel like I am just a burden on my family.
I don’t know what else to do other than ask for help… I hate doing this and It makes me feel so ashamed and mad at myself but when you have over $20,000.00 in medical debt and you already are failing your family, you push pride aside and you do what you have to do.
I am so appreciative of anyone who helps and I cannot thank you enough. I wish I could repay you somehow and maybe one day I will.
Thank you for taking the time to read this as well as your loving support in so many ways.
Organizer
Katie Elizabeth
Organizer
Layton, UT
