Lauren's life changing trip to Mayo Clinic, MN

Hi! My name is Nicole and I am raising money for my wonderful friend Lauren. Lauren has been struggling with health issues since the premature delivery of her beautiful baby girl in Jan of 2021. These funds will help her travel and pay for special testing and possible surgery that has to be done at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Rochester, MN.

When Lauren was pregnant with her daughter Audrey, she had blood pressure issues and ended up needing to be induced at 31 weeks. All of the doctors assumed it was just regular pregnancy induced hypertension and things would calm down after she delivered. After being on multiple blood pressure medications for almost a year and still having very labile blood pressures, her doctor thought something else may be going on. She went PRN at her nursing job thinking that less stress may help, and also to be able to dedicate more time to doctor appointments and figuring out her health issues.

She started with different lab testing in November: EKG, CT, and MRI. All of her labs indicate hyperaldosteronism and an adrenal mass. However, the imaging does not confirm this diagnosis which is needed for any further treatment. Her doctor recommended that she go to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for specialized testing called adrenal venous sampling. This should give them an accurate result and hopefully confirm what the labs show. Once in Minnesota, she will have to repeat the EKG, CT and labs on April 12th to have the most up to date information and then will have the AVS test done on April 13th. If they determine she needs to have surgery and can be scheduled soon after, she will have to remain there for the surgery and some recovery time. If the surgery cannot be arranged to be done quickly, she will have to return to Minnesota at a later date.

The AVS test costs $24,000 with insurance and does not include the testing and labs beforehand or any additional procedures that may be indicated once she receives the test results. After meeting the insurance deductible, hopefully she will only have to pay $9,000 to reach out of pocket maximum, plus the cost of air travel, lodging, food, and the unknown of how long Lauren will have to be away from work.

Lauren is an incredible friend, wife, mother, and nurse. She dedicated the last 8.5 years to helping her patients in surgery, won the Austin American Statesman Recognizing Nurses Award in 2020, and helped in the ICU during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Please consider donating to help Lauren finally get the help that she needs to heal!