Laurice's Fight For Survival

Hi, my name is Marcie. Kathy, Cindy, and I are raising funds for Laurice Levine. She needs our help and we want to support her in a huge way.

The other day, Laurice shared some devastating news. I am going to share it with you.

After 25 years of being in chronic pain, trying every medical intervention (Western, Eastern, Northern and Southern – LOL); non-medical intervention (massage, chiro, acupuncture); trying an array of medications; undergoing dozens of nerve block/ablations/trigger point injections; placement of a spinal cord stimulator - Laurice has come to the end of the road and exhausted the medical bag of tricks that are available to her.

Between Laurice’s accident in high school where she fell 10 feet through a deck breaking her back and crushing both feet, and the bone changes from her transfusion dependent beta thalassemia, Laurice has an endless array of back problems and the pain is nearly debilitating. She fights through the pain daily challenging herself constantly to not let the pain stop her – continuing to work full time running her medical consulting business, be a mom/wife/friend, volunteer at her son’s school 10 + hours a week, trying to exercise – but it is to the point where the stress is way too much and her body (and mind) cannot withstand any more.

So, on April 11, She will be having an anterior and posterior back surgery. This is over a 10-hour surgery. It is often done in separate surgeries, but she insists on doing it all at once. Eventually the bones will fuse – ending mobility in her spine and thus decreasing pain (hopefully). She is confident in her doctor at UCSF as she places her precious life in his hands.

Laurice has undergone 690 blood transfusions, a splenectomy, tonsillectomy, gall bladder removal, last year she broke her knee and had surgery. She has had misc. surgeries, liver biopsies, and endless medical procedures including heart failure twice.

Laurice’s list of current medical problems is a page long. She has been in countless clinical trials for new meds and therapies – and nothing has really scared her. All this to just say - she is pretty terrified right now. Mostly, she is worried about Matt and Ben and all that this will entail for them. The sacrifices her family has had to make pains her and the sacrifices they will have to make in the coming months are nearly too much for her mind to handle. Part of her fear also is that she is feeling depleted and worn out. COVID took a toll and they were so isolated and her body is exhausted from years of medical trauma.

Laurice is also stressed about work. Her doctor wants her to take 3-6 months off - minimum. That is impossible because she is drowning in medical debt (of all things what a shock!). Due to her deadlines for work and surgery, she thinks she should be able to get her monthly reports done because she can work from anywhere.

She is trying to regroup, reset, and go forward with a strong and positive attitude. She is trying to be mindful and present each day – enjoying the time with her family before surgery. She took them to Disneyland to celebrate Ben’s 7th and Matt's Birthdays. It was a long-time dream of theirs to take Ben and it was a trip 2 years delayed due to COVID which was good because it took her that long to save for it. She is beyond grateful that they had this time as a family and will treasure the memories they made. She used to think of Disneyland during induction to surgery when she was child so she will be thinking of Matt and Ben riding Space Mountain when she goes under anesthesia in 3 short weeks.

She would sincerely be grateful for your encouragement and good thoughts going forward. She is richly blessed with the people in her life.

Laurice is a Rockstar!! Even with all of the ongoing medical issues, she is always there to help others. So it is our turn to help her. Providing financial support to Laurice and her family will help relieve their medical debt and help with their everyday expenses. We have placed the goal of $60,000. Laurice has always been generous with her time and talent, I hope we can also be generous to show her how much she is loved.