**Additional fundraising page at bottom* Hi! For those who don’t know me, I’m Ali – 23 year-old mom who loves discovering nature with my son and going maybe a bit over the top with "made from scratch" food. Three years ago, shortly after the birth of my son, Zeke, my life was turned upside-down when, after a series of alarming symptoms appeared, I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.  Ehlers-Danlos is a rare genetic disorder that affects the body’s connective tissues, like skin, joints and blood vessel walls. For me, complications of the disease have led to six separate vascular compressions that affect everything from my mobility to my digestive system. Essentially, my blood isn’t flowing through my body correctly anymore. My organs are beginning to not function properly due to lack of blood flow. Without surgery, I will very soon become paralyzed, have my organs shut down, or otherwise develop a life-threatening blood clot. Daily life with my health problems has slowly become more and more debilitating, especially as the mom of an energetic toddler. The compressions now cause spontaneous attacks of pain that force me to sit down wherever I am for about 20 minutes, so simple things like play dates and grocery runs are out of the question unless I have help. Normal activities – walking up stairs, washing my hair – makes me tired and winded easily, as my limbs quickly go numb and grow heavy from lack of blood flow. Every three or four days I’m too exhausted to get out of bed. Due to one of my compressed arteries being the one that supplies digestive acids to your stomach, I can’t keep food on my belly for more than half an hour, so I can usually only eat a meal once every three days or so. I'm supplementing with meal replacement shakes but even those I'm beginning to have difficulty breaking down. I've begun to develop recurrent UTI’s and kidneys infections. I've even begun having issues just being able to use the restroom as my bladder and uterus have now prolapsed due to lack of proper blood flow. My family and I have been to doctors all over the country trying to get the answers we need, but my condition is so rare and complex that even most highly specialized surgeons won’t operate on me. The only treatment I have been offered in the United States was to remove a mass that was found along with my vascular compressions. This mass had grown to the size of a grapefruit, my doctors at Johns Hopkins hoped that by removing it they would free up some space for my veins and arteries, as I was already small to begin with.  Unfortunately, the end results of my first surgery were that I had lost the mass, but also a fallopian tube. Doing this sealed off the path my blood was using as a detour back to my heart. Ultimately adding in another compression, further complicating my case and making me significantly more sick within weeks after my operation. At this point I was told there was nothing more that could be done. In a lot of ways, it seems like a hopeless situation. But we have found hope – in the form of a German surgeon, Dr. Sandmann, who has extensive expertise in operating on people with my conditions. I recently traveled to Dr. Sandmann’s office in Germany for testing, and he and his team are confident they can help me. But because Germany doesn’t accept U.S. health insurance, the $32,000 required for the surgery, imaging, and the minimum 14-day hospital stay afterward has to come out of my pocket – up front. I will also be required to stay in the country for a minimum of two months to insure proper recovery and attend follow-up appointments. I've included a list below lining out the budget for this trip to tell where exactly everything will be going. It’s never easy asking for help, even in a desperate situation, and even from people who love you. To request kindness from strangers feels downright scary. There’s a lot of fear and uncertainty in my life these days. But I know that if there’s a chance I can get well and live to watch my son grow, it’s worth anything.  You can find more detailed information here about my battle with Ehlers-Danlos, how I ended here with my vascular compressions, and everything in between. I can’t express how grateful I am to you for taking the time to read and listen to my story. Any little bit you’re able to give – or anytime you’re able to share this page – helps my family and I more than you know. Thank you! **EDITED TO ADD** Somehow in the midst of getting all this together I left out very important information. One of my compressions, MALS, presents in a way that has yet to be documented. In this condition your diaphragm compress' your celiac artery. In my case, my celiac artery compress a second artery behind it(my SMA). My diaphragm then continues down to compress the celiac artery a second time against my spine.  Because this has yet to be documented, my surgeon, Dr. Sandmann, will have to create a completely new surgery in order to fix this compression in particular.    Here  is more information about the surgeon I will be seeing, Dr. Sandmann, and the specialized work he is currently doing in Germany for vascular compressions. Layout of expenses* $32,000 - surgery to repair compression syndromes including Pelvic Congestion Syndrome, Left Femoral vein compression, Right Femoral vein compression, May-turners compression,  Renal Nutcracker Syndrome, Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome, bladder prolapse, uterine prolapse $8,000 - flight tickets for myself, boyfriend, and our son Zeke $5,000 - extended stay hotel/airbnb for period after hospital $1,500 - groceries and eating expenses $1,500 - car rental, while it would be wonderful and preferred to use the public transportation system, my full recovery time is a year, the first few months I will be unable to walk far distances and travel via public transports. $2,000 - gas, Germany gas prices are very high, note the want for public transportation $2,000 - maintaining/paying for home in the United States while away $1,000 - needs such as a phone, travelers insurance in case of emergency, and toiletries $ 7,000- safety, emergency money, any lengthened recovery stay due to complications. *Any money left over after my operation and return to the United States will be being donated to research in vascular compressions   as more desperately needs to be done to help many other people like me.  Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart. If you wish to make a private donating, you can contact me at [email redacted]. ADDITIONAL FUNDRAISING PAGE-  https://meghanhemp.scentsy.us/ party/9595540/operation-get- ali-to-germany All the proceeds from this scentsy page will go directly to my GoFundMe site, a HUGE thanks to Meghan Hemp for setting this up for me. Feel free to add any members to the page on facebook! Here is a link to the full current catalog: http://online.anyflip.com/ snxp/ucdu/mobile/index.html#p=5