Sharon's A.L.S. medical expenses
Donation protected
“I am just glad it happened to me and not to Andrew or Monica.”
Those are my daughter’s words about her brother and sister.
It is a battle against time.
My daughter is a young woman, 26 years old, who has been diagnosed with the fatal disease of ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Sharon is a very strong young woman, intelligent and generous, that even with this disease, still smiles so her family would not suffer; she continues with her exercises, although with many limitations, with a very strong desire to live.
Sharon is receiving medical care at Kaiser Permanente, where she was diagnosed by two different neurologists and in two different hospitals with several tests to rule out other diseases like Multiple Sclerosis and meningitis among others since there is no specific test to diagnose this disease. They cannot do anything else for my daughter but only supply her with Riluzole, a medicine to slow down the progress, and to send her back to the neurologist who diagnosed her so she could be transferred to the ALS Kaiser Sunset clinic. We did not have any knowledge that they offer stem cells transplants until a friend of ours advised us about this procedure. How ironic! One of the doctors firmly expressed that those cells would die before it would start working. This is our ordeal, and with a natural desperation we tried to get treatments with stem cells in Tijuana, Mexico; we consulted five different neurologists, two of them wanted to start this treatment as soon as possible based on medical reports and results performed in California, the other three gave us other diagnosis that required surgery. We came back with more questions than answers about the Kaiser diagnostic and the other diagnosis made out in Tijuana.
She was also seen by a neurologist at UCLA who said more tests were needed to be done to make the final diagnosis. These tests were not done at the other hospital. Another facility that we planned to visit is Cedars Sinai Medical Center, but the entire process is so slow and frustrating.
Thanks to people that started helping us with research we were referred to one of the best specialist in Mexico City where they don’t have so many restrictions. We will be departing on 02/08 mainly because this group of doctors is eager to challenge the diagnosis due to the fact that Sharon is too young, and it’s so unusual that this disease would attack somebody at this early age, the majority of ALS patients are older than 40 years of age, 60% are males and 93% are Caucasian. There is a big possibility that the stem cells transplant procedure will be performed there; we don’t know how long we will stay in Mexico and how often we will have to take our daughter for further treatments, but we are willing to give everything in our power to save my daughter’s life.
To our family, friends, acquaintances and all caring souls in the world: we ask for your prayers for Sharon’s recovery... miracles do exist! So, we maintain our strong faith and hope. If you would like to contribute to our efforts, please be kind to donate through GOFUNDME. COM
God bless you and your families.
Thank you for all your prayers and blessings.
Hernan Torrico, and family.
Those are my daughter’s words about her brother and sister.
It is a battle against time.
My daughter is a young woman, 26 years old, who has been diagnosed with the fatal disease of ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Sharon is a very strong young woman, intelligent and generous, that even with this disease, still smiles so her family would not suffer; she continues with her exercises, although with many limitations, with a very strong desire to live.
Sharon is receiving medical care at Kaiser Permanente, where she was diagnosed by two different neurologists and in two different hospitals with several tests to rule out other diseases like Multiple Sclerosis and meningitis among others since there is no specific test to diagnose this disease. They cannot do anything else for my daughter but only supply her with Riluzole, a medicine to slow down the progress, and to send her back to the neurologist who diagnosed her so she could be transferred to the ALS Kaiser Sunset clinic. We did not have any knowledge that they offer stem cells transplants until a friend of ours advised us about this procedure. How ironic! One of the doctors firmly expressed that those cells would die before it would start working. This is our ordeal, and with a natural desperation we tried to get treatments with stem cells in Tijuana, Mexico; we consulted five different neurologists, two of them wanted to start this treatment as soon as possible based on medical reports and results performed in California, the other three gave us other diagnosis that required surgery. We came back with more questions than answers about the Kaiser diagnostic and the other diagnosis made out in Tijuana.
She was also seen by a neurologist at UCLA who said more tests were needed to be done to make the final diagnosis. These tests were not done at the other hospital. Another facility that we planned to visit is Cedars Sinai Medical Center, but the entire process is so slow and frustrating.
Thanks to people that started helping us with research we were referred to one of the best specialist in Mexico City where they don’t have so many restrictions. We will be departing on 02/08 mainly because this group of doctors is eager to challenge the diagnosis due to the fact that Sharon is too young, and it’s so unusual that this disease would attack somebody at this early age, the majority of ALS patients are older than 40 years of age, 60% are males and 93% are Caucasian. There is a big possibility that the stem cells transplant procedure will be performed there; we don’t know how long we will stay in Mexico and how often we will have to take our daughter for further treatments, but we are willing to give everything in our power to save my daughter’s life.
To our family, friends, acquaintances and all caring souls in the world: we ask for your prayers for Sharon’s recovery... miracles do exist! So, we maintain our strong faith and hope. If you would like to contribute to our efforts, please be kind to donate through GOFUNDME. COM
God bless you and your families.
Thank you for all your prayers and blessings.
Hernan Torrico, and family.
Organizer
Sharon Torrico
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
