Help Maggie Reclaim Her Life:

Join the Fight to Get Her Back on Her Feet and Back to School

To our wonderful community and friends,

I’m writing to you today to ask for your help in a rescue mission for my best friend’s daughter, Maggie.

We all know Maggie as the girl who never stopped. She was the vibrant, spunky, athletic girl who mastered the balance beam, found her rhythm on the dance floor, and glided across the ice with effortless grace. She was the one who lit up every room and the friend everyone could lean on.

But today, Maggie is trapped. For years, unexplained health issues simmered under the surface. One by one, the things she loved were stripped away. First gymnastics, then dance, then skating. Replaced with heart-racing, debilitating nausea, daily headaches, almost passing out or actually passing out at school, and so much more. In fact, she deals with 20 to 30 debilitating symptoms every day. In January, the mystery finally got a name: Dysautonomia / POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome).

The Heartbreaking Shift

The contrast between Maggie’s "before" and "now" is devastating. The girl who once spent hours on the go is now bedridden. Because her nervous system can no longer regulate her heart rate or blood pressure, her body enters a state of crisis just by trying to stand up. Simple movements that we take for granted feel like running a marathon for Maggie. She is fighting for the strength just to walk across her bedroom, while her peers are planning for prom and college tours.

The Lifeline: Peak Brain and Body

After months of searching for specialists and facing endless waitlists in New York, Maggie’s mom, Shari Cardinale Bruzee, has found a true lifeline: Peak Brain and Body in Wesley Chapel, Florida.

Unlike traditional doctors who may only manage symptoms with medication, Peak Brain and Body focuses on "Functional Neurology." They specialize in complex cases like Maggie’s, using advanced diagnostics to find exactly where the brain and nervous system are misfiring.

Their intensive recovery program is a two-week "bootcamp" for the nervous system. Maggie will undergo:

Neuro-rehabilitation to retrain her body to handle gravity, Tilt-table therapies,

Proprioceptive training to help her brain communicate correctly with her limbs.

Personalized reconditioning designed to pull her out of a bedridden state and into long-term remission.

When the medical team asked Maggie what she wants out of going to PBAB, she said: "I just want to go back to school in the fall. In person."

Maggie is supposed to start 11th grade this September. It’s the year of prom, college tours, and making the final memories of high school. Instead of planning her future, she is fighting for the strength to walk across her bedroom. This clinic represents Maggie’s best—and perhaps only—shot at her biggest hope: walking through the doors of her high school this September to start 11th grade in person, laughing with her friends in the halls, and choosing the college and career of her dreams.

Why We Need You

Peak Brain and Body is a highly specialized, cutting-edge facility, but unfortunately not covered by their insurance. We are raising $15,000 to $25,000 to cover the "Road to Recovery": which includes both immediate help getting to the clinic as well as long-term support once home.

The Intensive Program ($9,000): Clinical tuition and months of critical follow-up care.

Medical-Safe Travel: Because Maggie also battles Celiac Disease, she requires specialized lodging with a kitchen.

The Long Road Home: Specialized exercise and safety equipment for home (like grab bars in the shower), physical therapy, medical-grade compression gear, and high-sodium nutritional support required for the next year (and beyond) of healing.

Your donation—no matter the size—directly funds the tools Maggie needs to reclaim her life. If you cannot give, please share her story. Let’s help Maggie move from her bedside back to the life she so dearly loves.

With deep gratitude,

Jeanne Crane

A Note from Maggie

"I am not sure how to explain what it's like for me now compared to before all this started. In 2021, I had COVID and right after COVID, I got Mono. Doctors tell me I probably got POTS then. But we just thought it was the Mono not getting better. Before that (and before COVID), I was always doing something, riding my dirt bike, modeling, dancing ,skating ang hanging out with friends.

Now, my world has shrunk to the four walls of my bedroom and only connecting with friends through a screen. On a ‘good’ day, I might make it to the kitchen, but not for long. Most days, I deal with a lot of symptoms—and that terrifying feeling right before you pass out. I’m 16, but I feel 96.

I want to thank my friends for staying in touch, it means so much to me.

When I was diagnosed, I found out that the average person with POTS waits six years to get the specific answers and treatment they need to go into remission.

If I wait six years, I’m 22. My high school years will be gone. I worry that my future could be taken from me (I want to be an ultrasound tech), and I’m not willing to let that happen. I am going to do whatever it takes!

Going to Peak Brain and Body is my way of fighting back so I can go back to school this September for my junior year, standing on my own two feet and visiting college campuses. Your help isn't just paying for a clinic; it’s helping me reclaim my life.

Thank you!

- Maggie