Please help my sister, Marcie Silver. She is suffering from lipedema, an abnormal accumulation of sticky fat cells (subcutaneous adipose fat tissue) in her legs.

Women who have lipedema are born with these extra fat cells. Lipedema fat is not responsive to weight loss. Marcie is not obese, her upper body is quite small but the lipedema is in her legs and recently spread to her arms. You can see from the pictures that these fat cells are hard rock-like deposits and are extremely painful at times.

If a woman is born with these extra fat cells, hormonal events in their life ie, puberty, pregnancy, hysterectomy, and menopause brings about the onset of these extra fat cells exacerbating so legs and arms get extremely large. My sister's lipedema was brought on by a hysterectomy and has been getting increasingly worse over the past year and a half. Prior to her legs getting larger, doctors told her she carried her weight "differently" and did not even know it was lipedema. Many doctors still don't know what it is. Just 18 months ago a vascular surgeon told Marcie her legs looked like she had lipedema. He explained she had the typical appearance of lipedema, i.e. a symmetrical appearance in both legs with the excess fat stopping right before her ankles. She then had to go to Dr. Dean, a lipedema specialist, in Columbus for the official diagnosis.

Since her diagnosis, Marcie has received manual drainage massage therapy treatment and is currently using a full body "boot" pump twice a day to drain excess fluid being built up in her body due to these extra sticky fat cells. She also wears special lipedema elastic hose. Marcie rides a stationary bike for low-impact exercise. These treatments are not working anymore. The only treatment to help her at this point is liposuction. This procedure has to be done by a board-certified plastic surgeon specially trained in the removal of these fat cells, and very few plastic surgeons in this country are certified for removal of lipedema fat cells. The nearest one to Cincinnati is in Columbus, Dr. Viennas.

The procedure to remove these cells is done one section of a leg at a time. The total cost to. remove all the fat cells in both legs and arms is approximately $50,000.

Medicare REFUSES to cover this procedure because they consider it "cosmetic". This liposuction is more involved since lipedema is a lymphatic disease and surgeons have to ensure they don't disturb the lymphatics while removing, the lipedema.

Marcie is currently in the last stage (3) of lipedema. As you can see from the attached pictures, her legs are abnormally large and she feels like she has sandbags attached to them. She has fallen 3 times and, within the next year, will most likely become immobile and need a wheelchair.

She is very upset that I am asking for financial assistance for her, but this is the only possible way she will be able to walk and function normally again. She will still have excess skin and irregularly shaped and dimpled legs after the procedure, but she isn't interested in esthetically nice-looking legs. Her legs will be smaller and she will have her mobility back.

Any amount of money you can send will be used only towards her procedures and any extra costs associated with these procedures.

I thank you with my deepest gratitude. God Bless you and your family.

Peggy Scheppler