Hello,

My name is Sara and I am the older sister to Staci. Staci has been through a lot since 2019 and the medical bills are piling up.

Back in August 2019, Staci was seeing a local chiropractor when he noticed that she could barely walk to the door without being extremely out of breath and complained of pain behind her knee. He urged her to go to the ER. After arriving to the ER and being admitted to the Willmar hospital, Staci was told her lungs were full of blood clots and had a blood clot behind her knee. This is where all her medical issues began.

After the incident in 2019, she started her medical care with Mayo Clinic due to having a positive test for Antiphospholipid syndrome. She had extensive testing done to see what had causes all of her blood clots in her lungs. Staci has been diagnosed with a blood clotting disorder, as well as 7 other blood disorders. She is 1 in 3 billion people to have all these conditions together. After finding out these diagnoses, she was put on blood thinners. This lead to more hospital stays while trying to get her blood thin and to not cause new clots.

August 2023, Staci ended up back at Mayo for another hospitalization. This time with new clots, left-sided chest pain, and more trouble breathing. They discovered that she has pulmonary hypertension, pericarditis and will need to be on 24/7 oxygen. She is on a pump that administers her medications for pulmonary hypertension, as well as anticoagulation injections. At this hospital stay, a surgery was discussed to clear old clots in her pulmonary arteries and remove a clot for around her heart. With needing medical care from multiple disciplinaries, it was agreed upon to trial medications first.

Well, the medications didn't work. Staci was admitted back to Mayo on November 15th for left sided chest pain and trouble breathing (she got a lovely helicopter ride from St. Cloud to Mayo). The physicians decided to do plasmapheresis, which is taking out her plasma (which is filled with too many antibodies causing clots) and giving her donated plasma. After 2 courses of this, the team decided surgery was the next step. Staci would be having an open chest surgery to clear the clots. After this surgery, which takes 6 hours and an additional post op stay, she will continue the plasmapheresis. It was also discussed she would be given a trial drug to keep her immune system at bay and not overproduce antibodies that lead to her clotting.

I am asking for medical help because being at Mayo multiple times and being such a rare case isn't cheap. She is unable to work and her insurance isn't very helpful with paying. Staci is an amazing individual, who deserves to be at a point where paying for her bills isn't a burden. She is so caring and loving. She deserves to life the life of a normal 25 year old.

Please consider donating money to her.