Mother of 2 diagnosed with rare condition.

***** UPDATE! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to everyone who has donated and/or shared Marriah's story so far! Enough funds have come available for Andrew to pay a few of Marriah's bills and to get gas and hotel for them as Marriah and Andrew traveled to complete her first visit at University of Washington Medical Center on 12/1/20 and 12/2/20.  Marriah spent a great deal of time doing tests at UWMC over the last two days. At one she was taken by ambulance from their hotel for a particularly bad attack. The attack was due to her being told to, as of now, take at least a few bites of food per day. Her doctors are afraid that if she goes too long without taking any food in, her stomach will not be used to eating and she may have a hard time transitioning from her TPN feeding tube back to regular food after surgery. Right now I am watching my nephew and they are driving back from Seattle as we speak! Hopefully with good news and a definitive surgery date! 

Hello friends, family and kind strangers! Me and my family are trying to raise money as fast as we can for my little sister Marriah (24 yrs old). Marriah has been diagnosed with Median Arctuate Ligament Syndrome (MALS) with co-occuring Dumping Syndrome. It took so long to get a diagnosis and hope for a surgery date and my sister at this point is in dire condition. Her and her partner Andrew have a 6 month old  baby boy and part time have a 2 year old girl from Marriah's previous relationship. They are worried, exhausted, and financially spent after having to survive on Andrew’s income alone for several months. Not to mention the care of an infant full time and toddler part-time while my sister has been going through all of this. 

These funds will be used to cover Marriah’s lost wages while she is sick, both pre-op and during recovery from her life-saving surgery. These funds will be used for rent, utilities and household expenses and also for transportation costs and hotel stays near her medical center, that are all part of her medical treatment. We live in Spokane, Washington and the specialist qualified to perform her surgery is in Seattle, WA  (5 hours drive away.)

MALS happens when a person is born with a diaphragm placed lower in the body than normal, At some point, for reasons unable to be pinpointed, a ligament near the spine gets displaced and compresses both the celiac artery along the aorta of the spine and the celiac nerve ganglia plexus (a bundle of nerves that controls certain functions of the body). This causes a severe compromise in blood flow and causes the normal digestive process of the body to become extraordinarily painful. The possibility of developing MALS affects approximately %10 percent of the population but typically it shows no complications, as in the person will never know they have it. However, in 1% of that 10% MALS causes complications. So only approximately 150,000 people alive will experience MALS to the level my sister is experiencing it. Being an extremely rare condition MALS has not been deeply studied. The surgery carries risks and may not even completely fix her condition.

Marriah had the additional complication of being 4 months pregnant when she had her first MALS “attack” on 12/26/19 and has progressed over the last 11 months to show all MALS/Dumping syndrome symptoms, which include:

The inability to take any food or water by mouth without excruciating pain. 

The inability to take anything by mouth without blood pressure, blood sugar and pulse rapidly and dangerously falling and rising. These rises and falls in her stats are also due to the compression of the celiac artery which causes the improper blood flow to all of her organs. Therefore her organs cannot regulate their own functions properly. It is during these attacks that her partner must immediately call 911. Marriah has had weekly ambulance trips for the last few months. She often faints during these episodes. 

Severe weight loss  Marriah has gone from 180 pounds to 99 pounds (pre this last hospitalization) at a 5 foot 6 height. This is due to extreme malnutrition and dehydration. This last hospital stay in which she had a TPN feeding tube catheter inserted, she gained 6 pounds in a week which we were all so grateful for. It has been so painful for our family to watch my sisters ribs appear and her have other complications due to being at at abnormal body weight. 


A food transit time of less than 10 minutes. If my sister eats by mouth (which she no longer does at this point) the food leaves her body whole and undigested within minutes. This alone is extremely painful for her. She cannot use the toilet without screeching. 


Extremely rapid weight loss. My sister was alarmed at not being able to gain any weight during her pregnancy. She actually lost a great deal of weight while pregnant. This was one of her first symptoms before being diagnosed and before having any idea what was causes her attacks each time she would eat or drink. 

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Update that as of yesterday 11/23/20. Marriah was discharged from Deaconess Medical Center here in Spokane, WA. after being stabilized. She is now on TPN nutrition inserted in her arm and hopefully this will keep her stable until surgery. 

I have video of her at  my home today showing me her new feeding tube that I will upload this week. She doesn't like the way the feeding tube makes her heart feel but is grateful that she won't die of malnutrition/dehydration while waiting for surgery.  Covid-19 pandemic has caused many hold-ups and complications during her hospitalization and surgery wait/date. 

Thank you all and God Bless!