Hi everyone,

I’m starting this fundraiser for my sister, Nichole. Over the past two years, she’s endured more pain and challenges than most people face in a lifetime. Watching her fight through one medical crisis after another has been heartbreaking — and now she’s facing her toughest battle yet.

In June 2023 she woke up in unbearable pain. An ER visit revealed a bulging disc in her lower back, L5-S1. After three cortisone shots, we hoped she’d find some relief, but things only got worse.

In August 2023 her vision suddenly went dark. An MRI showed a pineal cyst blocking the aqueduct in her brain, forcing her into emergency brain surgery. When she woke up, she was in the rare 1% of patients who suffer major complications she couldn’t walk, talk or see and lost weeks of memory from her hospital stay.

Still unable to sit up because of the back pain, she underwent back surgery that December. She slowly began to walk again, but by April 2024, she was diagnosed with Lyme disease. A severe allergic reaction to her medication landed her back in the hospital for a week, followed by 21 days of IV treatment through a port.

Despite showing moments of progress, she kept getting worse. Over the next year, doctors suspected everything from Guillain-Barré to CIDP to West Nile virus. Each test, each new diagnosis, brought more uncertainty and debt and less hope.

Then in October of 2025, Mayo Clinic finally gave us an answer:

POEMS Syndrome, a rare, serious blood disorder that affects multiple body systems and requires a stem cell transplant.

She is at Mayo now getting prepped to harvest her own stem cells and then a very strong dose of chemo before they give those healthy stem cells back. All of this is taking place now until mid-December. It’s her only real chance at recovery.

But this has taken a toll on her whole family. Her husband, DJ, has become her full-time caregiver, driving her to countless appointments, managing medications, and holding their home together while trying to stay strong for their kids. Her children have had to watch their mom go through things no child should ever have to see. She’s missed out on so many moments with them.

They’ve already accumulated so much medical debt and that doesn’t include the treatments at Mayo, other household bills, travel and housing while she is in Rochester. She’ll need to stay near Mayo for 7 weeks during and after her transplant, paying for food, transportation, and medical supplies out of pocket.

Through everything, she’s fought with incredible strength and faith, even on the hardest days. Now, she needs our help to keep fighting.

If you’re able to give, no matter how small or even just share her story, it truly makes a difference. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping my sister and her family through this unimaginable time.