NF Surgery Fund to help Lois

Every once in a while, someone comes into your life and truly blesses it. For us, that amazing person is Lois Peters. She is known and loved by many of us parents of children with autism here in Santa Clarita, having been a wonderful teacher for all our kiddos in the moderate/severe autism program for the last several years. She’s been enriching the lives of special needs individuals for 21 years, three of those spent working with adults in group and day homes. Her passion for teaching kids and adults with special needs is evident to all who know her. I’ve seen first hand how instrumental she is in their lives. She recently began working as Emma’s in-home ABA program coordinator and therapist and in the very short time she’s worked with Emma, I’ve seen amazing strides which have given us tremendous hope for the future. Our family is so grateful for all Lois has done and how much she truly cares about our children! I know that I speak for many other families, too.
The battle that Lois has had to face her whole life is even more reason to admire her incredible faith, strength and compassion. She was born with Neurofibromatosis (NF), a genetic disease that causes tumors to grow along her nerve endings. These tumors can be painful and grow rapidly. Through the years, she’s had many of them removed with evasive surgery. She’s also done clinical trials of chemotherapy, which showed a great deal of success, however, once the trials ended, regrowth of the tumors began. Recently, she has been approved for a procedure, Electrodessication, which kills the tumors by the hundreds. Only two doctors in the country perform this procedure for patients with NF and fortunately, one of those doctors is here in LA. Insurance will pay for the surgery, but this particular surgical center is out of network and after negotiation with the center, she will have to pay $4,000 for each surgery (she will need 2 in the next 3 months). The surgery would decrease her pain and literally kill the tumors she has all over her body, arms and face. This is the only procedure currently that shows little to no regrowth. Destroying the tumors can also reduce the risk of developing cancer. Because she needs the payment ten days before surgery, the first payment is due February 10th. When she discovered that her insurance only covered a little over half, she had no idea how she could possibly pay for it. I’m hoping and praying that this will give her the funds she needs or at least help her significantly. Every little bit helps and this will dramatically change her life. And she certainly changes lives every single day.