Sam Needs A Village!
Donazione protetta
Sam Needs A Village!
In Short
For the last 23 years our friend Samanthe has been fighting chronic fatigue, immune deficiency and late stage Lyme disease, and all it's co-infections, without the aid of sufficient medical care. She’s a smart, tenacious, creative professional who’s career was cut short because of this disease 17 years ago. Her symptoms are ALWAYS debilitating, and frequently are so severe as to make even the simplest life moment - like bending over or making a phone call - intolerable.
In the last year, her situation has changed from CHRONIC to CHRONIC AND ACUTE. With the onset of debilitating episodes of nausea/headache/fever/vomiting, we are now in fear for her life.
Sam can no longer work enough to afford any kind of living in the Seattle area, which has become the third most expensive city in the nation. After nine months of searching she has found an affordable place with decent medical care—3,000 miles away. The expense of such a relocation is significant, and we are seriously hoping that this world of amazing social platforms & crowd-funding can help her afford this move, which will ultimately allow her to live and find affordable health care.
Here’s what we think the move will cost. I’ve estimated on the low-side, but the expense is still considerable.
$6000 - Moving stuff from place to place (There are any number of moving companies that will move your things, if you box them up. U-Haul, Pods, U-Pack, etc. I got bids starting at $4500 all the way up to $8800.)
$1500 - Moving Sam and her cat, and her car. (Sam can’t drive long distances, so her car will either have to be driven by someone else, or moved by a transport company. Sam and the cat will have to fly.)
$1000 - Labor (to help lift, pack and unpack)
$1500 - Storage and Miscellaneous (storing her things while she finds a home, mold/toxin remediation of new home, whatever else we can’t imagine right now.
————————————————————————
$10,000 - total (minimum)
This is where the village comes in. We humbly and gratefully ask for your help, so that Sam can have a shot at life.
We sincerely thank you!
Sam’s friends,
Sue, Ellen and Jessica
----------------------------------------
The Full Story
In 1994, Samanthe was a director at a large non-profit organization managing a staff of 65 people, and also had a full personal life that included distance biking, hiking mountains, and volunteering. Then WHAM! she woke up one day, and could barely stand or walk 15 yards to the mailbox. Since then, each day has been a struggle filled with full-body pain and fatigue. After six years of multiple chronic illness diagnoses—primarily late-stage Lyme disease—she went on medical leave and never was able to return to professional life.
Samanthe has tried countless western and eastern and alternative and indigenous medical treatments. Until her funds ran out, she paid numerous experts out-of-pocket to address the long list of ever-multiplying, frightening and spirit-sucking “symptoms” she has endured, including:
—constant deep exhaustion and full-body pain
—severe weakness, dizziness
—significant loss of memory/cognitive impairment
—extreme sensitivity to sound, smells, temperature, touch
—frequent nausea to convulsive, day-long vomiting
—dangerous weight loss
—headaches and migraines
—inability to form sentences
—numeric dyslexia
—neurological issues/extreme panic attacks
—multiple chemical sensitivities
Her current, very limited covered healthcare, from Medicare, has proved negligible. It simply doesn’t cover much beyond symptom suppression with drugs (such as morphine and anti-depressants) which cause other health issues. Clearly, Samanthe needs to address the roots of the illnesses.
Samanthe has been single and self-dependent for the last two decades. She lives frugally, but even so, with tens of thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket medical expenses, her savings ran out many years ago. And here’s the kicker: she DID own a long-term disability insurance policy that would have made life affordable, but Prudential attorneys fought her for 7 years and refused her claim!
We do have ray of hope: There are several places in the U.S. which have new Chronic Lyme treatments and supportive therapies (Envitas Clinic in Arizona & Jemsek Specialty Clinic in Washington, D.C.). The cost of treatment is around $75,000. We sincerely hope that once Sam is relocated to the East Coast, she’ll be able to find and afford this new treatment.
Information about Lyme Disease:
What is Lyme disease? Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi. Lyme disease is also known as a multi-systemic infectious disease syndrome (MSIDS) since it typically travels with co-infectious parasites and viruses (Borrelia burgdorferi, Mycoplasma, Babesia, Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, Bartonella). Studies of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s patients show the presence of Lyme bacteria.
How can you get it? Once considered a bacteria limited to tick bites, studies now indicate Lyme infection can be transmitted by a variety of means including mosquitoes, fleas, spiders, sexual contact, vaginal birth and blood transfusions.
What about treatment? When treated immediately the recovery rate is over 90%., yet the majority of people infected are diagnosed too late--after the disease has become chronically debilitating. Since the CDC has refused to support chronic Lyme disease, insurance companies refuse to pay for its treatment, and most chronic patients—who have lost significant income because of their disease—cannot afford proper treatment by themselves.
Sources for further information:
--ILADS, the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society
--Lymestats.org
--Documentary film, “Under Our Skin”
--Dr. Phil’s April 2012 episodes named “Deadly Consequences”, in which he talks about why persistent
Lyme Disease is being undiagnosed, even refuted.
In Short
For the last 23 years our friend Samanthe has been fighting chronic fatigue, immune deficiency and late stage Lyme disease, and all it's co-infections, without the aid of sufficient medical care. She’s a smart, tenacious, creative professional who’s career was cut short because of this disease 17 years ago. Her symptoms are ALWAYS debilitating, and frequently are so severe as to make even the simplest life moment - like bending over or making a phone call - intolerable.
In the last year, her situation has changed from CHRONIC to CHRONIC AND ACUTE. With the onset of debilitating episodes of nausea/headache/fever/vomiting, we are now in fear for her life.
Sam can no longer work enough to afford any kind of living in the Seattle area, which has become the third most expensive city in the nation. After nine months of searching she has found an affordable place with decent medical care—3,000 miles away. The expense of such a relocation is significant, and we are seriously hoping that this world of amazing social platforms & crowd-funding can help her afford this move, which will ultimately allow her to live and find affordable health care.
Here’s what we think the move will cost. I’ve estimated on the low-side, but the expense is still considerable.
$6000 - Moving stuff from place to place (There are any number of moving companies that will move your things, if you box them up. U-Haul, Pods, U-Pack, etc. I got bids starting at $4500 all the way up to $8800.)
$1500 - Moving Sam and her cat, and her car. (Sam can’t drive long distances, so her car will either have to be driven by someone else, or moved by a transport company. Sam and the cat will have to fly.)
$1000 - Labor (to help lift, pack and unpack)
$1500 - Storage and Miscellaneous (storing her things while she finds a home, mold/toxin remediation of new home, whatever else we can’t imagine right now.
————————————————————————
$10,000 - total (minimum)
This is where the village comes in. We humbly and gratefully ask for your help, so that Sam can have a shot at life.
We sincerely thank you!
Sam’s friends,
Sue, Ellen and Jessica
----------------------------------------
The Full Story
In 1994, Samanthe was a director at a large non-profit organization managing a staff of 65 people, and also had a full personal life that included distance biking, hiking mountains, and volunteering. Then WHAM! she woke up one day, and could barely stand or walk 15 yards to the mailbox. Since then, each day has been a struggle filled with full-body pain and fatigue. After six years of multiple chronic illness diagnoses—primarily late-stage Lyme disease—she went on medical leave and never was able to return to professional life.
Samanthe has tried countless western and eastern and alternative and indigenous medical treatments. Until her funds ran out, she paid numerous experts out-of-pocket to address the long list of ever-multiplying, frightening and spirit-sucking “symptoms” she has endured, including:
—constant deep exhaustion and full-body pain
—severe weakness, dizziness
—significant loss of memory/cognitive impairment
—extreme sensitivity to sound, smells, temperature, touch
—frequent nausea to convulsive, day-long vomiting
—dangerous weight loss
—headaches and migraines
—inability to form sentences
—numeric dyslexia
—neurological issues/extreme panic attacks
—multiple chemical sensitivities
Her current, very limited covered healthcare, from Medicare, has proved negligible. It simply doesn’t cover much beyond symptom suppression with drugs (such as morphine and anti-depressants) which cause other health issues. Clearly, Samanthe needs to address the roots of the illnesses.
Samanthe has been single and self-dependent for the last two decades. She lives frugally, but even so, with tens of thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket medical expenses, her savings ran out many years ago. And here’s the kicker: she DID own a long-term disability insurance policy that would have made life affordable, but Prudential attorneys fought her for 7 years and refused her claim!
We do have ray of hope: There are several places in the U.S. which have new Chronic Lyme treatments and supportive therapies (Envitas Clinic in Arizona & Jemsek Specialty Clinic in Washington, D.C.). The cost of treatment is around $75,000. We sincerely hope that once Sam is relocated to the East Coast, she’ll be able to find and afford this new treatment.
Information about Lyme Disease:
What is Lyme disease? Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi. Lyme disease is also known as a multi-systemic infectious disease syndrome (MSIDS) since it typically travels with co-infectious parasites and viruses (Borrelia burgdorferi, Mycoplasma, Babesia, Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, Bartonella). Studies of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s patients show the presence of Lyme bacteria.
How can you get it? Once considered a bacteria limited to tick bites, studies now indicate Lyme infection can be transmitted by a variety of means including mosquitoes, fleas, spiders, sexual contact, vaginal birth and blood transfusions.
What about treatment? When treated immediately the recovery rate is over 90%., yet the majority of people infected are diagnosed too late--after the disease has become chronically debilitating. Since the CDC has refused to support chronic Lyme disease, insurance companies refuse to pay for its treatment, and most chronic patients—who have lost significant income because of their disease—cannot afford proper treatment by themselves.
Sources for further information:
--ILADS, the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society
--Lymestats.org
--Documentary film, “Under Our Skin”
--Dr. Phil’s April 2012 episodes named “Deadly Consequences”, in which he talks about why persistent
Lyme Disease is being undiagnosed, even refuted.
Organizzatore
Sue Orfield & Ellen Lende
Organizzatore
Mountlake Terrace, WA