Help Me Save, Mindy, The Love of My Life!

Please watch video below that a friend created that truly in very few words depicts the pain, horror, uncertainty and existence my wife lives every single day!!!!

Mindy & Me Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8PrNKjM_M0

My wife, Mindy, grew up on Chicago’s North Shore in Highland Park. She went to good schools and had promising jobs out of college. When we married, we devoted ourselves to our careers and each other. But then, 8 years ago, something went horribly wrong.  

Mindy suffers from some named and identified autoimmine diseases and syndromes and definitely after so many test, Drs, hospital visits, it is apparent an unnamed autoimmune disease or diseases that is as cruel as it is mysterious." Sadly like Celine Dion, it took years to diagnose she has a very rare autoimmune disease that 1 in a million get. She is obvously suffering and made the public aware of her horrible illness that is almost crippling her.

Although doctors can’t even name it, or properly diagnose it, its ravages are obvious. Mindy’s teeth are rotting away, hair basically gone, massive joint and muscle pain, incessant night sweats to name a few while her body wastes. The feeding tube that barely kept her alive also caused infections, so she became more malnourished and seriously underweight—she unfortunately went down from her stealthy 98 muscular pounds to about 60 pounds no muscle mass.

What you can’t see is the suffering, which is both physical and mental. Subsequently as she kept going lower in weight and her feeding tube fell out after Mindy complained of excruciating pain and pleaded with 3 gastroenterologists to remove and they all refused. Apparently the tube was not the answer. It is a blessing as they ordered a TPN line which feeds through a main artery to her heart into the bloodstream and bypasses the stomach. Without her gaining weight and figuring out how to get her stomach to operate functionally she has been told her odds are low of recovery.

During the pandemic, I lost my job as a chef and with it, our health insurance. We had to acquire Cobra to ensure Mindy gets the Total Parentetal Nutrition, TPN feeding and very few insurances n the marketplace cover TPN feeding.

The medical bills for her care are crushing. Worst of all is the uncertainty. We don’t have the resources to go to the best doctors who might be able to properly diagnose this disease or diseases or unidentified condition(s) and give Mindy the proper treatment. My wife doesn’t know if she’ll ever get better. Her doctors told her she needs to remove her very infected teeth , but no oral surgeon will touch her weak and too frail for risk of possibly a stroke or heart attack.

Although we’re both grateful that she’s still alive, Mindy and I are still hoping for that miracle that will give her some respite from all this and let her live to an older age in peace. 

Before that can happen, I need YOU to be our miracle. I implore you to reach deep into your soul and offer us what financial assistance you can so that I can get Mindy the help she needs. 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I look forward to contributions from many as my wife has not quit in the midst of all of this and it never truly crossed her mind to give up as she has proclaimed, "As long as I am breathing there is a still a chance and I refuse to give up now," what is so inspiring is she keeps the FAITH that a miracle is around the corner. She says ofter " I still believe I can be that miracle" a line out of a movie that is based on a true story,

"Please be one of her miracles to get to the bigger miracle!!!!"

With much hope, gratitude, faith and appreciation,

"I still believe too as Mindy is an angel"

Gilbert Rodriguez

Testimonials:

Many people wonder how others get into the messes they get into. Sometimes, it’s indeed their own ‘fault.’ In the case of someone like Mindy, it’s a cluster of circumstances that requires a lot of time, expertise and money to figure out. Being a chronic patient myself — receiving a kidney transplant 15 years ago, following 10 years of treatment and some dialysis — I am well aware of how complicated it can be to advocate for yourself and get the care you know you need. I’m in good shape these days, yet still failed this winter at trying to work full-time again (for the first time in six years). I got sick a couple times. Spent a week in the hospital — so not only did I lose that week’s income, but my share of the bill was $1800. Fortunately, I am back at work and can pay off my expenses on payment plans. But Mindy can’t go back to any work. I have been helping her financially and by editing some of her posts because there isn’t another way ‘out’ for her and Gil other than OPM - other people’s money - to help them with their daily needs and to seek out better medical treatment. I urge everyone to help her get out of this pit she has fallen into! Thanks!” — Rabbi Andy Bossov, Wilmette, IL

"I met Mindy Surell thirty years ago. We became the best of friends and Mindy was always welcomed in the family home as everyone enjoyed her company and sense of humor. Sadly, Mindy had been mauled in the face by a dog and lost her home and pretty much everything - but lived through this tragic attack and worked tirelessly to carve out a new life and career. We always had so much fun and Mindy was so friendly with a generous, loving, and happy spirit. Mindy has blessed me and my sister and brother with her wisdom, love, and resources whenever we needed help and advice. When I visited Mindy after she fell ill I was shocked to see my friend a shell of her former self. Her weight loss scares me as she has always been into a fitness/healthy lifestyle and is strong for a petite gal. Mindy continues to fight for her life with each new health challenge she faces. I admire her strength and hope. She has great faith in God and mankind that she will heal from the diseases that have invaded her body. Mindy is a warrior, and with our help, she will get well to enjoy simple things that most of us take for granted. I am a better person because of Mindy and I believe that along with her many friends both old and new we can help her get better, as well!"

– Cheryl McPherson

  11/13/2021

"Mindy still feeling the LOVE..."