Stem Cell Replacement - Betsy Craig
Donation protected
Elizabeth "Betsy" Craig is undergoing a stem cell transplant. What an incredible blessing.
That leads me to this awesome GoFundMe page. I appreciate any and all the help towards the larger goal before the insurance agreed to pay. I have taken the goal to a smaller number ($25K) based on a portion of what the expenses actually will be for us out of pocket. I am MOST grateful for all of you who have helped with financial support. We will use the financial gifts to offset further out of pocket costs as we move forward. I can promise you it will be helpful and much appreciated just like you my friends.
Finally, to the folks on this GoFundMe who have supported that are strangers, well you are my friends I have just not met yet. To you I say thank you and I will pay it forward, every penny as soon as I am on my feet Scleroderma free!
With Love!
Betsy
Our friend Betsy Craig has Scleroderma and is in desperate need of a Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT). It is a treatment aimed at “rebooting” the immune system in order to stop progression of the disease. It uses chemo to wipe out the old immune system, which includes bad instructions to attack your own body, and it uses your own stem cells harvested from your own blood to begin growth of a fresh immune system.
This is the treatment and choice Betsy has picked to manage and recover from her Scleroderma. After 7 years on chemo, and thousands upon thousands of pills there are not many choices left to her. In the last two years her lungs (ILD) and heart (PHA) have become effected with additional diseases as a result of scleroderma and if she doesn’t arrest the scleroderma the organs will keep getting worse with an early death the only outcome.
She will donate (Mobilize and Harvest Feb 2018) her own stem cells then give them back to herself (Transplant April 2018) to “reset” her immune system. The results of this month’s long procedure are very promising but not at all easy, cheap or simple. So far, her insurance has declined to pay so she had to come up with the cash to have this done. On top of the fee for the Stem Cell there are a ton of other expenses. Travel expenses of multiple trips to Chicago, running two households, medication, aftercare, all kinds of things she didn’t even see coming.
She is committed to getting paid back by the insurance company (because she is not done appealing that) and if received funds from friends and family are above and beyond those needed, she will donate them to the Scleroderma Foundation.
That leads me to this awesome GoFundMe page. I appreciate any and all the help towards the larger goal before the insurance agreed to pay. I have taken the goal to a smaller number ($25K) based on a portion of what the expenses actually will be for us out of pocket. I am MOST grateful for all of you who have helped with financial support. We will use the financial gifts to offset further out of pocket costs as we move forward. I can promise you it will be helpful and much appreciated just like you my friends.
Finally, to the folks on this GoFundMe who have supported that are strangers, well you are my friends I have just not met yet. To you I say thank you and I will pay it forward, every penny as soon as I am on my feet Scleroderma free!
With Love!
Betsy
Our friend Betsy Craig has Scleroderma and is in desperate need of a Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT). It is a treatment aimed at “rebooting” the immune system in order to stop progression of the disease. It uses chemo to wipe out the old immune system, which includes bad instructions to attack your own body, and it uses your own stem cells harvested from your own blood to begin growth of a fresh immune system.
This is the treatment and choice Betsy has picked to manage and recover from her Scleroderma. After 7 years on chemo, and thousands upon thousands of pills there are not many choices left to her. In the last two years her lungs (ILD) and heart (PHA) have become effected with additional diseases as a result of scleroderma and if she doesn’t arrest the scleroderma the organs will keep getting worse with an early death the only outcome.
She will donate (Mobilize and Harvest Feb 2018) her own stem cells then give them back to herself (Transplant April 2018) to “reset” her immune system. The results of this month’s long procedure are very promising but not at all easy, cheap or simple. So far, her insurance has declined to pay so she had to come up with the cash to have this done. On top of the fee for the Stem Cell there are a ton of other expenses. Travel expenses of multiple trips to Chicago, running two households, medication, aftercare, all kinds of things she didn’t even see coming.
She is committed to getting paid back by the insurance company (because she is not done appealing that) and if received funds from friends and family are above and beyond those needed, she will donate them to the Scleroderma Foundation.
Organizer and beneficiary
Marla Topliff
Organizer
Niles, IL
Elizabeth Craig
Beneficiary
