Family and friends,

***Update: Bre'Keshia is now at home, but is still on her feeding tube. She is now able to walk some with assistance. She is still having to return to Jackson 3 to 5 times per week for treatment and monitoring. She still has not been able to return to school this school year due to her chronic condition. The family would like to thank everyone for their support and their continued thoughts and prayers for Bre'Keshia's fight against dermatomyositis.***

I want to reach out to everyone and ask for your help and prayers for my niece Bre’Keshia Winding who is 14 years old. Bre is a 9th grade student at Amite County High School. Bre has not been able to enter school this year because she was hospitalized last May 2025 (before school was out) at which time she was diagnosed with Dermatomyositis. At the time she was 13 years old. She made her 14th birthday this August during one of her many stays in the hospital.

Dermatomyositis is a rare autoimmune disorder that causes inflammation of the muscles and skin. It is an autoimmune reaction where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks healthy muscles and skin cells.

The brief times she has been released from the hospital, she has to return to Jackson (which is 110 miles away) as much as 3 times a week to get corticosteroids infusions, immunosuppressant medication to suppress the immune system, physical therapy to maintain muscle strength and function, and ultraviolet light therapy for skin rashes; all to combat this illness. The PT has been postponed several times because she was unable to walk or use her arm strength. She has been and is presently on a feeding tube because her throat muscles won’t allow her to swallow.

One of her many medications costs $18,000.00 per dose, and the insurance won’t pay any of it unless she’s hospitalized, then they’ll pay their portion. They advised them to “try another medication first.”

To add to their struggle, her mother’s job recently terminated her because she “has been off from work too long.”

Any help you can give, great or small, will be greatly appreciated.