On January 31st, Carrie and her husband Bryan were on their way to Denver to go see their favorite musical artists live. Despite being in pain the entire night before and on the flight, Carrie was determined to go to the show. When they left the airport, Carrie made the comment that she was in so much pain it felt like she was in labor. Thinking it was a UTI, they went to instacare. Unfortunately, it was much worse than that. Thinking that it was her appendix, they sent her to the ER where they found her white blood cell count was 17,900. After doing some imaging and blood work, they found that she was septic, along with having major complications caused by her Crohn's Disease.

She has inflammation throughout her entire abdomen and Crohn's in her stomach (which is rare). The main area of the Crohn's flare-up is in her ileum (where the small intestine connects to the large intestine). A fistula has formed there that is connecting her intestine to her mesentery (the membrane that holds the intestine in place). As a result of the fistula forming, her body created a pocket of pus (an abscess) trying to wall off the errant tissue.

Essentially, she should have been on treatments for the Crohn's since it was diagnosed in 2021. It has now gotten out of control. The fistula and 3.5 cm abscess are not accessible to drain with a needle. They kept her in the hospital on IV antibiotics for 5 days. During that time, the abscess only decreased by 0.2 cm. They inserted a mid-line and sent her home. She continued getting IV antibiotics at the local hospital every day as well as taking oral antibiotics every 8 hours. But just a week later, she became septic once again and ended up back in the hospital.

The antibiotics had not been working and the abscess had grown to be 3.7 cm. After more testing/imaging, they decided the best route was to start steroids along with the antibiotics.

Fortunately, she has responded well to the steroids. The next day, they did an MRI and it didn't show any signs of the abscess. It appears that she has 2 bowel perforations/fistulas. One leads to her ovary and the other to her mesentery.

After her colonoscopy, they determined that she has moderate Crohn's disease and parts of her bowel have become "unpassable." They are currently formulating a plan to continue treatment and most likely surgery in the future. Hopefully not emergent.

She is still in the hospital due to a very low heart rate, irregular blood pressure, and high blood sugar. They are watching her vitals and hoping to send her home within the next couple of days. Even after she comes home, it is a long road of steroid and antibiotic treatments, possible surgeries, and biologic treatments (costing $1500 each).

While she has been in the hospital, her husband Bryan has not been able to leave her side, which means he hasn't been able to work. I (her oldest daughter) have been taking care of the home and the other 4 children that are still at home, one of which is very sick. To say the least, these last few weeks have been extremely difficult and stressful for our family. My mother is the glue that holds us together and losing her is our worst nightmare.

As comes with so much medical care, we now have thousands and thousands in medical bills, on top of the regular costs of living, which is already astronomical with a family of 7 at home.

We ask for some help during this difficult time to help us afford to live and continue getting my mother the help that she needs. Please consider donating anything you can. I understand it's a hard economy for everyone so if you can't donate please share it out! Thank you so much for reading our story and for helping any way you can!