Hello,

My best friend is this wonderful woman named Clarissa. Before I get into why this has been established, I want to tell you a little bit about her. Clarissa is a homegrown Texan and an avid photographer and crafter. She works a Head Kindergarten teacher and has even shaped the program into what it is. She is a proud auntie of my children as well as the children of our/her other best friends. She is not just a dedicated teacher and aunt, but a dedicated babysitter and dogsitter as she has been doing those jobs for many people in the area for many years; sometimes her job is done too well and she has done too much but she does it with a smile on her face and love in her heart for those she watches. Throughout her time in Austin, she has been dealing with her abusive ex-husband who violently abused her, stole money from her, as well as her identity by committing Tax Fraud. He has violated his restraining order and threatened harm upon her for the 3rd time, the latest happening just this month and she hid in her locked car until the police came to arrest him again. She has even endured the mental health impact of discord within her family, all because she wants to be seen, heard, respected, loved equally, and cared for as any daughter does; but standing up for herself respectfully has come with consequences of being isolated and ignored. My mother saw this and chose to become the parent she needs by purchasing cameras for her safety after the threats to her life became more frequent. She has sent her care packages and has even included her at almost every family gathering possible to make her feel how a daughter really should, completely and utterly loved.

Last year Clarissa went through another life change as she was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes due to her PCOS (we will get to the PCOS below). Some people in her life said she would never reverse it and would always have it, they didn’t believe it was possible to reverse it. Since the diagnosis, she has worked extremely hard on her health and did INDEED reverse it and is now in prediabetic status faster than any patient her doctor has ever seen with her A1C lowered exponentially. This shows she really is a freaking rockstar.

All of this has been thrusted upon her, yet she is resilient and is still the most loving, caring, and selfless person I have ever met, only wanting the best for those who do her wrong and not saying a single negative thing about anything. She keeps her head up and if she can’t, she knows we will do it for her and remind her of her pure amazingness. This woman is one of a kind. She deserves so much more than she has given to this world and then some because of the kindness that she continues to exude no matter what the situation.

Now for why we are here on this page.

At 12, Clarissa was diagnosed with PCOS and as she got older the symptoms worsened. Periods would last weeks and then into months. In 2023, Clarissa began to experience extensive bleeding that at times causes her to drop clots the size of baseballs and make her leave work to change clothes many times. Working in front of children has made this worse on her mental health as she is afraid of them seeing this and becoming extremely scared for her health, as again, she is a Kindergarten teacher, and kids have quite the imagination. The bleeding and clots became bigger, more frequent, and in larger amounts as well as for even longer periods of time. Her current “flare up” has been since September and has not stopped.

Answers were needed and none were being given. She was being sent home from the ER and told she was fine. This was absolutely not the case. Finally, after begging for someone to listen to her, Clarissa was able to get in with the right OBGYN and she did what needed to be done. Actual tests, actual scanning, and finally listening to the patient. The results of the scans showed excessive tissue growth and a gigantic fibroid. Her doctor did a biopsy and found that the tissue growth is indeed precancerous and is aggressive. She finally had answers, but the next part is huge. She was referred to Texas Oncology where she met with the doctor, and they have gone over the best course of treatment. At this time, the best agreed upon course of action will be an immediate removal of her uterus, tubes, and cervix to stop the growth as well as eliminate all possibilities of this coming back and truly becoming cancer. Insurance will not cover all of this surgery, even so late in the year, so any help is appreciated. This decision means no chance of being able to birth her own children and will impact her hormonally therefor hormone replacement therapy will be lifelong as she now has a higher chance of entering perimenopause at an earlier age. This is a very hard decision, but it is a necessary one for her health and wellbeing.

During all of this, she has also made the decision to move to Temple where life is more affordable as she cannot sustain a residence in Bee Cave as a Kindergarten teacher but will remain with the same company but at the new Georgetown location. The other issue she faces is that the company she works for will be changing insurance companies for the 2026 year, and the rates will be higher and she will also have a higher deductible to meet if she is unable to reschedule the surgery for this year because as of right now, it is scheduled for after the new year. The stress of all of this is enormous and is taking a toll on her mentally but she is strong as heck and has a support system that will be by her side through every step of the way. The reason this has been done is to help relieve stress that is coming from the medical bill portions that insurance will not be paying as funds have been allocated to moving already and she is incredibly stressed about what could be in terms of this surgery. Anything provided will go towards medical bills, any work pay that is missed from working during recovery, and any items or food needed during recovery time. She rarely ever asks for any form of assistance and even now, this scares her because she never asks for help.

From her entire village, we thank you for reading this and we thank you for any help you may provide to such a pivotal person in our lives.