Support for Sarah’s Stent Placement Procedure

Sarah was diagnosed with May-Thurner Syndrome after having difficulties with her pregnancies. Each pregnancy became riskier and she would lose control/use of her legs as the pregnancy got further along. Upon vein mapping in 2014, a Doctor placed two stents to open her left Iliac into her inferior vena cava. The stents shifted and collapsed, with the blood flow on her left side already at a minimum, now the blood flow to her right side was minimal. They discovered the crushed stents in the Spring of 2015 when she ended up in the ER with a suspected blood clot. The clot went from her abdomen to her right foot. Since she was pregnant at the time, they placed an IVC filter to catch the clots, and she took two shots of lovenox a day for the rest of the pregnancy, until the filter could be removed.  During removal of the filter, they found scarring and damage to her vena cava, as well as scar tissue built up around the stents that were previously placed, making it impossible to remove them. Since then she has seen several Doctors across the nation, all turning her away saying surgery would be too risky. She was given five years until they believed the scar tissue would make blood flow impossible to get through. As years passed, her condition worsened as expected. She was then diagnosed with pelvic congestion syndrome resulting in a hysterectomy and was later diagnosed with Colitis. The doctor also discovered a back-flow of blood in her abdomen as well as pulmonary embolisms.

This year has been tremendously difficult for Sarah as her health has rapidly declined. The past few months the symptoms have become nearly unmanageable with constant pain, sometimes so intense she will pass out or vomit, and temporarily lose the ability to use her arms and legs. In a recent CT SCAN, they showed the crushed stents had moved and there is nearly no room for blood to flow around them.

This week the doctor did another vein mapping procedure, where they discovered they could safely place a stent into her artery to allow blood flow, which will ease her pain and lower her risk of life threatening clots. This procedure alone will cost $18,000 out of pocket. 

Being a mother of five is financially difficult as is. She never asks for help but manages to take care of her children on alternating weeks as well as caring for everyone else around her. As her close friend, I’m asking for help on Sarah’s behalf to offset the cost of this procedure and give her some assistance with follow up appointments and any future procedures she may have to undergo. Please help her take care of this financial burden so she can get the medical assistance she needs, have her health back to spend quality time with her kids, pay the bills, and go back to the job she loves.

If you’d like to use Venmo, 100% of your donation goes directly to Sarah! You can find her as: 
Sarah-Hanson-61 

Thank you all so much! Every bit helps.

Brigette