Support Ilya's Battle with Psoriatic Arthritis

Hi! There’s about to be a lot of writing, and you don’t have to read it all, but if I’ve ever made at least a small impact on you, I implore you to at least skim it.

For most of my life, I’ve struggled with psoriasis—an autoimmune disease where your body basically decides your skin is the enemy. Then, at 15, I got hit with another fun diagnosis: psoriatic arthritis. My arthritis primarily affects my feet and spine which is really annoying seeing as I am in a career path where I have to be on my feet for 8 hours a day. Over the years, I’ve gone through cycles of extreme flares and periods of remission. Over the past two years, specifically after the last time I had COVID, my health has taken a nose dive.

Luckily, I have the best insurance I’ve ever had in my life (I didn’t have stable insurance from 18-24, which was a blast let me tell you) and I’ve been able to gather a team of doctors who have worked in tandem over the last year to help stabilize me. I’ve gotten access to meds for free with the help of insurance (which covers 80% of drug costs) plus patient copay assistance programs that covers the rest. That is until recently. Because now I’m being charged $2500 (that’s after insurance mama) for my next shipment of 2 doses of the current drug I’m on called Cimzia. I know lots of us are struggling, I have never crowd funded for help, but being charged that much while Parker and I are currently getting ready to move in together in a week, is only making a stressful time even more stressful. I do think I will be able to secure my meds in the future. Unfortunately, dealing with insurance, copay assistance, AND a specialty pharmacy is not a fast process. It’s actually incredibly slow and extremely frustrating.

Cimzia has genuinely brought me so much relief and to a much more stable place. In December, I was on 5 different drugs, two of them being Skyrizi and Otezla; extremely expensive drugs that are supposed to do wonders. Nevertheless, I would get off work and still could barely walk up or down stairs, get out of bed in the middle of the night, literally function without my pain level being unbearable. I was so frustrated because I was taking so many drugs and they were working wonderfully for my psoriasis but doing nothing for my arthritis. Now, my skin is a little worse and I am still in a bit of discomfort most days but it’s much more manageable. Cimizia has made me happier to go to work and truly be alive.

I just need help, don’t want to lose access to my meds, and anything would be truly appreciated even if you just share this.

Thank you for reading.

Sincerely,

Ilya <3