Support Jessica Gibson's Fight for Health
Hello, my name is Jessica Gibson. I am a chronic illness warrior. I deal with numerous autoimmune diseases as well as a numerous amount of other illnesses that cause severe pain. In 2018, I was rushed to the hospital from work because I passed out. I had been having issues with food making me incredibly sick and got to where I had lost a substantial amount of weight. At the hospital, I was diagnosed with SMAS. Essentially, this is very rare and basically my duodenum is blocking food from moving through due to my fat pad being gone and you throw up everything. I ended up having to have a DDJ surgery to bypass it and they took several feet of my small intestines. We thought that was going to solve the issue but that was just the beginning.
I was still extremely ill and ended up being diagnosed with severe idiopathic gastroparesis and my gall bladder needed to be removed. Gastroparesis is when your stomach stops working. I had 8% of my stomach that wasn't dead. I first had surgery to remove the gall bladder and put a gastric pacemaker in my stomach as well as a feeding tube. They ended up taking it all out several months later and I had a subtotal gastrectomy done. After healing a bit, it had helped a bit with not throwing up every 5 minutes. However, my body started going downhill and I was continuing to lose weight. I bounced around doctor after doctor for answers and help. I ended up finding out I have Hashimoto's thyroid disease which is autoimmune and really difficult to treat. I also was diagnosed with severe pancreatic insufficiency basically I can't absorb foods etc due to no enzymes to help break the food down.
During this time, my legs and feet and stomach stayed swollen apparently due to these other illnesses and my malabsorption and malnutrition issues it had caused non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. I was hospitalized to get this fluid drained. After it was drained, my weight was 83 lbs. I had to get another feeding tube. To make a long story short, I have had 3 feeding tubes and they want to put another one in and 6 other surgeries. I started going downhill again back in October. Losing weight and swelling and just not feeling well. I have been battling pneumonia since October. I am immunocompromised so my system has a hard time healing. In March of this year, I dropped and had to be taken to the hospital. I went into a coma state. I was in CCU for several days and by the grace of God got stabilized. That was caused by my thyroid. My body wasn't absorbing my medications and caused a thyroid storm. I was able to come home after they got me stable but for the most part, I have been bed bound.
My husband has been on a medical leave to take care of me for months. Unfortunately, you get no money for that. We are in a very bad way and don't have a penny to our names. We would be so incredibly thankful for any help with daily living and bills. I apologize this is so long, I was trying to explain our situation. I am essentially starving to death and back down to 80 lbs. I am supposed to be on a specific diet and haven't been able to do so due to our financial situation. I didn't tell all of the health issues but.. Essentially it has been a cascading domino effect. Again, thank you if you are able to help and if you aren't able to, prayers make all the difference in the world. Much love, please never take your health for granted.