At 13 Joana was diagnosed with an auto immune disease called Polyarteritis nodosa, it is a rare disease that results from blood vessel inflammation ("vasculitis") causing Subcutaneous nodules all over her body, nausea, vomiting, swelling and also causing injury to her organ systems. She was just starting high school when this happened so it took a toll on her teenage years, she was unable to finish high school because the disease took over her whole life. She was treated at the hospital for sick kids until the age of 19. 
Then at the age of 22 was diagnosed with Retroperitoneal fibrosis (ureter blockage in her left kidney).This rare disorder occurs when fibrous tissue grows in the area behind the abdomen. The fibers block the ureter causing urine to back up into the kidney, causing her kidney to stop functioning for awhile by the time the doctors were able to go in and unblock the ureter the kidney was already damaged. She had 2 surgeries which one was a Ureteral Reimplantation. Since then she has had decreased function in her left kidney causing many infections and many hospital visits and a lot of suffering.
At the age of 25 she had her first son in which changed her life very much and made her extremely happy since she was told at a very young age she had Polycystic ovarian syndrome and wouldn’t be able to have children.
The years that followed she still suffered constantly with her kidney problem plus her auto immune issues started coming up again.
At the age of 29 she had her second baby which was a girl another miracle for her.
But unfortunately a month and a half after she had her little girl she was hospitalized for almost 2 weeks with liver issues and from there everything just got worse. She started having nausea, vomiting, high fevers, chills, body swelling, migraines, loss of feeling in parts of her body, exhaustion, unable to get out of bed and much more. With all this it caused her to start having major anxiety and depression. She started seeing a doctor at Mount Sinai specializing in rheumatology and Vasculitis.
Within this time they found a mass in her lower abdominal wall causing a lot of pain, nausea, vomiting, swelling, fevers and causing her not to be able to walk, sit, stand and basically do any type of moving. She then had to to have surgery to have it removed but do to the damage had to have a full hysterectomy.
Well her rheumatological issues started coming up again and really making life even harder causing her to have to get a walker and a special bed to help her be able to live comfortably.
Through all this time there life has been so hard unable to go out and do anything with their children, family and friends. Also causing her husband to miss many many days of work to fake care of her and the kids and go to appointments and spend days in emergency. This has impacted their life significantly financially, they are unable to pay their bills, rent and at times the basic necessities for them and their kids.
She has now been diagnosed with an auto immune disorder and Lupus and has now been put on Immunosuppressants to try and help her. But these drugs make her feel horrible and are also weakening her immune system which makes her very susceptible to catch any types of illnesses and sicknesses so she is now home bound and unable to go anywhere.
They have struggled so much over the last 4 years and now their landlord has decided to put the home they are living in for sale so they need to find a new place to live but with no money and being so behind on their bills and everything else they are in a really bad situation and just overwhelmed with everything. She spends her days just crying because she just doesn’t know what to do anymore. 

It has been a very long journey for Joana but even  through all of these tough medical diagnosis she has always been a person to put others needs before her own. She is the kind of person who will put her needs aside if you need help and do anything in her power to help you. It has now reached a point where she needs help to be able to support her and her family during this tough time in her life. She is a loving, caring , hard working, amazing mother/wife/sister/daughter/friend and deserves as much help at this time to help support the most important things in her life , HER FAMILY. Anything you can donate at this point would be really appreciated to make her family and her life a little easier at this time.