Support My Fight Against My Multimorbidities

After coming home from NYC to Kentucky for a second time due to loss of work in the arts due to Covid-19, I decided to bring my training and love of theatre, dance, and fitness with me and branch out. I was teaching cycling classes with a large clientele, instructing with local marching bands as a visual/movement coordinator, and working with multiple theatre companies in the area as a Teaching/Guest Artist specializing in choreography, movement, direction, and acting. I used my body for everything. Little did I know I was in for a huge medical/financial wake-up call throughout the preceding years.

In the fall of 2022, I began to notice an issue with my left hip that I remembered from college but thought nothing of for many years. Rest assured, a few months later, this "issue" began to appear in my right hip as well, and I started losing copious amounts of sleep due to the pain and discomfort I was experiencing daily. By the summer of 2023, I had fully stopped cycling classes and had to pull back from many of my gigs due to said pain and the bodily restrictions that followed. After going to the hospital a few times, I was finally referred to an Orthopedic Specialist, and they diagnosed me with a bilateral version of arthritis called RDHO or Rapid Deteriorating Hip Osteoarthritis in both hips. I was told I would need my hips replaced, but the specialist stated they were too uncomfortable to do so since I was too young (at 29). They then stated they needed to put me through many tests, exams, questionnaires, medicine trials, injections, scans, and specific forms of therapy simply to prove that I wasn't making this pain up in my head.

Several months had passed, and I was on multiple medications as well as failing all of my tests and trials that were performed on my body. I was depleting funds from my savings/retirement to live off of since I wasn't able to work enough to subsidize the cost of living, and insurance was only able to cover so much. To make things harder, I began developing harsh gastrointestinal problems from the medications that led to a multitude of ER visits I simply couldn't afford. In March of 2024, I began going to the hospital and ER on the regular due to my body’s development of Pulmonary Embolisms (otherwise known as blood clots).

In the last 6 months, I have had 77 medical appointments, 7 ER visits, and 3 procedures. In hindsight, I would have had to call out of work an average of 3/4 times a week just to be seen by medical professionals. Although I’ve been unemployed full-time for longer than I would ever want, I have tried my best to show up to anything that I was able, even if it was destroying my health. I was/am stubborn enough that I’ve been willing to sacrifice my well-being to be able to afford the cost of living. I was too prideful to ask for help on any accord.

On the 4th of February of 2025, after three specialists and many medical issues later, I had my first total hip replacement surgery! A week prior to my surgery, I had a procedure where professionals installed an IVC filter into my body to help prevent extra blood clotting while in surgery. I have since been dealing with complications from that specific procedure and have to go back to the hospital to figure it out. My hip surgeon has me on standby for my second hip surgery depending on how I recover from the first. Once my second surgery heals, more professionals will step in to figure out and properly diagnose my blood and gastrointestinal issues which still cause debilitating struggles.

After a few years of extreme suffering, I am more than ready to work again and have a better sense of “normalcy” in my daily life; I have always been super active, outdoorsy, and motivated with everything I do. It humbles me to sit here and write this without getting too emotional, but I have fully swallowed my pride and am now asking for help. I am choosing to be optimistic instead of scared, and hoping that this message will reach or touch the hearts of anyone that sees and understands my situation. I have a long and expensive road ahead that seems daunting, but I will hold my chin up knowing that I have built a community of supporters that would love to help in any way that they can.

All proceeds will be and are stored in an account which I will be feeding to both Baptist Health and UK Hospitals to help cover the costs of my never-ending medical debt, surgeries, and medicines.

So with that, I say thank you in advance from the bottom of my heart.