Update: Sally is out of hospital and beginning her road to recovery. Please see her latest video update below.

We are raising funds to support a beautiful woman’s incredible chance and possibility for healing. Sally Ross will be undergoing a rare abdominal neurosurgery on June 7th in Connecticut, after finally receiving a diagnosis that explains her 30-year journey with severe and unrelenting neuropathic pain. Surgeons who can perform this intervention are few in number, and there are no Canadian doctors able to help. Donations will contribute to the high cost of out-of-country medical care.

Sally’s Story:

Sally remembers waking up with her pain, literally from one day to the next in the fall of 1995, with the feeling that something had broken in her nervous system. Her pain is experienced as rapidly shooting electrical impulses that begin in her upper stomach and ascend into her brain causing excruciating forehead and eye pain. She has hardly ever known eating or drinking without pain, she needs to lie down icing her head often for hours of the day, and it has become hard for her to even take in deep breaths.

Sally has never found sustained relief from her pain and its accompanying chronic exhaustion, though she has remained passionately devoted to finding her way to healing and quality of life. Four years ago, with her life experience and knowledge Sally became an Integrative Health Coach, because she believes her purpose is to support others in their unique aspirations for greater wellness and vitality. She has been a highly attuned, skilled and compassionate practitioner for the clients she has worked with, but she is now consumed with the disabling reality of her condition.

While Sally’s capacity to endure her suffering has been remarkable, simply being alive has become unbearable for her. Recently, she began to initiate discussions with her doctor about her eligibility for Medical Assistance and Dying (MAID).

Reason for Hope:

Through a serendipitous a counter with a patient in the ER in February, Sally learned of a very rare condition caused by a misalignment of the Medial Arcuate Ligament. This tiny ligament is part of the diaphragm and crosses over the celiac artery, which supplies blood to the abdominal organs. Wrapped around the artery where the ligament crosses is the most dense and complex bundle of nerves in our bodies, the celiac plexus. Even in allopathic medicine, this nerve cluster is referred to as the “solar plexus” for good reason. It is a powerful generator and transmitter of electrical information in the body!

In 2018, Sally received a temporary nerve block anaesthetic injection into her celiac plexus; this procedure stopped her pain in its tracks for a day, including her debilitating head and eye pain. At that time, she was told there was no permanent solution, so she continued her search for relief through many other diverse forms of treatment and therapy. It has taken so long to get here, but she has finally uncovered an answer that can lead to becoming free from the agony.

The synchronicity at the ER arose when Sally gently reached out to a patient near her in the waiting room who was lying down in deep distress. She asked: “Would it help you to feel more grounded and connected if I put my hand on your shoulder? If it is comfortable for you, I am happy to support.” After the woman accepted the gesture, Sally learned from her about a syndrome that almost no medical doctor has even heard of, and it is what she has been living with all along. Medial Arcuate Ligament Syndrome (MALS) results in life-altering symptoms over time because the ligament is misplaced and compressing down on the celiac artery and plexus.

Finding the Needle in the Haystack:

Typically in MALS, the artery compression from the ligament causes restriction of blood flow. These patients suffer chronic nausea and vomiting, which Sally does not. Imaging results in Canada showed normal artery function. She received her diagnosis of neurological or “neurogenic” MALS on May 1st from a highly specialized US doctor who is a vascular surgeon but also an expert in the neuropathic aspects of MALS. He reviewed the imaging scans to confirm she has “MALS anatomy.” This refers to her diaphragm sitting too low in her body and the involvement of the medial arcuate ligament, creating a situation of entrapment of the nerve plexus. Sally may have been born with this abnormality.

Sally’s celiac plexus is severely damaged, though the extent of the inflammation and its impacts in her abdomen cannot be known until the surgeon operates. It will be an open surgery to remove the ligament and the plexus, and the surgeon will also reshape a part of Sally’s diaphragm so that it can no longer cause compression to the area. She will be required to stay in Connecticut for three weeks. Surprisingly and luckily, following the months of time it takes to heal from the major surgery, most patients who undergo this intervention do not suffer from long-term complications!

Gratitude for Donor Support:

Sally’s parents have been undyingly committed to their daughter’s search for answers and reprieve over the past three decades, and she doesn’t want them to bear the high financial burden alone. Of the four Canadian vascular surgeons known to have the ability to treat MALS, Sally would be unable to receive a diagnosis or treatment from them with a purely neurological manifestation of the syndrome. She has the best chance of success under the care of the Connecticut-based specialist, and it can all happen just in time, as her strength is rapidly waning with each day that passes. As you can imagine, she is counting down the days until June 7th!

Sally is deeply loved by those who are privileged to know her and is a bright light in her community. We all wish for her to be alive for a promising future. Your contributions—no matter how small or big—will help uplift Sally’s true path to recovery. This rare and complex surgery is the biggest step in our brave friend’s journey of hope to experience what it is like to enjoy natural comfort in her body and begin to fulfill her highest potential.

We hope Sally’s story will move and inspire! Contributors will be kept informed along the way about how Sally progresses through this chapter of her release and healing.

** US-based donors, please note for your consideration that this campaign is in Canadian funds. Thank you.