Support Sarah's Endometriosis Surgery
Donation protected
Hello, my name is Adriane, I am a friend of Sarah's and this is her story:
Sarah is desperate for something, anything to change. The Canadian medical system doesn't seem to have the answer or the solution for what's been making her progressively sicker for the past 7 years. She just wants some kind of "normalcy" back into her life, so she can focus on being a mom, partner, friend, healthcare worker and a valued, contributing member of the community. Sarah's story began with a swollen abdomen and severe, prolonged pain that led to a number of different diagnoses and attempts at treatment which have included:
Many failed medications (some of which caused horrible side effects like severe depression, weight gain and fainting)
Multiple appointments with different specialists
Multiple visits to the ER
Diet changes including fodmap, keto and others
Yoga, physiotherapy, acupuncture, acupressure, a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, energy healers, psychic, meditation, therapy, trauma therapy, prolotherapy, trigger point injections and lidocaine Injections
She's tried chiropractors and naturopathic care, but had to give these up because she couldn't afford the ongoing cost of treatments
She has been in St. Paul's Hospital pain support group, BC Women's Hospital pain clinic and thorugh their courses and is currently a St. Paul's IV Pain Clinic patient.
Every doctor or healer or therapist Sarah visited, was only able to diagnose the part that they themselves could fix and nobody brought up Endometriosis, which is what this mystery illness has finally been diagnosed as Sarah researched the symptoms herself, talked to others suffering the same symptoms, and asked her doctor for a referral to a gynecologist. The gynecologist immediately diagnosed Sarah's "mystery illness" as Endometriosis. Her gyn agreed that Sarah should have been diagnosed earlier, but this affliction is not yet widely known to medical practitioners. (Definition of Endometriosis here).
Unfortunately, the BC Women's Hospital's Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis Clinic will not accept Sarah as a patient because she has other issues causing her chronic pain. Sarah also doesn't want multiple surgeries (she needs her gallbladder out plus a hysterectomy). So that would be THREE surgeries she'd have to endure in Canada, even if she can finally get the Endometriosis surgery approved. Or, she can go to Bucharest, Romania and they can do it all with one hospital visit, one operation and one recovery period.
The world's most renowned Endometriosis specialists practice at the Bucharest Endometriosis Center, with their leading practitioner being Dr Gabriel Mitroi. In Canada, women can have a number of surgeries (after waiting years for a consultation), only to have doctors miss patches of growth. Bucharest has advanced methods of finding and excising Endometriosis growth, resulting in women feeling much better after only one surgery.
It's really the only option left.
The booking process for the Bucharest Endometriosis Clinic bucarestendometriosiscenter.com ) is simple. Sarah has already emailed them her history, and after the Clinic reviews various reports and scans, booking is usually within two months. Sarah mentioned to me, "The idea that I could potentially be pain free or at least in less pain in just a couple months is mind blowing for me. All I have to do is come up with this money, without help from my family who just do not have the means and without help from the government. I have had to give up my teaching job, then with another health decline in May I had to give up my job as a medical office assistant to four neurologists. I have not had any income since September, when my medical EI ran out. My hope is that after the surgeries I need (hysterectomy, lap, Endo excision and gall bladder surgery), I will be able to feel better than I am. These days I am in bed with the heating pad, or in the bath. I currently use a walker for walking more than a block and doing much more than that can cause a flare in pain and swelling. "
Sarah's painting viscerally describe how she feels most days: https://imgur.com/a/56U7uKW
Please help us raise $15,000 so that Sarah can finally get the help she so desperately needs.
Here is a basic break down on costs, based on what other Canadian women have paid to travel and obtain this life-saving surgery.
Airfare Vancouver to Bucharest: $2,600 (Sarah's partner Brook is her primary caregiver and will take care of her once she is out of surgery)
Pre-flight COVID Test: approximately $250 per person
Airbnb for 14-21 nights: $1000 (Airbnb is cheaper than a hotel)
XRay/Lab Work: $125
MRI: $575
Hospital Bills for Surgery: $3000-$7000
Post Op Prescriptions: $130
Pre-flight COVID Tests for Return Terip: $60
Plus Miscellaneous Expenses for Food/Cab/Uber/Delivery/Cell phone or SIM/bandages/pads/robe/necessities
Fundraising Goal: $15,000.00 +/-
In Sarah's words: "I've been so close to ending things so many times due to pain and hopelessness, I would like to end that for other women as well. It's taken 6.5 years to diagnose this because I was told I just have bad periods and cramps."
Part of Sarah's Research:
Sarah asked women in a social media Endometriosis group about their experiences with this Endo surgery in Bucharest. Here are some of their responses.
"My turning point was that I only had 3 to 5 good days a month and my Canadian surgeon booked me in his 2-year wait list. My husband was very supportive, he's always been. My mom was concerned and had many question, most of them of safety in the country and travel during a pandemic, I traveled on November 2020. I had to travel alone because of that. I had been reading about Dr Mitroi and other surgeons but never considered an option until I saw 2-year extremely painful waiting, to be honest, I didn't see my self making it to the end of the wait. I contacted other women that had surgery with him had calls and felt it was right, I could answer all of my mother's questions for her to not to worry. In the meanwhile I wrote to him, his communication flow is nothing like I have ever seen, he answers emails in a matter of hours, and validates you immediately. My husband and I had been saving for our home downtown payment, we use it for my trip. I had also hysto fir adeno. And had a pretty good recovery. Reach out if you need to talk."
"My endo has gotten to the point where I can’t work, and I find it difficult to function. I can’t handle the wait list for Canada — and knowing that I have endo on my bowels, bladder and possibly thoracic endo makes me fear that a Canadian doctor won’t solve my problems."
"In my opinion you simply can not find the level of experience or care in Ontario that I was able to find in Dr. Mitroi. These type of surgeries are his focus and all he does day in and day out. My surgeon at Mt. Sinai did not inspire the confidence nor precision that I was looking for in a surgeon. I look at it as if you were going to a cancer surgery would you trust a small regional hospital or go to a world leading cancer centre? My husband came with me to Romania in September, no issues traveling during the pandemic. He and the rest of my family have been extremely supportive and patient with me over the past 8 years and just really wanted me to find the best care. I took 8 weeks off of work, I think I would have felt well enough to return sooner (probably 4-6 weeks) but my husband contracted covid and passed it onto me so that slowed my post surgical heal down by a few weeks. The financial aspect was very reasonable for the level and standard of care you get (I was also doing consultations in the US so this was like a drop in the bucket comparatively). Dr. Mitroi excised stage 4 endo, a number of large endometriomas, bowel recession, partial bladder cystectomy, unreleased kissing ovaries (the are still functional in in tact), frozen pelvis, and diaphragm nodules. Traveling to Romania and having him perform my surgery was the best decision I’ve made. I wouldn’t change a thing if I had to do it over again!"
"For me it was when I just got so fed up with the medical system and our choice of drs here. I had been bumped from dr to dr and my last option was very dismissive of my pain and extremely uncaring. I did not feel safe with him. I had previously traveled to another province for surgery and so I felt like I had no more options in Canada. I guess you could say I was desperate, but I'm so glad that I looked into other countries!"
"My family and friends were very supportive, my husband especially because I wouldn't have been able to do it without him. He saw more than anybody too how bad I was. I also have no job due to Endo - so it's all him financially. We had just finished paying off a personal loan that we had taken out when he was in school and are in good standing with our bank so we talked about that, but our GoFundMe did much better than we thought so didn't actually have to take out a loan. I highly recommend a GoFundMe campaign as you never know where that will go. Even if you raise very little, every bit helps. When I talked to people I actually found a few of them also know people who have travelled to Romania and elsewhere in Europe for back surgeries and such too."
"I had a hysterectomy and excision for stage 2. Dr. Mitroi said my surgery was very difficult, but successful! I stayed for 11 days post op and that was perfect for me. I actually felt in so much less pain and more mobile traveling home than to Romania. I didn't need my cane anymore, but still got wheelchairs in airports, which I highly recommend, as there is a lot of walking and you can't carry anything for a while post op."
"It is a very personal decision to go or not to go and there are a lot of factors, especially financial involved, but I can't help feel like shouting to every Endo patient I hear "Just go to Romania!" For me, it's the best decision I could have made in regards to my endo/adeno care. About Dr. Mitroi I can honestly say I love that man!"
"Hi! My turning point was when I was being in pain 3 weeks on 4 and when I realized that I would never get proper care in Canada."
"I’m so glad I didn’t do my surgery here in Canada even if I had to wait and fight to get, the level of knowledge is not comparable. I think doctors here would have done more bad than good. I had endo stage 4 affecting several organs, bilateral endometriomas, I required bowel resection and hysterectomy for adenomyosis. None of the doctors I saw here in Canada would have known how to excise and properly operate on my…"
"I’m on week 6th after my surgery, honestly I thought my recovery would be faster. At the same time having had a major surgery, my recovery is going pretty well, no complications it’s just slow. I planning to go back to work only 12 weeks after my surgery."
"Hi Sarah, It was the hardest decision! I’m fiercely independent and hate asking for help, my sister who is my everything gently encouraged me, and offered to set up an go fund me for me. It still took me weeks to decide for sure, and she also encouraged me because endo is so misunderstood to write a short paragraph about what I was experiencing (stage 4 endo, going for hysterectomy and excision). We met the ask within a few days, it was extremely emotional receiving so much generous kindness and support from friends, acquaintances and even some strangers. I’m soooo glad we did this, it took a layer of stress away, but it is hard, I was swamped with lots of insecurities about why should I ask my friends to pay for my health care, feelings of worth. I hope this helps, so glad we did it. My surgery that should have happened in summer of 2021 is now delayed indefinitely, found out late august, because of 4th wave backlog. This is why we decided to go, my life matters, my quality of life matters, and dr M can provide timely care so I can start to get my life back. Hope this helps! Oh, and we booked the surgery first, then did fundraiser once we had details."
Many failed medications (some of which caused horrible side effects like severe depression, weight gain and fainting)
Multiple appointments with different specialists
Multiple visits to the ER
Diet changes including fodmap, keto and others
Yoga, physiotherapy, acupuncture, acupressure, a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, energy healers, psychic, meditation, therapy, trauma therapy, prolotherapy, trigger point injections and lidocaine Injections
She's tried chiropractors and naturopathic care, but had to give these up because she couldn't afford the ongoing cost of treatments
She has been in St. Paul's Hospital pain support group, BC Women's Hospital pain clinic and thorugh their courses and is currently a St. Paul's IV Pain Clinic patient.
Every doctor or healer or therapist Sarah visited, was only able to diagnose the part that they themselves could fix and nobody brought up Endometriosis, which is what this mystery illness has finally been diagnosed as Sarah researched the symptoms herself, talked to others suffering the same symptoms, and asked her doctor for a referral to a gynecologist. The gynecologist immediately diagnosed Sarah's "mystery illness" as Endometriosis. Her gyn agreed that Sarah should have been diagnosed earlier, but this affliction is not yet widely known to medical practitioners. (Definition of Endometriosis here).
Unfortunately, the BC Women's Hospital's Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis Clinic will not accept Sarah as a patient because she has other issues causing her chronic pain. Sarah also doesn't want multiple surgeries (she needs her gallbladder out plus a hysterectomy). So that would be THREE surgeries she'd have to endure in Canada, even if she can finally get the Endometriosis surgery approved. Or, she can go to Bucharest, Romania and they can do it all with one hospital visit, one operation and one recovery period.
The world's most renowned Endometriosis specialists practice at the Bucharest Endometriosis Center, with their leading practitioner being Dr Gabriel Mitroi. In Canada, women can have a number of surgeries (after waiting years for a consultation), only to have doctors miss patches of growth. Bucharest has advanced methods of finding and excising Endometriosis growth, resulting in women feeling much better after only one surgery.
It's really the only option left.
The booking process for the Bucharest Endometriosis Clinic bucarestendometriosiscenter.com ) is simple. Sarah has already emailed them her history, and after the Clinic reviews various reports and scans, booking is usually within two months. Sarah mentioned to me, "The idea that I could potentially be pain free or at least in less pain in just a couple months is mind blowing for me. All I have to do is come up with this money, without help from my family who just do not have the means and without help from the government. I have had to give up my teaching job, then with another health decline in May I had to give up my job as a medical office assistant to four neurologists. I have not had any income since September, when my medical EI ran out. My hope is that after the surgeries I need (hysterectomy, lap, Endo excision and gall bladder surgery), I will be able to feel better than I am. These days I am in bed with the heating pad, or in the bath. I currently use a walker for walking more than a block and doing much more than that can cause a flare in pain and swelling. "
Sarah's painting viscerally describe how she feels most days: https://imgur.com/a/56U7uKW
Please help us raise $15,000 so that Sarah can finally get the help she so desperately needs.
Here is a basic break down on costs, based on what other Canadian women have paid to travel and obtain this life-saving surgery.
Airfare Vancouver to Bucharest: $2,600 (Sarah's partner Brook is her primary caregiver and will take care of her once she is out of surgery)
Pre-flight COVID Test: approximately $250 per person
Airbnb for 14-21 nights: $1000 (Airbnb is cheaper than a hotel)
XRay/Lab Work: $125
MRI: $575
Hospital Bills for Surgery: $3000-$7000
Post Op Prescriptions: $130
Pre-flight COVID Tests for Return Terip: $60
Plus Miscellaneous Expenses for Food/Cab/Uber/Delivery/Cell phone or SIM/bandages/pads/robe/necessities
Fundraising Goal: $15,000.00 +/-
In Sarah's words: "I've been so close to ending things so many times due to pain and hopelessness, I would like to end that for other women as well. It's taken 6.5 years to diagnose this because I was told I just have bad periods and cramps."
Part of Sarah's Research:
Sarah asked women in a social media Endometriosis group about their experiences with this Endo surgery in Bucharest. Here are some of their responses.
"My turning point was that I only had 3 to 5 good days a month and my Canadian surgeon booked me in his 2-year wait list. My husband was very supportive, he's always been. My mom was concerned and had many question, most of them of safety in the country and travel during a pandemic, I traveled on November 2020. I had to travel alone because of that. I had been reading about Dr Mitroi and other surgeons but never considered an option until I saw 2-year extremely painful waiting, to be honest, I didn't see my self making it to the end of the wait. I contacted other women that had surgery with him had calls and felt it was right, I could answer all of my mother's questions for her to not to worry. In the meanwhile I wrote to him, his communication flow is nothing like I have ever seen, he answers emails in a matter of hours, and validates you immediately. My husband and I had been saving for our home downtown payment, we use it for my trip. I had also hysto fir adeno. And had a pretty good recovery. Reach out if you need to talk."
"My endo has gotten to the point where I can’t work, and I find it difficult to function. I can’t handle the wait list for Canada — and knowing that I have endo on my bowels, bladder and possibly thoracic endo makes me fear that a Canadian doctor won’t solve my problems."
"In my opinion you simply can not find the level of experience or care in Ontario that I was able to find in Dr. Mitroi. These type of surgeries are his focus and all he does day in and day out. My surgeon at Mt. Sinai did not inspire the confidence nor precision that I was looking for in a surgeon. I look at it as if you were going to a cancer surgery would you trust a small regional hospital or go to a world leading cancer centre? My husband came with me to Romania in September, no issues traveling during the pandemic. He and the rest of my family have been extremely supportive and patient with me over the past 8 years and just really wanted me to find the best care. I took 8 weeks off of work, I think I would have felt well enough to return sooner (probably 4-6 weeks) but my husband contracted covid and passed it onto me so that slowed my post surgical heal down by a few weeks. The financial aspect was very reasonable for the level and standard of care you get (I was also doing consultations in the US so this was like a drop in the bucket comparatively). Dr. Mitroi excised stage 4 endo, a number of large endometriomas, bowel recession, partial bladder cystectomy, unreleased kissing ovaries (the are still functional in in tact), frozen pelvis, and diaphragm nodules. Traveling to Romania and having him perform my surgery was the best decision I’ve made. I wouldn’t change a thing if I had to do it over again!"
"For me it was when I just got so fed up with the medical system and our choice of drs here. I had been bumped from dr to dr and my last option was very dismissive of my pain and extremely uncaring. I did not feel safe with him. I had previously traveled to another province for surgery and so I felt like I had no more options in Canada. I guess you could say I was desperate, but I'm so glad that I looked into other countries!"
"My family and friends were very supportive, my husband especially because I wouldn't have been able to do it without him. He saw more than anybody too how bad I was. I also have no job due to Endo - so it's all him financially. We had just finished paying off a personal loan that we had taken out when he was in school and are in good standing with our bank so we talked about that, but our GoFundMe did much better than we thought so didn't actually have to take out a loan. I highly recommend a GoFundMe campaign as you never know where that will go. Even if you raise very little, every bit helps. When I talked to people I actually found a few of them also know people who have travelled to Romania and elsewhere in Europe for back surgeries and such too."
"I had a hysterectomy and excision for stage 2. Dr. Mitroi said my surgery was very difficult, but successful! I stayed for 11 days post op and that was perfect for me. I actually felt in so much less pain and more mobile traveling home than to Romania. I didn't need my cane anymore, but still got wheelchairs in airports, which I highly recommend, as there is a lot of walking and you can't carry anything for a while post op."
"It is a very personal decision to go or not to go and there are a lot of factors, especially financial involved, but I can't help feel like shouting to every Endo patient I hear "Just go to Romania!" For me, it's the best decision I could have made in regards to my endo/adeno care. About Dr. Mitroi I can honestly say I love that man!"
"Hi! My turning point was when I was being in pain 3 weeks on 4 and when I realized that I would never get proper care in Canada."
"I’m so glad I didn’t do my surgery here in Canada even if I had to wait and fight to get, the level of knowledge is not comparable. I think doctors here would have done more bad than good. I had endo stage 4 affecting several organs, bilateral endometriomas, I required bowel resection and hysterectomy for adenomyosis. None of the doctors I saw here in Canada would have known how to excise and properly operate on my…"
"I’m on week 6th after my surgery, honestly I thought my recovery would be faster. At the same time having had a major surgery, my recovery is going pretty well, no complications it’s just slow. I planning to go back to work only 12 weeks after my surgery."
"Hi Sarah, It was the hardest decision! I’m fiercely independent and hate asking for help, my sister who is my everything gently encouraged me, and offered to set up an go fund me for me. It still took me weeks to decide for sure, and she also encouraged me because endo is so misunderstood to write a short paragraph about what I was experiencing (stage 4 endo, going for hysterectomy and excision). We met the ask within a few days, it was extremely emotional receiving so much generous kindness and support from friends, acquaintances and even some strangers. I’m soooo glad we did this, it took a layer of stress away, but it is hard, I was swamped with lots of insecurities about why should I ask my friends to pay for my health care, feelings of worth. I hope this helps, so glad we did it. My surgery that should have happened in summer of 2021 is now delayed indefinitely, found out late august, because of 4th wave backlog. This is why we decided to go, my life matters, my quality of life matters, and dr M can provide timely care so I can start to get my life back. Hope this helps! Oh, and we booked the surgery first, then did fundraiser once we had details."
Co-organizers (2)
Adriane Whitlock
Organizer
Vancouver, BC
Sarah Mowat
Beneficiary
Brook Milne
Co-organizer