Kickstart My Cells
Beschermde donatie
My name is Andrea (Graves)Pendar and live in Cottage Grove, MN. This year my husband Dan and I celebrated our 21st anniversary. We have two amazing daughters, as well as a fun-loving dog Olive. Alex is 17 is a senior in High School. Lauren, 15, is a sophomore.
I was diagnosed with Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis in April 2011, when I was 40 years-old. At the time I thought 'no big deal, I can handle this' and I did, taking it all in stride. However, over the past couple of years I have experienced increased disabilities which have proven that my MS is becoming very difficult to handle. Last summer I took advantage of the state of the art medical care at the nearby Mayo Clinic to see if they could offer a different path for me to take to manage this disease. The outcome was a diagnosis of Secondary Progressive MS (which is the typical progression of the disease for some individuals) but beyond that, the doctors could do nothing to help me.
In January of this year a 60 Minutes story about an Australian woman popped up on my Facebook feed. She had a little known procedure to stop her MS progression. I was so intrigued after watching this, I spent the next couple months researching the procedure, reading the blogs of other MSers who also had the procedure, and joining a Facebook forum to learn all I could. That video may have changed my life.
For me, the most frightening vision of the future is having my rewarding career as a Parent Educator cut short; not being able to enjoy family vacations because of my limitations; not being able to walk down the aisle at my daughters' weddings; being afraid to pick up my future grandchildren because of my unsteadyness; and missing out on all the adventures Dan and I would have in our future retirement. This is not the life I envisioned.
I know people deal with much worse tragedy everyday. However, I have a chance to take my life back and I am not letting this opportunity slip by.
On October 26, 2015, I will begin a journey to stop my MS with a stem cell transplant. The procedure is still in clinical trials in the US, but because of the certain criteria, I do not qualify. So, I will be heading to a highly reputable clinic in Puebla, Mexico for an 8-week stay. The procedure is similar to that process used for decades, for cancer patients. The goal is to reset my immune system with chemotherapy to get rid of the damaging cells that are attacking my body, then returning my own harvested stem cells. The procedure has a very high success rate stopping the progression of MS as well as success reversing some existing symptoms.
The procedure, including travel, will cost approximately $60,000. I am asking for your help to raise half of the cost, because All I Want For Christmas is a Clean Immune System. With your donation we can Kickstart My Cells!
I was diagnosed with Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis in April 2011, when I was 40 years-old. At the time I thought 'no big deal, I can handle this' and I did, taking it all in stride. However, over the past couple of years I have experienced increased disabilities which have proven that my MS is becoming very difficult to handle. Last summer I took advantage of the state of the art medical care at the nearby Mayo Clinic to see if they could offer a different path for me to take to manage this disease. The outcome was a diagnosis of Secondary Progressive MS (which is the typical progression of the disease for some individuals) but beyond that, the doctors could do nothing to help me.
In January of this year a 60 Minutes story about an Australian woman popped up on my Facebook feed. She had a little known procedure to stop her MS progression. I was so intrigued after watching this, I spent the next couple months researching the procedure, reading the blogs of other MSers who also had the procedure, and joining a Facebook forum to learn all I could. That video may have changed my life.
For me, the most frightening vision of the future is having my rewarding career as a Parent Educator cut short; not being able to enjoy family vacations because of my limitations; not being able to walk down the aisle at my daughters' weddings; being afraid to pick up my future grandchildren because of my unsteadyness; and missing out on all the adventures Dan and I would have in our future retirement. This is not the life I envisioned.
I know people deal with much worse tragedy everyday. However, I have a chance to take my life back and I am not letting this opportunity slip by.
On October 26, 2015, I will begin a journey to stop my MS with a stem cell transplant. The procedure is still in clinical trials in the US, but because of the certain criteria, I do not qualify. So, I will be heading to a highly reputable clinic in Puebla, Mexico for an 8-week stay. The procedure is similar to that process used for decades, for cancer patients. The goal is to reset my immune system with chemotherapy to get rid of the damaging cells that are attacking my body, then returning my own harvested stem cells. The procedure has a very high success rate stopping the progression of MS as well as success reversing some existing symptoms.
The procedure, including travel, will cost approximately $60,000. I am asking for your help to raise half of the cost, because All I Want For Christmas is a Clean Immune System. With your donation we can Kickstart My Cells!
Organisator
Andrea Graves Pendar
Organisator
Cottage Grove, MN