Tallulah's Medical & Physical Therapy Costs

Dear Friends,

Our daughter Tallulah was diagnosed with an idiopathic systemic inflammatory disease at the age of 14. Over the last nine years she has been in and out of hospitals in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, as doctors were unable to pinpoint a cause for her inflammation, give a definitive diagnosis for her condition, or find an effective treatment. Nearly a decade of experimenting with various medications and exploring different areas of immune functioning has taken a toll financially, physically, and mentally on our whole family.

In spite of dealing with severe chronic pain, unrelenting fatigue, and difficulty walking, she has managed to graduate high school and will soon get her bachelor’s degree in writing and literature.

Tallulah is currently on a promising new drug regimen to reduce her systemic inflammation. However, her pain, mobility challenges, and erosion of her joints continue. While our health insurance covers the infusions, we have struggled with covering the costs of Amtrak and Ubers needed to travel back and forth for treatments, additional doctor visits, and the extensive physical therapy that is required to maintain her overall health and mobility.

Every day Tallulah proves herself to be an extraordinarily strong young woman. She continues striving to create her visual and written art and has become a staunch advocate for the rights of differently-abled people. Please help her to keep living her best possible life.

Yours gratefully, Sheila and Karl