Jennifer Mills #Multiple Sclerosis

I have been praying and thinking during many sleepless nights over the past year to come up with a way to financially help my sister with her ever growing pile of hospital bills related to her new diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. One morning  as I was listening to Kidd Kradick, as usual, they told a story of  a daughter -mother who was caring for her paralyzed  mother and son  and  set up a GO FUND ME account. I know that the reason 30000$ for a handicap  van was raised in 2days was because of the nation wide attention from the show but I also know  now that GO FUND ME has been successful without that attention. My  little sister is a 37 year old single mom with 2 children who was diagnosed with MS about a year ago. Her doctor bills began piling up  months prior to that . MS is difficult to diagnose because the symptoms of the disease can be very vague and can come and go. It took over a dozen visits to different doctors, scans, MRIs, Xrays and ultrasounds. When finally a neurologist did a spinal tap that verified his suspicions. Since that day her life has been a whirlwind of finding specialists, hospital stays, drug reactions and unnerving, follow up MRIs. She fortunately has an employer, that with time, has become more understanding of her many missed work days. But unfortunately, she has run out of paid vacation and sick days and has been forced to PART TIME.  She has to spend many days at work in pain to make sure there is food on the table and to keep the lights on. Eventhough she has been encouraged by many to file for disability, she refuses and pushes herself daily. 
She has insurance thru her employer, but unfortunately it has a very high deductible and out of pocket and is very very limited in what THEY consider necessary treatment. One of the reasons for this campaign is to pay for her latest MRI, where unfortunately, they found "many new" brain lesions. This 12,000$ MRI was NOT covered by her insurance, eventhough, it was necessary to determine treatment. She will require more MRIs in the near future but if this one is not paid for it is likely this facility will refuse to do another one. There are many different places that do MRIs but this facility specializes in MS and has proven their exceptional ability when compared to her past MRIs done at other facilities. MS is not curable but with treatment such as solumedrol, which is a powerful IV steroid, it can help reduce/manage symptoms. She had to have 2 rounds of IV solumedrol last year and that alone was over $17,000. She is currently on a daily subq injection of a medication that is supposed to slow the process of this disease and help with the everyday struggle to maintain focus, clarity, strength, faith, balance. Because there were several new lesions on the latest MRI it is obvious this drug is no longer effective.  Now the next step is a weekly IV drug that has chemo-like side effects.  It is already hard for her to stay focused and keep strong. Even if the new medication works the side effects are going to be more challenging. Everything about her makes people want to help her. She is very very outgoing and never meets a stranger . In fact a QUICK trip to WalMart is everything but that. She will spend 1 hour shopping and 3 hours running into people she knows. She has the ability to never forget a face or a name. She ALWAYS gives more than she receives and even though she can barely afford to feed herself, she never turns down an unwanted animal. She has always been involved with her kids school and sports and over volunteers but has always managed  to get it all done. Now, unfortunately, she can no longer attend her childrens games if they are outside in the heat. Over exposure to heat is the absolute worst thing you can do with MS. 
As a big sister I am responsible for taking care of her. I can not do it alone, which breaks my heart on a daily basis. So I am asking/begging for help from her's and my friends.  Every penny counts!