My Fight for Survival at 20 and Why I Need Your Help with Medical Expenses and Rent until I can get Disability Pay or Become Well Enough to Work Again

My name is Hannah Chris, and asking for help is the last thing I ever wanted to do. I’ve always tried to push through on my own; as a premature, 4lbs baby who couldn’t keep formula down, to a teen fighting for my mental health, and now as a young adult trying to build a future for myself with chronic conditions. But my health is taking that future away from me. I had to drop out of my dream college to be home for medical care. I would’ve been graduating this year with a degree in Criminology and a minor in Business had I not gotten sick.

Health Struggles That No Child Should Have Faced

Growing up, I battled more than most kids my age. I struggled with Depression, Anxiety, Childhood PTSD, OCD, ADHD, APD, and Autism. I fought every day to stay afloat, and I truly believed things would get better once I reached adulthood.

But instead of improving, everything got worse.

An Illness That Stole My Future Overnight

When I left for college, I thought it was the start of a better life. Instead, I woke up just about every morning vomiting, convinced I had some kind of never-ending food poisoning from the school food. I barely made it through one semester before I had to withdraw and return home; sick, scared, and exhausted.

Then came the waiting while living a nightmare.

Nearly a full year passed before a specialist could see me. That doctor ran test after test while I rapidly lost 100 pounds, going upwards of 32 days without being able to eat, ultimately heading toward organ failure. It took being admitted through an appointment for anyone to realize how critical things had become. By that point my condition had progressed from the medical neglect I was suffering leaving me to have to start TPN (Total Parental Nutrition or IV nutrition) and Tube feeds through a Nasal Jejunal tube (feeding tube in the nose that goes to my small intestine).

The Trials of Medical Interventions

I’ve been poked and prodded with 14 different nasal tubes (most placed awake and bedside), 8 surgical feeding tubes, and 12 central lines. The only nutrition my body has been tolerating since all of this is TPN (IV nutrition that goes straight to my heart through a central line). It’s almost been a year on it, but I still continue working on my feed rate in hopes of getting off the TPN.

A Hospitalization That Nearly Killed Me

After many long stays at my home hospital, they referred me out because they didn’t feel they could adequately handle my care anymore. I went to a teaching hospital that was recommended to me for the possibility of new treatment ideas. However, a new university doctor mishandled my care, sending me home with what turned into a life-threatening MRSA bloodstream infection. I was discharged and back in the hospital within an hour from discharge with sepsis. I had a temp of 103 degrees . I spent two months hospitalized as the infection damaged my heart, kidneys and caused dangerously high CK levels, leading to severe muscle breakdown and wasting. I ended up having to be transferred back to my home hospital just to be properly treated. That was an hour-long ambulance ride from the university hospital to a hospital closer to home. After two more weeks and being restarted on TPN I was finally discharged. Since the admission where my home hospital told me they were out of options, I’ve been in and out of the hospital and ER every few days. I’m exhausted of this never ending cycle.

Constantly Back Inpatient with Several More Medical Complications

I’ve battled sepsis twice, multiple superficial blood clots, phlebitis, near constant infection at my stoma G-tube site, extreme pain flares, multiple cases of C-diff, heart regurgitation from the MRSA attaching to my heart valve, a pulmonary embolism, multiple cases of thrust taking over my GI tract, esophageal stricters, migraines, dizzy/fainting spells, a muscle wasting disorder, persistent hypoglycemia and the pure exhaustion of all the medically necessary things I have to do every few hours just to stay alive and out of the hospital. I’m attached to an IV pole nearly 24/7, in and outpatient.

Some Health Background

I have likely had the Gastroparesis since I was born due to the fact I wasn’t able to tolerate formula as a baby. I delt with serval GI problems growing up. Almost every time I’d eat out, I used to get food poisoning leaving me sick for days. When I was a teen I used to wake up vomiting and would have times I’d have to throw up after eating lunch at school. My pediatric gastroenterologist had diagnosed me with Severe GERD and IBS. I spent most of my high school years in a homebound program through my public school because School was too much for me.

I’ve been living in chronic pain since the age of 14 when it started hurting to walk. I was a heavy sports kid and played midfeild in soccer. It required a lot of running but it was my passion. I played for 7 years. Until eventually I had to stop all sports because of the pain I was in just to get up and walk. I had a full spine MRI done by an orthopedist and learned I had developed spine problems. On top of the 2 bulging discs in my lower back and 3 degenerative disc in the middle of my back, I was told I have very weak muscles which had left me with Snapping Hip Syndrome. The combination of the spine and hip conditions had been the reason for my pain. I did years of physical therapy and different treatments but nothing truly helped so I was left to learn how to deal with the chronic pain on my own.

The Part That Crushes Me the Most

I loved working. I loved teaching preschool. Being forced onto medical leave broke me. My apartment was full of my kiddos art they’d made me. I eventually had to take it all down because it was making me cry. When I started working with kids, it woke a piece of me up. I was excited to go to work everyday and that most definitely wasn’t like me. Even while being on TPN 24/7 didn’t stop me from going to work. The more I worked the sicker I became though. I was in and out of the hospital more frequently and had been losing weight rapidly again even while being on the TPN. So in September of 2025 during the 2 month hospital stay, I left the preschool. I tried going back after coming home but I was in and out of the hospital every few days so I had to be let go. I’m determined to get well enough to return to what I love! When I was working I would have open room questions during lunch time where I’d set up my tube feeds while the kids ate. I enjoyed being able to show them that sometimes people eat and look a little differently but that doesn’t change who they are!

The Reality Of It All

I’ve now lost two jobs because of long hospital stays. I’m 20yo already fighting for my health and the ability to keep my apartment. I can’t work because I’m not medically stable enough. I can’t drive most days from low energy and glucose levels which leave me relying on door dash for things I need out. My parents are stretched impossibly thin with both my siblings. Leaving me to handle my declining health alone. My treatments, hospital stays, er visits, appointments and home care are overwhelming lonely and a financial burden.

Why I’m Asking for Help

I’m fighting every day for my life, my health, and my future. I need help paying rent, repairing my car so it can pass inspection, and covering the mountain of medical bills from years of chronic illness and emergencies.

If you can’t donate, sharing this means the world to me.

Thank you for reading my story and caring!