Hello everyone! I absolutely hate doing this, but at this point, this is my only option. Because of the severity of my EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome), and because it is a progressive chronic illness, my joints are continuing to get worse with each passing day. I have done my best to work whenever it is possible and whenever my body allows me to work, but as time goes on, my body is progressively starting to fail me. I am having over 20 joint dislocations daily, my pain has started to become too overwhelming for me to handle, and I’m just at such a loss. The biggest problem that I am having right now, and the problem that is causing me the most pain and trouble, is my jaw. There has not been one day within the past couple of months where my jaw has not caused me significant pain. As the days go on, the pain is getting worse and it’s almost unbearable at this point, which is why I’ve finally decided to try to ask for financial help so I can hopefully deal with less pain each day.

I recently went to a jaw surgeon in St. George to try to understand what is causing this pain and unfortunately, I found out that the right side of my jaw is really messed up. Because of my EDS, my jaw constantly pops in and out of place. This has been happening for years, and now it has finally caught up to me. A recent MRI that I got showed that my jaw joint is surrounded with fluid. There are also signs of infection around my jaw, as well as in my jaw joints and bones. From what they see on the scan, they also believe that I likely have some sort of autoimmune condition on top of my other illnesses, and it is likely affecting my jaw joint as well. On top of all these problems, the biggest problem and concern is that on the MRI scan and an additional X-ray, my doctors noticed that my jaw joint is almost completely worn away. There is barely anything left of it, so technically, the right side of my jaw is not connected to anything. Because of the severity of the damage, none of the jaw surgeons in St. George are willing to do surgery on me. My only option, and quite frankly the best option, is to see a surgeon in Salt Lake. I have been putting it off for a few months because of our financial situation, but it is no longer a safe option for me to do so because the infection is getting worse.

All this said, I am likely going to need a total jaw joint replacement surgery, but to do so, I am going to have to travel from Kanab to Salt Lake more times than we can afford. Unfortunately, we have to ask for help with travel expenses, hotels/Airbnb, food, etc. If any of you are able to help donate to this fund, I would be so unbelievably grateful! If you can’t donate, please share the link and post. Thank you all so much❤️