Help Heather Janik!

If you know Heather, chances are you’ve already been touched by her kindness. You may be a child or parent at Schuylerville Elementary where Heather donates her time, a Veteran suffering from PTSD receiving free Meditation classes, a mom needing an assist or a friend in need of the uplifting support that only she can give.  What you may not know, is that while Heather has been giving to us over the years, behind the scenes she has experience devastating blows to her health. Fourteen years ago Heather was diagnosed with a type of Ulcerative Colitis that was atypical and unexpected. It had already advanced and spread to the entire colon. She did not respond to typical medical intervention which resulted in adverse reactions to medications, closer monitoring and an inability to control her painful symptoms. What followed was a host of other autoimmune diseases that she’d have to fight against including a rare incurable disease of the liver that increases her risk of terminal cancer, liver transplant, and shortened life expectancy, a devastating blow while she was preparing for emergency surgery to remove her diseased colon. The last two years have been filled with countless trips to the ER, ambulance rides to Albany Med and St. Peters, and being informed twice by Drs. that had she had waited any longer she would have died. Septic Shock the first time, and more recently, a post surgical complication causing her intestines to twist and seal themselves. By the time they operated her abdominal cavity was filled with blood, stool and a life threatening infection.

If you know Heather, you know she is more comfortable with giving help than receiving.  After much encouragement, we helped her to see there are a group of people that want to help. I have no doubt she is already contemplating ways to pay this forward. 

So here we are, on Heathers behalf, reaching out for your help.  If you would like to donate to someone that truly works hard to help herself, this is it.  If you are looking to help a person that is truly selfless, this is it.  If you want to help support a single mother of three that really IS that amazing mother you see on Facebook?? THIS IS IT!

Here’s what she needs

Heather needs to heal; her disease is aggravated by stress which further reduces her immune system. If we could raise enough to help cover the bills that go well beyond what she receives in child support, she can rest easy and give her body the time it needs to heal. Expenses include heat, electricity, car insurance, trash pickup, sewer and water, health Insurance for her and three kids, medical supplies, prescriptions, endless co-pays and a growing tally of out of pocket medical expenses.

Heather has big plans for the future, but the one that keeps her from giving in to this disease is to be well enough to raise her children the way she always has, and if we can give her the ability to help those kids become even half the person she is, we have made a difference.

 Heathers parents, siblings and her “Tribe”, thank you for your support.

With Love,

Team Heather