Help Kate Battle a Relapse of Lyme Disease
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Thank you for taking the time to read about my beloved daughter, Kate Blank. Kate struggled with Chronic Late-Stage Lyme disease for 3 years in her early teens. While most kids her age were going to school and enjoying their youth, Kate was bedridden and struggling for her life. Fortunately, Kate received aggressive treatment and was able to fight back and eventually achieve full remission at age 15, which would last for 7 years.
Once Kate was back on her feet, she was determined to make up for lost time and close that large gap in her education. She began attending classes at community college and secured a merit scholarship to Lewis & Clark College in Portland. To our amazement, she graduated at 22 with an impressive degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
We hoped that Kate had put the nightmare of Lyme disease behind her as she embarked on her post-college life, but it was not to be. Kate began to once again experience those same symptoms that plagued her youth. Unable to manage on her own, Kate decided to move in with me and her father, Mike Blank, in Santa Margarita, CA, allowing her to start the intense treatment for Lyme disease yet again.
Within just a few months, Kate was suffering from constant nausea, vomiting and gastrointestinal issues, resulting in malnutrition and severe weight loss. Then came the crushing fatigue, wide-spread body pain, tremors, fainting and other symptoms that make it difficult to just get out of bed.
Kate planned to travel extensively after completing college then gotten a job in her field. I’ve watched her struggle to bring some quality to her current life, but too many days are lost to just coping with her debilitating symptoms. Currently she requires a feeding tube to just get the basic necessary nutrition. She is also tethered to an IV pole much of the day for the antibiotics required to fight neurological Lyme disease and the accompanying co-infections.
As her mother, it breaks my heart to watch Kate suffer. Mike and I are doing our best to help support her recovery. Sadly, this comes at a difficult time for us. I’ve struggled with health issues of my own, leaving me unable to contribute financially. Mike worked his entire career as a legal aid lawyer helping others in the nonprofit sector. We knew our retirement years would be lean, and he planned to supplement our retirement with contract jobs. Our family has been deluged over the past ten plus years with a series of medical problems, eating into carefully planned retirement goals. Mike is working as hard as he can, at age 72, but the Mike's income is no match for the exorbitant costs of successful Lyme disease treatment. We find ourselves going deeper into debt every month as we try to staunch the decline of Kate’s health and help her begin to recover.
Health insurance companies consider long term treatment for Lyme disease to be “experimental” (even though it has proven to be effective). Very little of Kate’s treatment has been covered by insurance. This is a cruel policy that puts effective treatment beyond the financial reach of so many debilitated patients. We refuse to let Kate painfully languish untreated and will do whatever it takes to help her recover again. It is hard to ask for help. But when I look into the eyes of my only child, I see day after day being lost to coping with agonizing pain and disability. I am reaching out to you, in hopes that you will help Kate get the medical care she so desperately needs.
We have set our goal of $75,000 to help Kate recover. This amount would be used directly for medications (such as expensive intravenous antibiotics), doctor appointments, supplements and other treatments. We have a blueprint to follow – her previous successful treatment, along with years of new research in the treatment of Late-Stage Lyme disease.
Kate is such a determined young woman! Despite her discomfort, she always has a smile for her loved ones, an ability to make us laugh, and a love for all the animals she surrounds herself with. She has much to contribute to this world, but she needs your help. Please give what you can…and then pass this along, so that others can help as well. We are grateful for your help in relieving Kate’s suffering. Thank you so very much.
-Marla Lipshin (Kate’s mother)
Once Kate was back on her feet, she was determined to make up for lost time and close that large gap in her education. She began attending classes at community college and secured a merit scholarship to Lewis & Clark College in Portland. To our amazement, she graduated at 22 with an impressive degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
We hoped that Kate had put the nightmare of Lyme disease behind her as she embarked on her post-college life, but it was not to be. Kate began to once again experience those same symptoms that plagued her youth. Unable to manage on her own, Kate decided to move in with me and her father, Mike Blank, in Santa Margarita, CA, allowing her to start the intense treatment for Lyme disease yet again.
Within just a few months, Kate was suffering from constant nausea, vomiting and gastrointestinal issues, resulting in malnutrition and severe weight loss. Then came the crushing fatigue, wide-spread body pain, tremors, fainting and other symptoms that make it difficult to just get out of bed.
Kate planned to travel extensively after completing college then gotten a job in her field. I’ve watched her struggle to bring some quality to her current life, but too many days are lost to just coping with her debilitating symptoms. Currently she requires a feeding tube to just get the basic necessary nutrition. She is also tethered to an IV pole much of the day for the antibiotics required to fight neurological Lyme disease and the accompanying co-infections.
As her mother, it breaks my heart to watch Kate suffer. Mike and I are doing our best to help support her recovery. Sadly, this comes at a difficult time for us. I’ve struggled with health issues of my own, leaving me unable to contribute financially. Mike worked his entire career as a legal aid lawyer helping others in the nonprofit sector. We knew our retirement years would be lean, and he planned to supplement our retirement with contract jobs. Our family has been deluged over the past ten plus years with a series of medical problems, eating into carefully planned retirement goals. Mike is working as hard as he can, at age 72, but the Mike's income is no match for the exorbitant costs of successful Lyme disease treatment. We find ourselves going deeper into debt every month as we try to staunch the decline of Kate’s health and help her begin to recover.
Health insurance companies consider long term treatment for Lyme disease to be “experimental” (even though it has proven to be effective). Very little of Kate’s treatment has been covered by insurance. This is a cruel policy that puts effective treatment beyond the financial reach of so many debilitated patients. We refuse to let Kate painfully languish untreated and will do whatever it takes to help her recover again. It is hard to ask for help. But when I look into the eyes of my only child, I see day after day being lost to coping with agonizing pain and disability. I am reaching out to you, in hopes that you will help Kate get the medical care she so desperately needs.
We have set our goal of $75,000 to help Kate recover. This amount would be used directly for medications (such as expensive intravenous antibiotics), doctor appointments, supplements and other treatments. We have a blueprint to follow – her previous successful treatment, along with years of new research in the treatment of Late-Stage Lyme disease.
Kate is such a determined young woman! Despite her discomfort, she always has a smile for her loved ones, an ability to make us laugh, and a love for all the animals she surrounds herself with. She has much to contribute to this world, but she needs your help. Please give what you can…and then pass this along, so that others can help as well. We are grateful for your help in relieving Kate’s suffering. Thank you so very much.
-Marla Lipshin (Kate’s mother)
Organizer and beneficiary
Lucas Miller
Organizer
Santa Margarita, CA
Marla Lipshin
Beneficiary
Raised $2,850 from 12 donations
