WILL YOU HELP US, PLEASE ?

                  
                       Our family needs your help! 
 ___________(Ellis, Kirkpatrick, Saucke, Lane)____________ 
                            
My name is Camden. I'm 13 yrs. old. My  little sister, Kyla Janay, is 5.  We're asking for your help.

 Our mom  (Margo Ellis) recently found out her health problems were caused by  Lyme Disease. She has been trying to figure it out for years  and now she finally knows. Because she has likely had it since before we were born,  my sister and I  were both born with the disease (passed on through the placenta) & we all need treatment for it.  

Insurance WILL  NOT cover chronic  Lyme Disease
treatment - it's the ONLY chronic disease they will NOT pay for. (Mom said that insurance covers every other disease, like  the Zika  virus,  diabetes, cancer, MS ,  AIDS and other chronic illnesses, but not this one.) That doesn't seem fair. 

Our Dad & Mom work really hard to pay all our bills.  (Daddy is a former Marine who works at the VA hospital in Des Moines.) Nana & Papa (Jeff & Nicolette (Niki) Saucke Lane) help us out too, but it's really expensive.  That's why our Nana & Papa said they  would help us set up a Go-Fund-Me page so we could all get some help.

 That's not all  though - not only do the 3 of us have this disease /various co-infections, but a total of 6 people in  our family ALL have been diagnosed with it.  NANA  & PAPA  BOTH have it, too, and so does our UNCLE  - it can be passed down from parent to child, and that is probably what happened in our family.  Nana and Papa had it for a long time and when Nana got really sick, no Dr.  could figure out what was wrong, so  it was likely passed  down to our mom (Margo Ellis) and our uncle (Monte Lane) when they were born, and now it's passed on to us, too. Dad is the only one who doesn't have it. 

Nana has now had  to quit her teaching  job because she got so bad.  Uncle Monte can only work part-time - he and Nana both have some really  awful days.  The rest of us have some rough days, too, but  they  have it the worst so far. We are learning it can affect everyone differently and sometimes it can even be dormant for awhile. 

We don't understand why most doctors  can't treat people with chronic Lyme. Nana said it's hard to understand - she doesn't understand it either, except that it has to do with money that insurance companies would have to pay and they don't want to do that. (They have  a powerful lobbying group.)

 Nana had been sick for years and went to many different Drs. (including Iowa City and Mayo Clinic) who could not identify it. Finally she went out-of-state to a specialist in Colorado, trained in Lyme Disease, who finally figured it out. Eventually (2007) she was very sick and had to have a pic line & a port put in & a nurse come to the house to help her for awhile.  

 Eventually she was able to go back to work -she loves teaching - but she just can't do it any more. She needs treatment again. Once Lyme disease becomes  chronic, it can just be managed - not cured.  Nana & Papa want to make sure the rest of us don't get that bad.  While antibiotics work for some people, especially if used early on in treating Lyme, for others, the only other option is using integrative treatment - not covered either by insurance. When you're sick, you'll try anything, even if it costs every penny you have. We've had some treatment already, but it isn't enough yet. We're trying to be brave about it!   

 Nana  always says that bad things happen to good people all the time in this world and that"LIFE  ISN'T  ABOUT  WHAT  HAPPENS  TO  YOU  - IT'S  ABOUT  WHAT  YOU  DO  WITH  WHAT  HAPPENS  TO  YOU!"  That's why she keeps a good attitude and does her best to be happy and grateful  every single day, no matter how she feels! She doesn't like talking about it and thinking about it too much. The rest of us are trying to be like that, too!  She says that The Lord will provide for us all, even IF it means going out-of-state again for treatment!

  Six people, all in our family....


Uncle Monte had been to many Drs. and was having lots of problems with his health. He went to Illinois a couple years ago for some special IV treatment.   Finally he was correctly diagnoised and now needs more treatment that we hope will begin soon. Even though he can't work full-time, he works really hard, even on days he doesn't feel good. 

Uncle Monte & Nana are the worst in our family:  eye problems, migraines,  debilitating joint/ muscle pain, heart palpations, chills/ sweats, encephalitis, cognitive dysfunction, short-term memory loss, vomiting, sleeping problems, and other things.  (Symptoms  mimiced MS, ALS,  Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and similar diseases,)  

  So far, monthly treatments (see picture below) have ranged from $500 - $1800 PER PERSON!
That's a lot of money in medicines that insurance won't cover.

If any of us have to go out of state to a special Dr. again (Nana & Uncle Monte are looking into that now) the costs are much higher.  Lyme specialists (there are none in Iowa) charge $500 +,  just for the initial appointment, and then the assessment & work up on top of that, and that is after a possible wait time of up to 5-6 mon. to get in to some of them.  Specific blood tests sent to the IGenX  lab for Lyme testing (which have to be paid for up-front) can easily run from $500 - $1000 per person, and that is just the basic test. More specific testing for co-infections are additional. We are praying we don't have to do lots of blood tests, but Nana & Papa say health IS everything and they will find a way to do that for any of us that need it. They sure love us!  

Our dream is to send our Uncle Monte to a medical facility that specializes in detoxing the poisons from his body. Based on tests, he has life-threatening problems with his liver, thyroid, & adrenals. These clinics are expensive (so our goal needed to be raised)                              cost = $40,000 - $50,000. 

 Will you please help our family  with all these expenses?  If a lot of people helped out - even a little bit- it would really be a blessing to our entire family. (Any money raised will be used  to help each of us get the specific type of  treatment/care  we each need.)

                         Please help our family if you can!
PLEASE  SHARE  this  LINK with your e-mail/facebook & other friends. Maybe they would want to help us,  too.

         Donations CAN be made anonymously, IF you prefer.                     
                             Thank-you for caring about us!                                                 Camden Kirkpatrick and Kyla Ellis                                                           Mom - Margo Lane Ellis                                                             .                Uncle - Monte Lane                                         Nana & Papa - Jeff & Nicolette (Niki Saucke) Lane
                            
***********************************************************P.S. - Many people have heard of Lyme Disease, but few know much about it.  Learn about it at: 
                            http://www.mercola.com

ALSO,   watch the award--winning documentary: 
             Under Our Skin  www.underourskin.com         
It will help explain what our family is dealing with and why insurance companies do not pay for chronic Lyme treatment.
 **********************************************************Did you know that movie star Yolanda Foster (Hadid) and former President George Bush  were treated for their Lyme disease?   You can watch Yolanda Foster tell about her battle with this disease by Googling:                    
                Dr. Oz - Yolanda Foster/Lyme Disease
    Other famous celebrities affected by Lyme include:
Debbie Gibson, Avril Lavigne, Christie Brinkley, Ben Stiller, Richard Gere, Michael J. Fox, Tom Seaver (Mets), and many others. (Google 'Celebrities with Lyme Disease')

Link to The West Clinic website (one place that treats Lyme Disease)
                  http://www.westcliniconline.com/


                            Other good web sites are:
                          http://www. lymedisease.org.
                                http://www.ILADS.org