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Thank You so very much for your help. Heres my story. I am in my early 30s. I am a mother of two loving kids ages 4 and 9. My husband moved out a year ago after a bout of depression, stating "I love you thats why I cant stand to stay here n watch you die like this!" And it is true anyone who has watched a loved one waste away before thier eyes can tell you it eats your soul. In a way I cant blame him. I have hopes we will someday get our family back together. Untill then I am in this alone, and now find my self here asking you for help.
I have several cronic illnesses. Including scoliosis:Scoliosis is a sideways curvature of the spine that occurs most often during the growth spurt just before puberty. While scoliosis can be caused by conditions such as cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy, the cause of most scoliosis is unknown. My scoliosis curve got worse, the spine rotated and twisted, in addition to curving side to side. This caused the ribs on one side of the body to stick out farther than on the other side. Severe scoliosis can caused back pain and difficulty breathing. In my case In severe scoliosis, the rib cage may press against the lungs and heart, making it more difficult to breathe and harder for the heart to pump.I also experience harsh neurological affects of Muscle weakness, Numbness and Abnormal reflexes. To save my life I had to have surgery.
Surgery involves correcting the curve (although not all the way) and fusing the bones in the curve together. The surgeon lays bone grafts across the exposed surface of each vertebra. These grafts will regenerate, grow into the bone, and fuse the vertebrae together. The bones are held in place with one or two metal rods held down with hooks and screws, helping to support the fusion of the vertebrae.I went through all this at age 13. But now with the onset of sevral more cronic illness complication from the surgery that once saved my life now slowly kill me.
Years later I began getting sicker and sicker by the time I was 20 my spine was degenerating causing horrible pain, I had to have my appendix removed, then gallblader went bad. We never dreamed these all had a common factor. Doctors just shook their head proclaiming :you are just so young for your body to be failing like this". Eventually it was discovered I have Lupus and severe arthritus. Lupus is an autoimmune disease, meaning that the body' s immune system mistakenly attacks healthy organs and tissue. Lupus can affect any part of the body, causing inflammation and damage in joints, skin, kidneys, heart, lungs, blood vessels, or the brain. More than 90% of people with lupus have skin rashes, often triggered by exposure to the sun, and about half have kidney and lung problems. Because lupus affects the joints, it is considered a rheumatic (arthritis) disease.
Upon this discovery things began to make sense. So doctors now knowing why began a body wide check up to see what all has been affected. One test was A bone mineral density (BMD) test measures how much calcium and other types of minerals are present in a section of your bone. Your health care provider uses this test, along with other risk factors, to predict your risk of bone fractures in the future and detect osteoporosis. Bone fracture risk is highest in people with osteoporosis. They found I indeed had osteoporosis at the age of 22. SO now My bones are weaking causing damage areas all over my body, but the most serious being in my spine. Now comes the arthritis/lupus, they see these damaged areas and my own imune system attacks. Eating at the damaged areas creating even more damage, which increases the area the lupus attacks. It is a vicious circle. I have now been treated with medication over 10 yrs. But they can only slow the illness there is no cure, and dure to my scoliosis and the metal rods in my back surgical treatment options are very limited.
The damage is so severe I was decared legally disabled by the age of 23. My only income is SSI. I have to support my children and I on 658.00 a month. Thank God the court issued my ex to pay my rent in lue of child support. I am asking for help to cover upcoming medical bills. In the last 14 months I have had 5 seperate kidney surgery. My right kidney is damaged and I will soon be having a 6th surgery. This one to remove damaged section of the tube that leads from the kidney to bladder. then they will reattach at a higher section of bladder. I will aslo be having several Jaw surgeries. Due to exposure to radiation, osteoperosis a excessive vomiting of stomache acid my teeth are breaking and falling out. The doctor needs to repair what they can and put in inplants for what they cant. This will slow the degineration of my jaw. Without this treatment my jaw is going to cave in. Currently I am only able to eat mushy foods. I have drastically lost weight and my body is stuggling to heal due to the stress, pain and infection. So I hunbly beg of you to help me 1.00 or 50.00 anything would help. These procedures will not only improve my quality of life but aslo help extend my time here on earth just a little ehile longer. I just want to be with my kids as long as I can.Whith each dollar you donate its like adding an hour to my life.....What would you give for a few more hours with the ones you love?

Thank You so very much for your help. Heres my story. I am in my early 30s. I am a mother of two loving kids ages 4 and 9. My husband moved out a year ago after a bout of depression, stating "I love you thats why I cant stand to stay here n watch you die like this!" And it is true anyone who has watched a loved one waste away before thier eyes can tell you it eats your soul. In a way I cant blame him. I have hopes we will someday get our family back together. Untill then I am in this alone, and now find my self here asking you for help.
I have several cronic illnesses. Including scoliosis:Scoliosis is a sideways curvature of the spine that occurs most often during the growth spurt just before puberty. While scoliosis can be caused by conditions such as cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy, the cause of most scoliosis is unknown. My scoliosis curve got worse, the spine rotated and twisted, in addition to curving side to side. This caused the ribs on one side of the body to stick out farther than on the other side. Severe scoliosis can caused back pain and difficulty breathing. In my case In severe scoliosis, the rib cage may press against the lungs and heart, making it more difficult to breathe and harder for the heart to pump.I also experience harsh neurological affects of Muscle weakness, Numbness and Abnormal reflexes. To save my life I had to have surgery.
Surgery involves correcting the curve (although not all the way) and fusing the bones in the curve together. The surgeon lays bone grafts across the exposed surface of each vertebra. These grafts will regenerate, grow into the bone, and fuse the vertebrae together. The bones are held in place with one or two metal rods held down with hooks and screws, helping to support the fusion of the vertebrae.I went through all this at age 13. But now with the onset of sevral more cronic illness complication from the surgery that once saved my life now slowly kill me.
Years later I began getting sicker and sicker by the time I was 20 my spine was degenerating causing horrible pain, I had to have my appendix removed, then gallblader went bad. We never dreamed these all had a common factor. Doctors just shook their head proclaiming :you are just so young for your body to be failing like this". Eventually it was discovered I have Lupus and severe arthritus. Lupus is an autoimmune disease, meaning that the body' s immune system mistakenly attacks healthy organs and tissue. Lupus can affect any part of the body, causing inflammation and damage in joints, skin, kidneys, heart, lungs, blood vessels, or the brain. More than 90% of people with lupus have skin rashes, often triggered by exposure to the sun, and about half have kidney and lung problems. Because lupus affects the joints, it is considered a rheumatic (arthritis) disease.
Upon this discovery things began to make sense. So doctors now knowing why began a body wide check up to see what all has been affected. One test was A bone mineral density (BMD) test measures how much calcium and other types of minerals are present in a section of your bone. Your health care provider uses this test, along with other risk factors, to predict your risk of bone fractures in the future and detect osteoporosis. Bone fracture risk is highest in people with osteoporosis. They found I indeed had osteoporosis at the age of 22. SO now My bones are weaking causing damage areas all over my body, but the most serious being in my spine. Now comes the arthritis/lupus, they see these damaged areas and my own imune system attacks. Eating at the damaged areas creating even more damage, which increases the area the lupus attacks. It is a vicious circle. I have now been treated with medication over 10 yrs. But they can only slow the illness there is no cure, and dure to my scoliosis and the metal rods in my back surgical treatment options are very limited.
The damage is so severe I was decared legally disabled by the age of 23. My only income is SSI. I have to support my children and I on 658.00 a month. Thank God the court issued my ex to pay my rent in lue of child support. I am asking for help to cover upcoming medical bills. In the last 14 months I have had 5 seperate kidney surgery. My right kidney is damaged and I will soon be having a 6th surgery. This one to remove damaged section of the tube that leads from the kidney to bladder. then they will reattach at a higher section of bladder. I will aslo be having several Jaw surgeries. Due to exposure to radiation, osteoperosis a excessive vomiting of stomache acid my teeth are breaking and falling out. The doctor needs to repair what they can and put in inplants for what they cant. This will slow the degineration of my jaw. Without this treatment my jaw is going to cave in. Currently I am only able to eat mushy foods. I have drastically lost weight and my body is stuggling to heal due to the stress, pain and infection. So I hunbly beg of you to help me 1.00 or 50.00 anything would help. These procedures will not only improve my quality of life but aslo help extend my time here on earth just a little ehile longer. I just want to be with my kids as long as I can.Whith each dollar you donate its like adding an hour to my life.....What would you give for a few more hours with the ones you love?

My daughter and I are in need of finding a place of our own. These past couple months have been extremely hard because of the death of my mother. We were all living together and my mom was splitting the rent with me and I was working to take care of her. She was sick with Cancer and she had the operation and we all thought she was going to be okay. She did not recover like we expected and she ended up going in a Rehabilitation Center and we visited her often until she came home. I am the youngest of her children. I have 3 brothers and 1 sister and we are called the Berry 5. We were allways known as the Berry Family from the time we were little. My mom started to do better and we were so happy to have her home. It came time for her to Start Chemotherapy and Radiation. She was scared but I and my sister talked her into it because we knew the doctors had told us that she needed it because the cancer had spread to her lymp nodes and when they did the surgery they were not able to get everything. My mom had done one week of Radiation and she went in for one session of Chemo. The same day she had Chemo she seemed fine and then 2 days later she was having fevers, throwing up and so extremely weak. I thought it was because of the Chemo because that is what was explained to us. My concern was she couldn't keep anything down. I needed to give her medication for her Diabetes and High Blood Pressure but everytime I gave her anything, it all came up and so I was so scared because her blood sugar was high and I didn't want it to get any higher. She began to complain of stomach pain and I thought it was another side effect of the Chemo. For a couple days of her vomiting and having diarrhea, I was able to get some fluids down her and it seemed to stay. Little by little we both thought she was doing better. Her strength was not there though, it was difficult for her to even get up to go to the bathroom. The following day she continued to vomit and I was scared so I told her she needed to go to the hospital, because I felt that they could help her more. They could give her medications through an IV and they could find out why she was so weak and everything. She was scared and did not want to go but I convinced her. The ambulance came and took her to the hospital. I tried to follow her but I had to pick up my 11 year old daughter from school. I did go and they would not let me go back right away. I told them my mom had been brought in and they told me she wasn't checked in yet. About 20 minutes passed and I went back up to the window and they told me they would see if the doctor would let me back there and they were saying my daughter couldn't come back there because she wasn't 14, I told them she is only 11 years old and I'm not leaving her in the waiting room with strangers and that she was coming back there with me. They finally let us in and we went back to see my mom. I couldn't believe they had her hooked up to so many machines and she was on morphine and so out of it. I walked up to her and I said Ma, I'm here and she turned and looked at me. She was happy to see me, but then she told me that they told her, they found blood in her stools. I told her it was probably just do to her Hemorrhoids. but she said they told her it was positive for something. I asked her for what and she didn't know. I began looking for the doctor so I could ask questions but he wasn't around and everyone I talked to told me the doctor would be in soon to go over my mom's condition. I stayed with my mom, just holding her hand, telling her I loved her and that she was going to be okay. They came in to take her to have an ultrasound and my daughter and I waited. The doctor finally came in and told me that my mom had an abcess in her stomach that had burst. I said what are you talking about? He said that she had a condition called peridonitis and that the abcess burst and was releasing all this poison inside her stomach and her blood pressure was dropping dramatically. He then told me it was too dangerous for them to operate at that time because her INR level to to high. My mom had been taking Cumadin for a blood clot that she previously had and the cumadin made her INR level extremely high and her blood was not clotting so they said if they did surgery, she would bleed out. They said they needed to correct it by giving her lots of blood products and they gave her all kinds of strong antibiotics and blood and plasma. They were pumping so much stuff into her, I didn't know what to do. Her blood pressure was like 85/60 and then like 76/40 and it was getting lower and lower. They had her hooked up to so many IVs and then they told me that she was the sickest person they had in the ER. So many doctors and interns and students and nurses overcrowded my mom's room. I called my sister and told her what was going on and she came down to be with me and my daughter. They told us they would do all they could for my mom but that it didn't look good. I began to pray, my mom had always taught me to pray and give things over to god. As the night went on, they decided to put an IV in my moms neck, they said it was more direct and if and when she went to surgery it would be better to have that in place. They made us leave the room and they had like 10 people in there with there machines and cameras and equipment to help guide them where to put the IV at. I had never gone through this before and I was so scared but I was keeping my faith. One doctor wanted to talk to me and my sister alone and I didn't want to hear him telling me anything negative. He asked us a lot of questions concerning my mom's health and history. He then told us that she was in acute renal failure and that her colon was damaged where the abcess bursts and fecal was being released into her abdomen. This is the last thing I wanted to hear. I asked him if they could fix it, he said they would do all they could but that their main focus was trying to bring her INR levels down because they were dangerously high. She was also anemic and that is why she was so weak, her blood level was extremely low. They were continuously giving her blood products, antibiotics and plasma. My sister decided to take my daughter home with her. I told her I would call her when I knew when they were going to do surgery. The surgeon had spoken to us and said that it was a good chance, and that operating was her only chance and once her blood level was corrected that they would go in and repair the damage. I felt some what relieved but as the night went on she was in a fight for her life. The main doctor working on my mom's case came and told me that her breathing was not getting any better and that he needed to put her to sleep so he could intubate her and put a breathing tube down her throat. He said it would be good to have anyways so that she would be ready when they went to surgery. There was nothing I could do except walk out of the room and wait. I continued to pray and wait and pray and wait. Hours went by and I would walk and peek inside the room and see my mom's blood pressure increasing some, this gave me hope but then the doctor would come and tell me it wasn't looking like she was improving and that we needed to prepare that she might not make it through the night. i couldn't believe what he was telling me. I called my sister and my brother and told them , they were praying as well. I didn't know who to listen to, one doctor is telling me it's hopeless and the surgeon is telling me it's a good chance she would be okay once taken to surgery. I sat in the hall because they wouldn't let me back in and they stayed with her at all times, monitoring her and giving her medicine and all the blood and stuff back to back. Then they came out in the hall and told me they were ready to take her to surgery. They said she might not hear you but you can still talk to her. I walked up to her lying there, so still and I told her how much I loved her and i told her to fight and that we would do it togther and that I would be here when she woke up and that I was not leaving her. The surgeon put me in the OR waiting room. I was all alone in there by myself. I waited and waited and only 20 mins went by and a security guard told me there was a cafe there and if I wanted to go grab a cup of coffee that I could. I went downstairs and got the coffee, as soon as I reached the OR floor I saw the surgeon standing there, he walked over to me and he said, I'm sorry but your mom's heart stopped during surgery and we revived her but then it stopped again and he said I don't we can get it back. My whole world just crumbled, I began screaming and crying and I fell to the floor. I was just askig God why. Why is this happening? This security lady came over to comfort me and began telling me how sorry she was and asked me if I had any family I could call. I called my sister and told her and she said she was on her way down. She lived in another city about 45 mins away. I was still on the ground just broken and this lady began to tell me that God would help me and give me the strength to go on. She asked me if I had any children, I told her I had a daughter, and she told me I needed to be strong for her. I wasn't trying to hear all that. My whole world was ripped right from under me. A couple of doctors and this lady helped me off the floor and the surgeon that came out , came out again and told me they would take me back to see her. They brought out a wheelchair and wheeled me back there and when they opened the door, my god I just saw them on top of her doing chest compressions and I was just screaming and then the surgeon is telling me I need to make a decision because everytime they do that, they are hurting her and he said, you don't want her to suffer anymore. I was just waiting on my sister4. I didn't want to make that call but I didn't want them pounding her chest in so I told them to stop. It killed in me inside. They wheeled me over to her and I just cried. My mom was only 60 years old and she had her whole life ahead of her and I don't understand why any of this happened. She was such a beautiful person and she had been a christian for 33 years. SHe loved the lord and she raised me and my siblings up in the church. I couldn't believe that she was gone because I had prayed and prayed and I just knew that God would spare her life. I lost my real father at the age of 16 and even then I didn't know him. I always had my mom and she remarried when I was 11 years old. She had been married for 19 years and my step father passed away in July of 2008. He was a sickly person and she took care of him and nursed him for all those years. He had diabetes, high blood pressure, prostate cancer, he was on dialysis for kidney failure, he had a four by pass surgery and he was in and out of the hospitals for years. She suffered so much seeing him suffer and taking care of him, he took what little strength she had. But because he was her husband she did all she could to help him and she loved him so much. So now all remains is just me and my siblings. It's hard because my mom was my best friend. I can't remember a time when she wasn't around. We did everything together and we lived together for years and I took care of her. I wanted so bad for her to be okay and to make it through surgery, I had been taught for years about the love of Jesus and I couldn't understand what he chose to take her away from her children and grandchildren. We had a two bedroom apartment and she had her room and my daughter and I shared a room. After she died, I went home that morning with my sister and I stayed over there for the remainder of the day. The whole day was just hurting, crying and calling the rest of the family. I felt so bad because my youngest brother, say youngest because he is the youngest of my 3 brothers, even though they are all older than me. He came to the hospital to see my mom but he thought she was still alive and the doctors didn't tell him, they let him in the room and she was already covered up and he walked in and was like, it's over ?? he couldn't believe it , he just broke down. One of the nurses that was in the OR called my sister and he was crying, apologizing to us because he thought my brother already knew. He told us how sorry he was. Now my family is broken, my mom was the rock that held us all together. We didn't have money growing up, we didn't have a lot of the finer things in life but we had love. She loved us like no one could. She did it all for her children and most importantly she taught us about God. She lived her life for Jesus, she would pray on a regular basis, read her bible daily, go to church often as she could and when things looked hopeless she took them to god in prayer. She prayed not only for her children, grandchildren and siblings but for people all over the world, she would pray for all the countries and for the sick and homeless and anyone she could pray for. She gave over the years endlessly to Trinity Broadcasting Network, Feed the children, CBN, David Terrell Ministries, Boys Town, Children International, Food For All and to so many others. Month after month, year after year she was giving. She taught us how to give and there were times when we would just make food and take it to the park to give to the homeless, bottled water, sandwiches, noodles, chicken or whatever we could. She would never turn down a person needing help or asking for spare change, she would give freely. She would tell me all the time, it's better to give than to receive and that god would bless me. So I began giving as well, I would call and donate and try to help whenever I could. My mom was also a big giver to the goodwill. Over the years we gave so much, and everytime they would ask if we wanted a donation paper for a tax write off she would say no. she didn't want that, she was giving freely and she didn't want anything in return. That's who she was, she was the person who would mentor you and talk to you about Jesus and how over the years he brought her and our family through so many trials and tribulations. SHe praised god for everything, for the good times and the bad. She used to always tell me to be thankful and to praise god. Now there were times when i was suffering so much and I didn't want to praise god, I wanted god to help me and at the time it seemed like he wasn't. My mom was always there to tell me baby, hold on.. give your burdens over to the lord and he will help you and supply all your needs. I realized that he did just that. I remember when she had surgery for the cancer and she was wondering why god allowed her to come down with that. It was hard for her because her faith was shaken then. She couldn't believe after she was faithful to him for so many years that he would allow her to suffer so horribly and there my sister and I were telling her that she would be okay, that God loved her still and he had not forsaken her and that he would bring her through this. She was so discouraged at the time but we would not let up. She couldn't believe this was her children mentoring and encouragiing her as she had done for us over the years. She told me, she was happy and she felt relieved that her living and everything she had taught us was not in vain. She was thankful to God that we were listening to her and by example we followed her footsteps. She began to get better and we thought she would be okay. My mom was a pure Christian, she didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't do drugs, didn't curse. She would make you turn the tv channel if you were watching something that cursed. She loved her cowboys though. Her favorites were Bonanza, The rifle man, High Chapparal, Wagon Train, The Virginian and so many others. She also loved the old shows, the clean shows, the original dennis the menace, columbo, family affair, petticoat junction, I married joan, hawai five o, the streets of san francisco, i spy, murder she wrote, in the heat of the night, matlock, the big vally, dr quinn, little house on the prairie, family ties, good times, 227, what's happening, the jeffersons, the brady bunch and so many others. Her favorite game shows were The price is right, deal or no deal, let's make a deal, the newlywed game, match game and who wants to be a millionaire. I loved spending time with my mom, she was someone I could always talk to and she would never judge me, she would tell me how much she loved me and how proud she was of me. She taught me how to carry myself as a lady and she taught me how to stand up for myself and I owe her so much. I felt like I let her down that night she was in the hospital and I told her she would be okay and that I would be waiting for her when she woke up but she never woke up. I felt that made me a liar. I had been taking care of my mom for months and I was preparing her meals, giving her medications on schedule and was taking her to her appointments and running errands for her. My mom had been weak for so long because before she found out she had cancer she was bleeding perfusely having vaginal bleeding and they made her very anemic. Before surgery she had 4 transfusions and then after surgery she had 2 more. She never got all her strength back and after she had the first surgery, she was too weak that they sent her to Ballard Rehabilitation and they were working on getting her strength back and getting her up and walking. She did so much better when she was in there and when she came home, they sent out a home health nurse, a physcialy therapist and an occupational therapist. They began doing exercises with her and the physical therapist thought it would benefit my mom to have some help with getting around. So she ordered her an walker , the kind that had a seat on it, she ordered her a wheel chair, a raised toilet seat with the rails and a shower chair and shower bench. So when my mom started walking more better she was using her walker all the time, it was helping her because she had the support to keep her from falling and when she got tired , she could just sit down. I did all I could to take care of her, on a daily basis. She was not strong enough to shower herself, so I bought the shower hose and I began to shower her daily, dress her and do everything for her but I loved her so much and I didn't care what I had to do, she was my mom. There were days when she thought she was a burden to me and she would tell me, that I work to hard and that she was sorry she was not able to do things for herself and i would immediately tell her to stop talking like that. I would tell her, she was my mom, I loved her and wanted to look after her and that she wasn't a burden on me. That she took care of me when I was little and over the years and now it was my turn to take care of her. She told me a couple weeks before she passed away , you said, you really stood by your mom, when all the others went on their way. you stood by your mom. She said, I don't know what I would have done with out you. She said I don't know how I would have made it and she said god is really going to bless you and he will remember everything you did for your mother. She told me how special I was and now that she is gone , I remember everything she ever told me. It has been so hard, going through all her things and seeing all the cards and letters she gave me over the years. Everybody keeps telling me it will get better but I don't see that happening. I can't go one day without crying for missing her so much. I am grateful because she is not in any more pain but I am hurting so badly without her. I have a big sister but we have never been that close, she seems to want to spend more time with me now but nobody could ever feel that empty space inside my heart for my mother. I recently moved in with my brother and I want so desperately for me and my daughter to be able to get a place of our own. It costs so much to pay for first and last months rent and I have this old 1994 car that has been giving me so much trouble and I am barely scraping along , just trying to make it. I would appreciate any help I am given. If anyone can find it in their heart to help me and my daughter move out and get our own place or simply help us with the day to day necessities, it would be greatly appreciated.

My daughter and I are in need of finding a place of our own. These past couple months have been extremely hard because of the death of my mother. We were all living together and my mom was splitting the rent with me and I was working to take care of her. She was sick with Cancer and she had the operation and we all thought she was going to be okay. She did not recover like we expected and she ended up going in a Rehabilitation Center and we visited her often until she came home. I am the youngest of her children. I have 3 brothers and 1 sister and we are called the Berry 5. We were allways known as the Berry Family from the time we were little. My mom started to do better and we were so happy to have her home. It came time for her to Start Chemotherapy and Radiation. She was scared but I and my sister talked her into it because we knew the doctors had told us that she needed it because the cancer had spread to her lymp nodes and when they did the surgery they were not able to get everything. My mom had done one week of Radiation and she went in for one session of Chemo. The same day she had Chemo she seemed fine and then 2 days later she was having fevers, throwing up and so extremely weak. I thought it was because of the Chemo because that is what was explained to us. My concern was she couldn't keep anything down. I needed to give her medication for her Diabetes and High Blood Pressure but everytime I gave her anything, it all came up and so I was so scared because her blood sugar was high and I didn't want it to get any higher. She began to complain of stomach pain and I thought it was another side effect of the Chemo. For a couple days of her vomiting and having diarrhea, I was able to get some fluids down her and it seemed to stay. Little by little we both thought she was doing better. Her strength was not there though, it was difficult for her to even get up to go to the bathroom. The following day she continued to vomit and I was scared so I told her she needed to go to the hospital, because I felt that they could help her more. They could give her medications through an IV and they could find out why she was so weak and everything. She was scared and did not want to go but I convinced her. The ambulance came and took her to the hospital. I tried to follow her but I had to pick up my 11 year old daughter from school. I did go and they would not let me go back right away. I told them my mom had been brought in and they told me she wasn't checked in yet. About 20 minutes passed and I went back up to the window and they told me they would see if the doctor would let me back there and they were saying my daughter couldn't come back there because she wasn't 14, I told them she is only 11 years old and I'm not leaving her in the waiting room with strangers and that she was coming back there with me. They finally let us in and we went back to see my mom. I couldn't believe they had her hooked up to so many machines and she was on morphine and so out of it. I walked up to her and I said Ma, I'm here and she turned and looked at me. She was happy to see me, but then she told me that they told her, they found blood in her stools. I told her it was probably just do to her Hemorrhoids. but she said they told her it was positive for something. I asked her for what and she didn't know. I began looking for the doctor so I could ask questions but he wasn't around and everyone I talked to told me the doctor would be in soon to go over my mom's condition. I stayed with my mom, just holding her hand, telling her I loved her and that she was going to be okay. They came in to take her to have an ultrasound and my daughter and I waited. The doctor finally came in and told me that my mom had an abcess in her stomach that had burst. I said what are you talking about? He said that she had a condition called peridonitis and that the abcess burst and was releasing all this poison inside her stomach and her blood pressure was dropping dramatically. He then told me it was too dangerous for them to operate at that time because her INR level to to high. My mom had been taking Cumadin for a blood clot that she previously had and the cumadin made her INR level extremely high and her blood was not clotting so they said if they did surgery, she would bleed out. They said they needed to correct it by giving her lots of blood products and they gave her all kinds of strong antibiotics and blood and plasma. They were pumping so much stuff into her, I didn't know what to do. Her blood pressure was like 85/60 and then like 76/40 and it was getting lower and lower. They had her hooked up to so many IVs and then they told me that she was the sickest person they had in the ER. So many doctors and interns and students and nurses overcrowded my mom's room. I called my sister and told her what was going on and she came down to be with me and my daughter. They told us they would do all they could for my mom but that it didn't look good. I began to pray, my mom had always taught me to pray and give things over to god. As the night went on, they decided to put an IV in my moms neck, they said it was more direct and if and when she went to surgery it would be better to have that in place. They made us leave the room and they had like 10 people in there with there machines and cameras and equipment to help guide them where to put the IV at. I had never gone through this before and I was so scared but I was keeping my faith. One doctor wanted to talk to me and my sister alone and I didn't want to hear him telling me anything negative. He asked us a lot of questions concerning my mom's health and history. He then told us that she was in acute renal failure and that her colon was damaged where the abcess bursts and fecal was being released into her abdomen. This is the last thing I wanted to hear. I asked him if they could fix it, he said they would do all they could but that their main focus was trying to bring her INR levels down because they were dangerously high. She was also anemic and that is why she was so weak, her blood level was extremely low. They were continuously giving her blood products, antibiotics and plasma. My sister decided to take my daughter home with her. I told her I would call her when I knew when they were going to do surgery. The surgeon had spoken to us and said that it was a good chance, and that operating was her only chance and once her blood level was corrected that they would go in and repair the damage. I felt some what relieved but as the night went on she was in a fight for her life. The main doctor working on my mom's case came and told me that her breathing was not getting any better and that he needed to put her to sleep so he could intubate her and put a breathing tube down her throat. He said it would be good to have anyways so that she would be ready when they went to surgery. There was nothing I could do except walk out of the room and wait. I continued to pray and wait and pray and wait. Hours went by and I would walk and peek inside the room and see my mom's blood pressure increasing some, this gave me hope but then the doctor would come and tell me it wasn't looking like she was improving and that we needed to prepare that she might not make it through the night. i couldn't believe what he was telling me. I called my sister and my brother and told them , they were praying as well. I didn't know who to listen to, one doctor is telling me it's hopeless and the surgeon is telling me it's a good chance she would be okay once taken to surgery. I sat in the hall because they wouldn't let me back in and they stayed with her at all times, monitoring her and giving her medicine and all the blood and stuff back to back. Then they came out in the hall and told me they were ready to take her to surgery. They said she might not hear you but you can still talk to her. I walked up to her lying there, so still and I told her how much I loved her and i told her to fight and that we would do it togther and that I would be here when she woke up and that I was not leaving her. The surgeon put me in the OR waiting room. I was all alone in there by myself. I waited and waited and only 20 mins went by and a security guard told me there was a cafe there and if I wanted to go grab a cup of coffee that I could. I went downstairs and got the coffee, as soon as I reached the OR floor I saw the surgeon standing there, he walked over to me and he said, I'm sorry but your mom's heart stopped during surgery and we revived her but then it stopped again and he said I don't we can get it back. My whole world just crumbled, I began screaming and crying and I fell to the floor. I was just askig God why. Why is this happening? This security lady came over to comfort me and began telling me how sorry she was and asked me if I had any family I could call. I called my sister and told her and she said she was on her way down. She lived in another city about 45 mins away. I was still on the ground just broken and this lady began to tell me that God would help me and give me the strength to go on. She asked me if I had any children, I told her I had a daughter, and she told me I needed to be strong for her. I wasn't trying to hear all that. My whole world was ripped right from under me. A couple of doctors and this lady helped me off the floor and the surgeon that came out , came out again and told me they would take me back to see her. They brought out a wheelchair and wheeled me back there and when they opened the door, my god I just saw them on top of her doing chest compressions and I was just screaming and then the surgeon is telling me I need to make a decision because everytime they do that, they are hurting her and he said, you don't want her to suffer anymore. I was just waiting on my sister4. I didn't want to make that call but I didn't want them pounding her chest in so I told them to stop. It killed in me inside. They wheeled me over to her and I just cried. My mom was only 60 years old and she had her whole life ahead of her and I don't understand why any of this happened. She was such a beautiful person and she had been a christian for 33 years. SHe loved the lord and she raised me and my siblings up in the church. I couldn't believe that she was gone because I had prayed and prayed and I just knew that God would spare her life. I lost my real father at the age of 16 and even then I didn't know him. I always had my mom and she remarried when I was 11 years old. She had been married for 19 years and my step father passed away in July of 2008. He was a sickly person and she took care of him and nursed him for all those years. He had diabetes, high blood pressure, prostate cancer, he was on dialysis for kidney failure, he had a four by pass surgery and he was in and out of the hospitals for years. She suffered so much seeing him suffer and taking care of him, he took what little strength she had. But because he was her husband she did all she could to help him and she loved him so much. So now all remains is just me and my siblings. It's hard because my mom was my best friend. I can't remember a time when she wasn't around. We did everything together and we lived together for years and I took care of her. I wanted so bad for her to be okay and to make it through surgery, I had been taught for years about the love of Jesus and I couldn't understand what he chose to take her away from her children and grandchildren. We had a two bedroom apartment and she had her room and my daughter and I shared a room. After she died, I went home that morning with my sister and I stayed over there for the remainder of the day. The whole day was just hurting, crying and calling the rest of the family. I felt so bad because my youngest brother, say youngest because he is the youngest of my 3 brothers, even though they are all older than me. He came to the hospital to see my mom but he thought she was still alive and the doctors didn't tell him, they let him in the room and she was already covered up and he walked in and was like, it's over ?? he couldn't believe it , he just broke down. One of the nurses that was in the OR called my sister and he was crying, apologizing to us because he thought my brother already knew. He told us how sorry he was. Now my family is broken, my mom was the rock that held us all together. We didn't have money growing up, we didn't have a lot of the finer things in life but we had love. She loved us like no one could. She did it all for her children and most importantly she taught us about God. She lived her life for Jesus, she would pray on a regular basis, read her bible daily, go to church often as she could and when things looked hopeless she took them to god in prayer. She prayed not only for her children, grandchildren and siblings but for people all over the world, she would pray for all the countries and for the sick and homeless and anyone she could pray for. She gave over the years endlessly to Trinity Broadcasting Network, Feed the children, CBN, David Terrell Ministries, Boys Town, Children International, Food For All and to so many others. Month after month, year after year she was giving. She taught us how to give and there were times when we would just make food and take it to the park to give to the homeless, bottled water, sandwiches, noodles, chicken or whatever we could. She would never turn down a person needing help or asking for spare change, she would give freely. She would tell me all the time, it's better to give than to receive and that god would bless me. So I began giving as well, I would call and donate and try to help whenever I could. My mom was also a big giver to the goodwill. Over the years we gave so much, and everytime they would ask if we wanted a donation paper for a tax write off she would say no. she didn't want that, she was giving freely and she didn't want anything in return. That's who she was, she was the person who would mentor you and talk to you about Jesus and how over the years he brought her and our family through so many trials and tribulations. SHe praised god for everything, for the good times and the bad. She used to always tell me to be thankful and to praise god. Now there were times when i was suffering so much and I didn't want to praise god, I wanted god to help me and at the time it seemed like he wasn't. My mom was always there to tell me baby, hold on.. give your burdens over to the lord and he will help you and supply all your needs. I realized that he did just that. I remember when she had surgery for the cancer and she was wondering why god allowed her to come down with that. It was hard for her because her faith was shaken then. She couldn't believe after she was faithful to him for so many years that he would allow her to suffer so horribly and there my sister and I were telling her that she would be okay, that God loved her still and he had not forsaken her and that he would bring her through this. She was so discouraged at the time but we would not let up. She couldn't believe this was her children mentoring and encouragiing her as she had done for us over the years. She told me, she was happy and she felt relieved that her living and everything she had taught us was not in vain. She was thankful to God that we were listening to her and by example we followed her footsteps. She began to get better and we thought she would be okay. My mom was a pure Christian, she didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't do drugs, didn't curse. She would make you turn the tv channel if you were watching something that cursed. She loved her cowboys though. Her favorites were Bonanza, The rifle man, High Chapparal, Wagon Train, The Virginian and so many others. She also loved the old shows, the clean shows, the original dennis the menace, columbo, family affair, petticoat junction, I married joan, hawai five o, the streets of san francisco, i spy, murder she wrote, in the heat of the night, matlock, the big vally, dr quinn, little house on the prairie, family ties, good times, 227, what's happening, the jeffersons, the brady bunch and so many others. Her favorite game shows were The price is right, deal or no deal, let's make a deal, the newlywed game, match game and who wants to be a millionaire. I loved spending time with my mom, she was someone I could always talk to and she would never judge me, she would tell me how much she loved me and how proud she was of me. She taught me how to carry myself as a lady and she taught me how to stand up for myself and I owe her so much. I felt like I let her down that night she was in the hospital and I told her she would be okay and that I would be waiting for her when she woke up but she never woke up. I felt that made me a liar. I had been taking care of my mom for months and I was preparing her meals, giving her medications on schedule and was taking her to her appointments and running errands for her. My mom had been weak for so long because before she found out she had cancer she was bleeding perfusely having vaginal bleeding and they made her very anemic. Before surgery she had 4 transfusions and then after surgery she had 2 more. She never got all her strength back and after she had the first surgery, she was too weak that they sent her to Ballard Rehabilitation and they were working on getting her strength back and getting her up and walking. She did so much better when she was in there and when she came home, they sent out a home health nurse, a physcialy therapist and an occupational therapist. They began doing exercises with her and the physical therapist thought it would benefit my mom to have some help with getting around. So she ordered her an walker , the kind that had a seat on it, she ordered her a wheel chair, a raised toilet seat with the rails and a shower chair and shower bench. So when my mom started walking more better she was using her walker all the time, it was helping her because she had the support to keep her from falling and when she got tired , she could just sit down. I did all I could to take care of her, on a daily basis. She was not strong enough to shower herself, so I bought the shower hose and I began to shower her daily, dress her and do everything for her but I loved her so much and I didn't care what I had to do, she was my mom. There were days when she thought she was a burden to me and she would tell me, that I work to hard and that she was sorry she was not able to do things for herself and i would immediately tell her to stop talking like that. I would tell her, she was my mom, I loved her and wanted to look after her and that she wasn't a burden on me. That she took care of me when I was little and over the years and now it was my turn to take care of her. She told me a couple weeks before she passed away , you said, you really stood by your mom, when all the others went on their way. you stood by your mom. She said, I don't know what I would have done with out you. She said I don't know how I would have made it and she said god is really going to bless you and he will remember everything you did for your mother. She told me how special I was and now that she is gone , I remember everything she ever told me. It has been so hard, going through all her things and seeing all the cards and letters she gave me over the years. Everybody keeps telling me it will get better but I don't see that happening. I can't go one day without crying for missing her so much. I am grateful because she is not in any more pain but I am hurting so badly without her. I have a big sister but we have never been that close, she seems to want to spend more time with me now but nobody could ever feel that empty space inside my heart for my mother. I recently moved in with my brother and I want so desperately for me and my daughter to be able to get a place of our own. It costs so much to pay for first and last months rent and I have this old 1994 car that has been giving me so much trouble and I am barely scraping along , just trying to make it. I would appreciate any help I am given. If anyone can find it in their heart to help me and my daughter move out and get our own place or simply help us with the day to day necessities, it would be greatly appreciated.

I was married for 8 years. To a man who treated me ok but didn't love me. I got pregnant before we got married so I felt "trapped" in the marriage. 5 years after the birth of our first, I got pregnant again. Hoping another child would fix what was wrong in our marriage. Surprise..it didn't work. I had my tubes so that we didn't bring another child into a loveless marriage.
Finally one day I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't live my life knowing how unhappy I was and showing my girls it was ok to settle for that kind of life. So I filed for divorce and moved back home, 2,000 miles away.
Then one day my best friend came back into my life and he and I decided to give love a shot! I have never been more happy. He loves me more than I deserve and loves my children. The only problem is we cannot have a child of our own to tie our family together.
With bills and rent there is no way for us to pay for the reversal of my tube ties. Insurance doesn't cover the costs and with me being 33, time is running short.
Please help us to raise the money so that we can have family we want. We've spent too many years unhappy and now that we have been given a second chance we want nothing more than to make it.
Thank you for reading my story!

I am asking for a minute of your time to please read and consider this. I live at home with my mother, my step father suffered a stroke in 2009, leaving him bedridden and with a feeding tube. His left side was completely paralyzed and he requires 24/7 assistance. My mother no longer is able to work because he requires to be feed every three hours though a feeding tube. The only income being brought to the household is his retirement check and what I bring in, which isn't a lot with a part time job and school. We have a lot of expenses which include, his meds, diapers, monthly hospital bed rental, and the specially formulated milk that is ordered monthly. Also, he does not get disability...And on top of that there is food, water and electricity bills, etc. It is a very hard time in our life and it would be so greatly appreciated if ANY amount of money was donated to help us out. I'm sure some of you can relate, maybe you've dealt with a sick family member, or through a tough financial crisis. I can not tell you how stressful it is for me, I am a young girl with so much responsibility. And I believe it only builds character and I will be hanging in there.
--If there is anyone out there with a kind and open heart, please, help me out.

Thank you for your time!

My 5 month old son was admitted to hospital with respiratory distress.

He had a lack of oxygen to his lungs and it was touch and go for several days! He had to have oxygen, ventilators, a feeding tube and was in HDU!

As a single mother to two young children, I am forced to work part time as I receive no help, financial or emotional from their father, who ran off with my best friend.

I currently owe £4,000 in medical bills and on top still have to pay my rent and food and day care for my two children, plus the excess in sitters I needed for my older child while the baby was in hospital.

please please please if you can, help me. I would never normally do something like this but I cannot see any other option! I have been turnt down for a loan as I do not earn enough and live in rented accomodation.

I promise as soon as I am back on my feet, I will donate every penny I can afford to other needy causes!!!

My 5 month old son was admitted to hospital with respiratory distress and had to be given oxygen and nebulisers for several days. He also had to have a feeding tube.

As a single mother I can only work part-time and I receive no financial help from their father.

I still owe £4,000 in medical bills and they are threatening me with court action!!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me!!

I promise as soon as I am back on my feet, I will return the favour and donate.

Hi I am 35year old female Living at home with my Parents I was Born with Special Needs. I have always relied on my parents Because of my learning Disability. At the moment I am working part time in a minmum wage job as a Cleaner i use to work fulltime but I had to go to working part time becuase of a bad back and athritus in the knees.

IM worried about the future my mum and dad are pensioners my dad is disabled also I know they wont be around for ever I am single and Never had any luck with men I see a lonely future ahead. I need money to help pay for food,clothes and for my travel fare to get to my Cleaning job becasue its miles aways from where i live and now tube fares have gone up.I would be grateful for anything you can offer DOest matter if its 20p £1 £10. Thank you for your time reading this
God bless

My grandpa has been very sick since August--losing weight . . . The doctors were unable to diagnose him, but in October, his kidneies began to fail. He began dialysis straight-away; however, his condition only worsened. He was admitted into the hospital in November, but still he continued to lose weight, due to an extreme loss of appitite. In December, he was given a feeding tube; while in there, the doctors took a sample, and it was concluded that he has stomach cancer. Being that he's already been through chemo-therapy, and it is terrible, he does not want to procede with that option. I cannot not have my grandpa. We don't have the typical grandfather-granddaughter relationship; he's always been so much more: my best friend, my teacher, my mentor, my dad . . . I have done research on alternative medicine, and I have to give it a try. Unfortunately, these medicines are not anywhere close to my price-range. You see, I am a military wife with four children, and we just simply cannot afford it. Yesterday, I went to see if I could get a loan, but the cost is too great for the collateral we could have offer. Like I've implied, I'll do anything; I have to try. Any donation will help, but please help me save my grandpa. I love him with all of my heart, and I just cannot lose him. Please and thank you (in advance).

Ginni

Portrait of Michael Jackson printed on artistic paint canvas, aquarelle paper or as a digital file. It is a picture of Michael Jackson, turned into artistic paintings and printed in different types of Aquarelle, Pencil, Felt marker, chalk, pastels, watercolor, portraitist or oil painting on paint canvas, aquarelle paper or as a digital file with characteristics of famous artists like Van Gogh, Monet, and Cezanne among others,. It can also be done from your pictures or photos of any person, portrait, object or landscape Shipping is unframed via registered airmail in a Bubble envelope or a cardboard or plastic tube for protection. Size up to 12” x 16”

I am a retired 67-year-old man living on a very small pension. In fact, it does not cover my basic needs, so I have to see how I can get some additional money to make ends meet and believe me it is not easy and quit frustrating. What helps me a little is that I am a half-full glass of water person. And I am always trying out something new, like this for example. It keeps me busy and avoids becoming depressed.
I would really appreciate your help and all donations big or small are very welcome.
I can also offer something in return like a Portrait of Michael Jackson printed on artistic paint canvas, aquarelle paper or as a digital file. It is a picture of Michael Jackson, turned into artistic paintings and printed in different types of Aquarelle, Pencil, Felt marker, chalk, pastels, watercolor, portraitist or oil painting on paint canvas, aquarelle paper or as a digital file with characteristics of famous artists like Van Gogh, Monet, and Cezanne among others,. It can also be done from your pictures or from photos of any person, portrait, object or landscape Shipping is unframed via registered airmail in a Bubble envelope or a cardboard or plastic tube for protection. Size up to 12” x 16”. You can look it up on Ebay it is Item number:290647178321. I can also help with computer problems, repair and unlock cell phones like Iphones and Blackberries, setup and host websites and many other things in this area.
Well thank you for your patience and taking the time to read this and hopefully I await your business and/or donations as well.
My very best regards to you,
Richard

I started at a four year university this fall, the first in my family to ever do so. I am a highly independent person and don't feel comfortable begging for money, but I don't know what else to do.
I have been blacklisted and unable to find work, meanwhile I'm unable to pay my rent, buy groceries or school supplies, not even basic toiletries; I have been without toothpaste and toilet paper for 3 weeks. I have no friends that can help, they all either have children or are unemployed and unable to spare any money for me. I don't qualify for any county aid because I made too much money earlier this year, so I have zero help for my medical bills that are now surmounting $15K, my car is going to be repossessed, I'm on the verge of eviction and half starving. My parents cannot help me because they are not in much better financial shape than me, I have not grandparents left and no valid cosigner to acquire an extra student loan. All of this while attending college for nursing, taking a 15 credit course load.
My savings are gone, my bank account is -$483.93 and counting, my landlord is evicting me in December if I can't come up with this month's and December's rent by the first of December. I am reusing everything I can, but am at this point only able to allow myself on very small meal per day or I will have NO food in one week. My cat is starving with me, and we have less than one weeks' food supply left and the food shelf here is so limited I'm on a waiting list. I have no cash, my fiancee's family won't help because they hate me and my fiancee is living two hours away from me, barely getting by as well.

I'm crying my eyes out in the school library typing this. It's the most humiliating and pitiful thing I've done in my life so far but I have no idea what else to do. Please help me. I've asked for help everywhere I should be able to find it but this is my last ditch effort. If this doesn't work, I don't know what I'll do. Please, anyone, anywhere, anything, help me. Anything would be greatly appreciated, even a few cents. I know I'm not going to get out of the situation that I'm in by using this site but all I could hope for was a little relief. Any help and I will consider you my saving grace and do my best to pay it forward when I get done with Medical School, if I make it that far. Please and Thank You for reading my story.

If you want the details of my life came to this, here you go...
I quit my great paying job of three years to concentrate on school more closely in June.
Since school started in August I have had the following happen:
A nervous breakdown caused by an imbalance of hormones from ovarian cysts that I had to seek medical attention for and cost me my job in absences.
Got engaged to the love of my life, and we suffered the loss of a child by ectopic pregnancy on September 9. I had to have emergency surgery as the ER dept. here did not figure out that was the problem until I was nearly dying. They had to remove the fetus, 15% of my left fallopian tube and had to perform a D & C of my uterus. All of this without medical insurance.
Finally got a new job at a local bar waiting tables and was promised 4 days per week after a one month training/probationary period. After a month, my shifts didn't go up but I wasn't contacted about my performance until my boss TEXTED me to have a meeting with him, where he fired me for being "too professional" and refused to elaborate, also informed me that he "extended the training period by two weeks" because he "wasn't sure about my performance" and decided since I was still on probation the last two weeks that he didn't have to pay me for it and never filled my tax information so there is no record of me ever working for him, other than whenever I try to get another job in town I am told that I lied about my work history because I didn't include the job on the list because I didn't exist but when I do, they call and he tell them one of two things: either that I never worked for him and I must be lying and delusional or that I didn't "work" for him, I just trained and wasn't a good "fit" so I shouldn't have put the bar for previous work experience. Keep in mind, this is a small town with a State University in it, and my old boss owns nearly 1/3 of the property and is very well known in the area, therefor: I somehow need to overcome his poor reference to get a job which is proving impossible.

2 weeks ago I had a nephew born with no arms and a club foot. The poor little fellow has to be fed through a feeding tube because his throat and mouth are not fully formed. Please pray for this child and all the obsticals this little boy will need to overcome. I can't begin to imagine the needs this little boy will need. Only God knows why he was put upon the earth. Thank you for all your prayers.

I have been a quadriplegic since 2001, when I had a brainstem stroke at 36 years old. I cant move,and I use a computer and eye movement to speak. My mom took care of me until she died a year and a half ago. I spent the worst year of my life in a nursing home, where I was basically ignored, was away from my 17 year old Siamese cat and wasn't allowed to eat by mouth, only thrugh my feeding tube. A friend has helped me to get into my own place, with caregivers. I have been in my own place since Oct 2010, with my cat. I have great caregivers and I get to eat a meal a day by mouth. My friend helped pay for a lot of my bills that my SSI wouldnt cover, but she has lost her job and can't help me now. I wish I could work, I was an electrician before the stroke. I am trying to learn how to make money on-line, but my vision isn't great. I am a month behind on my electric, internet and water bills and am worried that I might have to go back to a nursing home. If anyone can help me I would be very thankful. Please contact me at istroked01@aol.com if you can help me. Thank you

I,ve been homeless for the last four years. Luckily living in vet shelters and Good Will. I have been unsuccessful finding work that will maintain a single man, so my time is up, I have exstuished all my resources and am now living in the woods, I've been trying my hand at being a panhandler.
How very dehumanizing, I can maintain work to some extent, but I suffer with anxiety and depression. I wish I had money to open a homeless shelter hear in Cincinnati(in a tube hotel style). I live in the woods because I know whare I'll sleep to night (most shelters are full). I panhandl for food, bus fare, cleaning myslef and clothes. It's a simple life I live. In the words of Rudyard Kipling
"If you can meet with Triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same."
If you would care to donate Pleas call my good friend Bob @859-409-0636
God Bless America.
Paul

Hello i am a single mother of 4 children, 2 of my daughters are special needs. One is 12years old and the other is 19months. They have rare dis-order called Cri Di Chat Syndrome also know as P -5 syndrome. My 12 year old is in a wheelchair, wears a back brace for her spine and has a small airway. My 19month old has a cleft lip and pallet, is on a feeding tube and has a trach. They both require medical care and therapies that has to come out of pocket. Due to the countless doctor visits and appointments I've had to take a lot of time off work and as a result I was laid off. I have no resources to pay other bills and continue their therapies or provide for my other children. In desperate need. Please help asap.

http://www.giveforward.com/comingtogetherforcody

Please visit our page listed above to help Cody!

Our little Cody has not been well. Since he was just a month or so old he has had a problem choking when he eats. Around the time that he was eight months old we noticed he was having these choking episodes with much more frequency and they were becoming more severe. It got to the point where we were afraid to even give him a bottle without having the phone ready to call 911!

We took him to his doctor, who suggested we see a feeding specialist. And so began our journey.....

Right away Rosie (the specialist) noticed that Cody had trouble moving his tongue and chewing food. He tended to rush when he ate and that caused even more choking, but he was choking on everything- even just water. After a horrifying episode during one of his sessions, in which Cody choked on a piece of bread and turned blue, Rosie and Dr. Pepper (Cody's doctor) decided it was time for a Swallow Study.

During the study our little Cody enjoyed every last bit of barium as we watched him mash up food and try to swallow it. The speech therapist who was monitoring the test noticed that Cody's esophagus didn't seem to be moving quite right, he rarely chewed and had a lot of acid reflux going on. Aside from those observations, Cody had Oral Dysphagia as well. Those findings led us to an Upper GI Study that ruled out some really bad stuff, but Cody started having new symptoms. He was having difficulty breathing and had to be on nebulizer treatments, was increasingly grumpy, was gassy and had a very full looking belly that hurt so badly sometimes that he couldn't give us hugs. It wasn't long until he slowed down on his eating and Dr. Pepper decided it was time for a trip to Denver Children's Hospital.

In Denver Cody met a Pediatric Gastroenterologist and Pulmonary doctor who read his records and checked him in for several more tests. An Endoscopy and a Broncoscopy turned up a very nice looking esophagus (even the biopsies looked good!) but some pretty bad asthma. They placed a tube in his nose for another test called a PH Impedence Study to measure what was coming back up form the stomach and during which times it was happening. This was all very hard on our tiny little man. He had a horrible reaction to the anethesia which forced him to have to be hooked up to monitors. Anyone who knows our Cody knows what a busy little guy he is!

The results were confusing, though, because Cody had been on a medication that was supposed to help with motility and we knew it did SOMETHING for him- but with his great looking esophagus we weren't sure what it was helping with. If his esophagus was moving fine, why did a drug that was supposed to help it move make him feel a little better? The doctors decided to do a Gastric Emptying Study as well. Cody was NOT happy because he couldn't eat for yet another day. If you know our Cody- you know he loves to eat!

The next day we did the study and it didn't take long to get the results. In the time it takes the average stomach to empty, Cody's stomach had only emptied 7% of it's contents. The medication had been helping his little belly move. Unfortunately, it has some nasty side effects and he can't go back on it. They are currently trying him on a low dose of Erythromycin, which is the last medication available to treat Gastroparesis (Delayed Gastric Emptying), according to our medical team.

We soon got the results of the tube they placed in his nose, as well. Cody has a pretty big reflux problem, too. Since his belly is so slow to empty, his acid has no place to go but up. No wonder he is so grumpy. The constant flow of acid is also a huge trigger for the breathing problems he is having. They are now trying him on both Zantac and Prevacid- both drugs that have not worked well alone, but we are praying they will work better together.

We are trying hard to give Cody small meals throughout the day and to incorporate all the nutrients he needs, but its hard. With the delayed emptying we are supposed to avoid high fat and high fiber foods. We already have to avoid eggs, dairy, soy, berries and nuts due to allergies, so you can imagine what a challenge we have on our hands!

Cody's GI doctors have recomended 2-3 surgeries, including a feeding tube. Gastroparesis is a Dysmotility Disorder. There is a small chance he could outgrow this and there is also a small chance it is actually caused by something treatable- although in 60% of the cases there is no known cause.

In order to fully understand Cody's condition, why he has it and what all the options are, as well as how to care for him properly- we need to take him to Columbus, Ohio to see one of the very few Dysmotility Specialists in the country. We have no idea how long we'll have to be there or how much of this trip will come out of our pockets. Cody's insurance does not cover any travel expenses and will likely not cover any repeat testing he may need. He is currently on a modified diet and they don't cover the costs of any of that, either.


We are asking that our friends, family and anyone who is able come together to help us- both financially and spiritually. We need the finances to get us there and keep us going even when we can't work due to surgery or whatever may come; and we need your prayers and support to keep us strong as we try to manage this difficult and unfamiliar situation. We want so badly for our baby to feel better- he has brought us so much joy and is truely our little sunshine!

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read our story and for doing what you can!

I am a teen, a teen with no money,one banged up macbook computer; and a beautiful dream. I want to help people with Mac computers. I made two websites and I'm a pretty good computer genius. The problem is that web hosting is dam expensive. 120 euros just for one of the two websites. How can I, 15 years of age, manage a website if in my country there is no real income for minors? I'm not here to beg. I'm here to get help so I can pursue my dream, and help the people who want it.
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