Alien in Need

Hey y'all

This blog has connected me with a fellow Addison alien who is really struggling to stay out of crisis. Many of you have been in similar situations; years of test after test but no helpful results. Getting worse and worse after you thought you'd already hit rock bottom. I know I have.

A couple of times.

Thankfully, I always had friends and family to help me get through. And this lady does too. So much so, one of her friends has started a Go Fund Me page. They did not ask my to, but I wanted to share her story here. Maybe someone reading this will be able to figure out what's wrong.

Clearly, we can't leave it to the doctors. I read somewhere it takes an average of 5 to 7 YEARS to get diagnosed with Addison's. It took me 10, and I figured it out, not a doctor.

Don't wait on doctors!

Here's her story, from the GoFundMe page:

Hello, and thank you for stopping by! My name is Shaunna and I am going to raise $5,000 to get my dear friend, Leela,  to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota (without losing her house or filing for bankruptcy).

Leela is an amazing mother and wife. She is a kind and wonderful peron with so much to offer the world and its inhabitants.  Landon and Reagan (8&6) are her terrific kids and they try so hard to help mommy get well- but it's time to ask for help beyond what their smiles and support provide. 

Here's the short version of a long and complex story-
Leela communicated to her doctor that she didn't feel right and had a number of "odd" complaints over the course of two and half years- ALL were misdiagnosed and in turn, grew in severity.  Unfortunately, Leela has been diagnosed with some very rare and life-threatening illnesses and the doctors are still unclear as to a complete diagnosis. Here's what we know so far.

She has Cushing's Syndrome  coupled with Addison's Disease . Either of these diseases are serious enough alone- but she has both and is recovering (not so smoothly) from her brain tumor extraction, caused by the Cushing's,  nearly seven months ago.  The road to recovery after any brain surgery is sure to be extensive- but with Addison's Disease, the recovery is brutal. Without being too technical; Leela is suffering an Addisonian crisis (a deadly drop in hormone levels causing her entire body to become painful, then numb and start to shut down and convulse) every few days because her medical care team cannot pinpoint the problem and/or find an accurate balance of her hormone replacement therapies, 

 Leela's doctors, here in Kansas City, haven't the experience needed to get her healthy again. I actually witnessed one doctor say, "Well, Leela, you are quite the mystery!" As you can imagine, this isn't comforting as you lay convulsing and exhausted on an uncomfortable hospital bed. Now, that's not to say she has uneducated doctors, that is in fact, not the case!! However, the scarsity in Addison's Disease leaves quite a gap in education versus actual experience. 
Please help me- help her get the help she desperately needs!!!!

Any money raised will be used in one of two ways;  directly to hospitals and doctors for payment of services rendered OR travel expenses associated with the Mayo Clinic. 

Please let me take this opportunity to thank each of you for reading this campaign and all donations are so VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!!!! 

You can read more about Leela here.

And in case you are thinking, huh well that was pretty lazy of her, just copy and paste someone else's writing...firstly, you are right. Secondly, I have a very good excuse for basically letting someone else write my blog for tonight. I'll post pics soon.

In the meanwhile, say a prayer for Leela, think a good thought, light a candle, or dedicate your yoga practice to her - whatever works for you.

Leela, take heart. You have an army of Addison's aliens behind you.