Sandy's Medical Expenses

Hello everyone, my name is Heather, Sandy's daughter. If you know our family, you may be very shocked to see this fundraiser. Mom's birthday is Friday, July 28th. While I have a few small things for her, I wanted to give this a try. Last year when Mom got really ill and finally saw a doctor, we discovered just how bad her health had declined.

While Mom has had health insurance, the deductible has been extremely high so she refused to go. I have encouraged her for years to see a doctor and that we would take care of it (paying for the expense), and that her health was more important. However, Mom stressed about spending the money and I think about what doctors may find.

Fast forward to last year..... Mom was so sick she thought she may be dying and was finally agreeable to let me take her to urgent care, not the ER thought!

Her deductible was well over $7,000, again this year it is the same. We still receive a trickle of bills as not everything is immediate. Then sometimes we get surprise collection calls about bills we haven't even seen, those are fun!

She has a very long road ahead of her. Her quadruple bypass in October 2022 saved her life as she was a ticking timebomb. She had two blockages in her heart at 100% alone and the two other arteries were at 30% clogged and 60%. Her undiagnosed diabetes they are guessing was a solid 6-plus years in the making and it has not done well on her eyes as she now has to get monthly shots in them. She recently saw a Rheumatologist and is starting a whole new set of medication for that as well as her Rheumatoid Arthritis affects most of the joints in her body. The list goes on.

All this to say, the financial stress has been a lot. The deductibles alone are a large amount. That doesn't count the other medical expenses that go along with the items she needs that insurance doesn't cover. She has needed a whole new wardrobe because she has lost so much weight. She has had to change her eating habits as well, sugar-free all the things!

Cameron & I have helped as much as we can by we too are tapped out. Our family has had other things affect us financially and it's just been a lot. So credit cards are maxed, we don't have any savings and our family vacation/weekend to Fort Bragg was not a thing this year.

My thought was to help with the stress Mom is feeling. If you can help, I know she would appreciate it. I was hoping to consider this a birthday present for anyone who could help and show her how many people support her. Even if you can't donate, please send some love in the form of thoughts, prayers, good vibes, whatever you can.

Sending you all love if you made it this far <3

Side note: We have tried Medi-Cal and Mom does have assistance in the form of a nearly nothing monthly premium. However, she has doctors in and out of network. Out of network deductible is over $7K each year, in network is $3K. Again, that's just the health care portion. This doesn't include other expenses.

While trying to seek additional assistance, Mom was actually kicked off her health insurance for nearly two months and without her medication and without being able to see some of her specialists. She spent hours on the phone daily trying to remedy it. So yes, we have tried about everything. She has recieved some assistance in the form of some "discounts" on bills but when you have so many, it just keeps adding up.