Help Amanda with medical expenses for Sophie
Donation protected
A couple months ago Sophie's eyes began watering severely, they were both really red and she could hardly open them due to light bothering them. Amanda took her to the doctor where she was given antibiotic eye drops. A few days later things were only getting worse so she was taken to the eye doctor. He prescribed dilating drops as well as prednisone eye drops. She had multiple appointments weekly for well over a month. During this time Amanda missed out on many days of work. Things were starting to improve so they started weaning Sophie back on the amount of times she had to do the drops daily, at one point we were juggling between doing them hourly while working around distant learning so she wouldn't get behind in classes. A few days after drastically weaning back on the drops, it was like we were back at square one as all the symptoms had returned with a vengeance. More appointments and a referral to the Mayo clinic was the next plan because the eye doctor had a suspicion of what was going on, but needed further confirmation. She originally couldn't get into Mayo until April sometime, but after her lab results came back with very concerning numbers regarding her kidneys, she was able to get in asap. This meant more time of missed work for Amanda and a hotel room fee on February 17th, 2 days after I had pretty complex shoulder surgery. That put Amanda in a tough position of trying to take care of her daughter and me as well, but obviously couldn't be in 2 places at once. Luckily our dear friend Amanda was able to stay with me while they went down there. A few days later Amanda gets a phone call with a plan of action from the Mayo doctors. They wanted Sophie back down there to run more tests and do an ultrasound on her kidneys. They also suspected what was going on, but needed further confirmation. On February 19th Sophie had a biopsy done on her kidney to fully confirm the diagnosis and to figure out the best course of treatment. This meant Amanda missed another entire week of work and racked up another hotel bill for another 4 nights stay including costs for food and whatever else they needed during that time. The official diagnosis for Sophie is something called TINU that affects both the eyes and kidneys. It's a pretty rare syndrome, but Luckily and thankfully it's not only treatable, it's also curable as well. This means she has to be on high doses of prednisone both orally and eye drop form for awhile. She has a follow up in a couple months to see how things are going. Our neighbor/friend Cindy and her son went with them on both trips down there for support and to help watch Lynnea as I had recent surgery and couldn't watch her. As you all know Amanda is a single mother of 2 beautiful young girls and works multiple jobs in order to pay bills and provide for her children and me as well. If you know Amanda, you know she hates asking for help. Our family has been through a lot this year and we're only just barely 3 months into it. If you're able to help donate anything at all it would be greatly appreciated as just the total hotel costs alone was the same amount as Amanda pays in rent which is due now with it being the first of the month. If you could keep our little family in your thoughts and prayers for healing and the strength to keep pushing through this all that would be awesome. Also, if you have our address or Sophie's phone number I'm sure she would love to get well wishes as she's really struggling right now with the medications she has to take and the restrictions her doctors placed her on. Thank you and God bless you all! Sorry this is so long, but figured some would like to know the full story of what's been going on with Sophie who by the way has been a rock star through all of this!
Organizer and beneficiary
Tracy Hanson
Organizer
Sartell, MN
Amanda Semega
Beneficiary