Help Me Walk Again

Hello Everyone, my name is Amelia. I was born in 1989 in Hong Kong into a Chinese family with eight brothers and sisters. I am the youngest. I left home at fifteen years old to support myself. I have always worked hard to be self-sufficient, but in the last four years I have suffered from two serious physical illnesses.   At 24, I was diagnosed with Lymphoma cancer in my lymph node at the back of my shoulder. I was operated on to remove a mass the size of an orange from my back!  I survived the radiation treatment and today I’m cancer free. I was able to continue working hard to support myself.
Today I am seeking your help because on December 27, 2014 I woke up paralyzed. I was terrified, I didn’t know what had happened to me, and when I was taken to the hospital in Hong Kong the doctors couldn’t give me a diagnosis. For eight months I was given tests and my medical bills sky rocketed to over 3 million hong kong dollars ($384,000 USD).  Finally the medical specialists told me I had GBS (Guillain Barre Syndrome) / CIDP (Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy). The Myelin sheath protecting the nerves in my legs had broken down to the point that they could no longer transmit messages to my leg muscles. And just like that, I can no longer walk. For two years now I have been financing my own treatment and living expenses without any work. My immune system is in shock as I cope with supporting myself from a wheelchair and exercising daily to retain some of muscle mass.  My muscles show a little progress with moment but not very well controlled.
At the beginning of this year I started to lose hope that I would never be able to walk again.  Then, I heard an NPR Podcast on CRISPR.  For those of you who haven’t heard, CRISPR is a new gene modification tool that allows researchers to cheaply identify and eliminate troublemaking genes in the body.  With CRISPR/Cas9, the gene that is causing the myelin sheath to break down in my body can be targeted and eliminated!  Take that CIDP!
I am hoping to travel to the US to meet with two doctors that are at the forefront of using CRISPR/Cas9 to treat rare forms of muscle disease: 1) Dr. Michael Graves, Professor Emeritus of Neurology at UCLA.  Dr Graves serves on the Medical Advisory Board for the GBS/CIDP Foundation International, which has designated UCLA as a ”Center of Excellence” in inflammatory neuropathies. 2) Dr. Perry Shieh, Associate Professor of Neurology at UCLA. Dr. Shieh’s research interests are focused on Clinical trials for muscle diseases.
UCLA is one of the world’s leading research facilities for my condition, and their doctors and researchers are leading the fight to cure it.  And with your help, I will be able to walk again!