Ashleigh Thiel's Endometrioma Surgery Fund

First, thank you for taking the time to visit this page and learn about my sister’s story. As many of you know, my sister, Ashleigh, decided to pursue her dream of becoming a Makeup Artist 4 years ago and has been living in LA for nearly 3 years to be able to be a successful Makeup Artist. She has also dealt with severe menstrual cramps and ovarian cysts for her entire adult life. However, these last 6 months have been incredibly scary and stressful, but are nothing compared to what she’s about to face. Little did she know that a small pain in her side would be the beginning to an emotional roller coaster ride of dealing with insurance, doctors, and finally, a wild diagnoses.

In August, Ashleigh began feeling a consistent pain in her right side that she’d never felt before. While she had dealt with incredible pain from menstrual cramps her whole life, this pain was different and persistent. It was also strange because it kept coming back once a month near the end and after finishing her cycle.

The pain ended up getting so bad that she knew she needed help to figure out what it was, which led her to apply for state-assisted medical insurance. Unfortunately, according to California, her yearly income is just barely over the minimum income needed to receive full medical benefits from the state; instead, she receives a small stipend to assist with paying for insurance, which is definitely better than not having insurance at all, but it makes what is about to come very difficult.

After months of doctors visits, tests, and imaging, Ashleigh was told that she has a 7-centimeter cyst (essentially the size of a lemon) engulfing her right ovary, that is still growing, and she requires full abdominal surgery to remove it. The doctors even suspect that the cyst could be an Ovarian Endometrioma, which are ovarian cysts that form due to endometriosis. In the months of tests, the doctor estimate it has grown a centimeter a month since the pain began. The doctors have also said that laparoscopic surgery is out of the question because of the size of the cyst, and have opted for a laparotomy instead. This will allow the doctors to remove the cyst (and quite possibly, her ovary) safely, as well as allow them to send it to pathology to learn if it’s cancerous or not.

We have also learned that due to the extent and severity of the surgery, the recovery time (most of which is bedrest, not standing for long periods of time), and the weight-carrying restrictions she will have during recovery, she will be in the hospital for days, and out of her office job for weeks. The worst of this news, however, is that due to the weight of her makeup kit exceeding the weight restrictions during her recovery, she won’t be able to accept any new clients, work on set, or continue to grow her Makeup Artistry business, which truly breaks her heart more than anything else. The lost wages, experience, and networking she will miss out on, and unable to recover, is something she relies on so much to subsidize her income and afford to be a single female in Los Angeles working to live her dream.

Not to mention, she also needs to cover 15% of the cost of her surgery, and because of the size and placement of the cyst, they have scheduled her surgery for this Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019. The cost of this surgery is anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000+, plus approximately another $5,000+ for the days she has to spend recovering in the hospital, which means my sister’s surgery is going to cost around $15,000-$20,000+, making her cost anywhere from $2,250-$3,000+ for the surgery. That, plus her lost wages for the time she’s recovering is between $1,500-$2,000. So, this surgery is going to cost her anywhere from  $4,000-$5,000+. So now, not only will my sister barely be able to afford this surgery that she needs, but she won’t be able to afford to survive in the city that she moved to to live her dream, and she won’t be able to actually do the thing she loves most for months!

Due to this, I have come here to ask you, my family, friends, and people I may not know, for your help. This is never something my sister would do for herself and nothing I ever wanted to do, but we don’t know where else to go from here. The idea of having my sister figure out how to live and survive while she’s trying to recover is overwhelming and ultimately will cause more stress and make it harder for her to recover as quickly as possible. It’s difficult for my sister to ask for help, which is why I made this page for her. My sister is a hardworking, dependable, humble, caring, deserving person, and she truly deserves to keep living her dream. She puts everyone ahead of herself, which is why I am here asking for help for her. I truly love my sister, she helped raise me while mom was working to take care of us, and this page is the least I could do to try and help her after everything she’s always done for me. If you’ve made it this far, then any and all help you can give will be incredibly appreciated. Even a single dollar can help get me one step forward to help save my sister’s quality of life. And if you just can’t afford to donate, please share this page so we can spread her story.

Thank you again for taking some time to read this page, and thank you for any help you can give. God bless!

Professional Insta: @ashleighthielmakeup
Personal Insta: @ashleelee819
Professional Website: www.ashleighthiel.com