Austin Loves Gina, Gina Grundmeier Medical Support

This story isn't about me, it's about someone we all know and love, Gina Grundmeier.

Gina and her non profit Pay It Forward Inc, has been given back to the Austin Community for over 10 years. She has helped hundreds if not more people as well as given back hundreds of thousands of dollars back to her community.

Her kindness is a ripple effect, to know her is to love her.

She is the beautiful human who see's the value in people who haven't found that value in themselves. She will be sure you are taken care of before she takes care of herself and we all are well aware of her extraordinary efforts to make our world a little bit brighter. From her organizations giant bathroom remodels to all the small kindness projects through out the year. She has paid for others: car bills, medical bills, utility bills, daycare bills, vet bills, supported them with finding housing, support, legal battles. She has donated to so many local organizations, she has supported single moms, a dad who needed help burying their daughter, families that were misplaced after disasters, free bathroom remodels to our local vets, etc.

There isn't a obstacle too big or too small for Gina to put her heart into and help.

Gina has never asked for anything through her struggles, she has carried her burdens silently while being sure to put others before her needs. She is EXACTLY the person we look for when sorting nominations for our annual home project thru Pay It Forward. The person who asks for nothing but does for others, who doesn't have access to other funding or support but carries themselves with such dignity you'd never know the battles they're struggling with.

If Gina read this story she would pick this family in need.

So now it's time to PICK HER.

The money raised in this go fund me will go towards her ever growing medical bills. I, Morgan Converse, will personally be sure that these funds are to be used to cover her needs. As we all know, Gina being the selfless person she is, would use any money towards someone who she thought needed it more.

Here is her current story in her own words, taken from a recent FB post:

"I have been "in the clouds" for the past 2 days now. I had my appointment with the GI specialist in Rochester on Wednesday, in fact 2 doctors met with me.

The words that initially stand out & scream at me - "Rare", "Unfortunately", "Make a plan". They still echo in my head like the rumbles of thunder in a storm. But - I will dance through this. I think remaining positive is crucial.

I do also remember the word - "Lucky"

So - I have been diagnosed with Autoimmune Metaplastic Atrophic Gastritis. The doctors say the gist of it is that my autoimmune system is attacking the lining of my stomach.

Metaplastic refers to cells changing into an abnormal form.

Atrophic means wasting in my case

Gastritis refers to it being stomach

Autoimmune basically means my good stuff is being attacked

The unfortunate part is there isn't anything they can do to stop this process or attack. There are ways to give me comfort so I don't have the constant pain, but my system will maintain under attack. The rare part is that stomach cancer is very rare in Northern America/USA. It is much more common in Asia, Japan, China etc & in theory they believe because they eat a lot of canned salted meats. But the doc said - it's the theory - they really don't know why.

The plan - within the next 6 months I will have another Endoscopy but the next one will be a specialized GIS Biopsy Mapping of the stomach. Taking numerous biopsies throughout to analyze them I begin the process of monitoring them. At this point - it's all that can be done - wait, watch. The Endoscopy biopsies will be either 1 per year or every 3 years depending on the results of the next one I have.

What can start to happen is called NETS - and it's tumors that can grow throughout the stomach. We want to do our best to watch constantly & closely they said.

With that information they also decided to do an ALP test on my liver as there were some "weird" findings there. Although the ALP's in my liver were good - they are not good in my bones. Now if this is or is not related to my CML - I don't know but that will be the next part of the testing at this point. I received the email on that late yesterday. The elevated levels can sometimes mean osteoporosis but for that to be the case my B12 levels would be below 200, which they are not. My level was at 857.

I trust the Mayo Doctors - don't get me wrong - but the gentleman waiting for my payment before services yesterday was not kind. He did remind me that I already owed over $10,000 - plus what I had to pay for Wednesday, then the blood tests they did Wed were over $1000. Holy smokes people - so obviously I'm trying diligently to find any type of affordable health insurance so we can set up the next Endoscopy.

Am I scared - Hell yeah!

BUT - I know that I've fought harder for other things in my life - I loved others enough to fight hard for them - I will love myself enough to do what I can to whether this storm as well!

I believe there is power in prayer & positivity! ❤"