Barbara's Medical Fund
Donation protected
Healthy and Full of Life… That is how I was 5 years ago back in 2012, until things changed. But now I have been given a second chance… To LIVE again.
Let me tell you a bit about who I am...
My name is Barbara and I’m 19 year old. My whole life I grew up in Melbourne, I never grew up with much but I found a love with animals and always wanting to help out and give. I also used singing as my escape from my many medical issues from club foot, asthma, scoliosis, fibromyalgia, heart conditions, major depression, major anxitey, other mental and just mild stomach issues. It wasn’t until I turned 14 that my health took a turn for the worse.
In 2012 I was on a holiday with my mother and her carer when after eating something I began vomiting little bits of food. At first we thought it was just a bug but after time on out holiday went by the vomiting got worse and soon I was keeping less and less things down. We went to the hospital 3 times with doctors saying it was ‘Reflux’ or ‘Constipation’ and just sending me off with anti-acids or laxatives, but it wasn’t until the third time they admitted me but still couldn’t find an issue and because I was a healthy weight, I was sent home.
The vomiting got worse and soon I was no longer keeping anything down. 8 months from the admission to hospital I had a surgery to correct my club feet, that was when I met a doctor who was worried about my case as I had lost 10kg. She continued to see me as an outpatient but within 3 months my health had deteriorated worse from abnormal blood tests, severe dehydration and also more weight loss. I was admitted once again and an nasal gastric tube was placed into my stomach. But still I vomited everything that went down.
My health continued to go up and down constantly in and out of hospital as I had now used an nasal jejunal tube (while in hospital) but always deteriorate (once out of hospital) over the next 4 years, from continuous kidney failure, more weight loss, abnormal bloods, but also coming close to dying many times. I was accused of having an eating disorder, then psychological vomiting.
It wasn’t until an admission in an adult hospital (Christmas 2015) that I met a gastroenterologist and got one of my diagnosis’s SEVERE GASTROPARESIS. I thought things would finally turn around and I would be living again, with a permanent feeding tube placed in my jejunum. But I was wrong. I still began to loose weight after the tube was placed, even though I was running feeds, but also receiving severe abdominal pain and bloating worse than before. On November 16th 2016, I entered hospital and my life changed forever.
I went through countless of tests, feeds and trials but still began to get worse, it was to the point doctors and nurses no longer thought I was going to make it, so they went with their one and final resort… TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition). They thought a six week trial would get my intestines and gut to work again so I could continue tube feeds, but they were wrong. On January 24th 2017 I was diagnosed with intestinal failure and told I would spend the rest of my life on TPN.
You may ask what TPN is, it’s nutrition that goes into a line in your arm (PICC Line), Neck (Central Line) or Chest (Hickman Line) into the vein, traveling and sitting just above the heart. I also will receive IV fluids and bloods will be taken from my Newley Hickman Line which is the longer term option.
Which brings me to why I need your help. The Funds I am raising are to be able to go home with my Hickman line as I need financial help to get the things for it and my health but also for running back and forth to the hospital, plus medications and extra expenses (like finding a place to live and a bed to sleep on as I have been sleeping on a couch). I hate having to ask for help and usually prefer being the one giving the help to anyone out there anytime I can, but desperate times comes with desperate measures. So please open your heart and your wallets as I need to raise these funds as soon as possible so I can get home!
Some things I am using the funds for:
*Fridge for TPN
*Blood Sugar Machine
*Blood Pressure Machine
*Stainless steel medical trolley with drawers
*Blood sugar strips and needles
*Drawers to place medical supplies
*Bag to carry TPN and IV Fluids
*Money to help moving (Finding rental home suitable for health)
*Bed For Sleeping (Currently sleeping on couch)
*Money for constant transportation to and from hospital and doctors (Will be going a few times a week)
*Unknown medical costs
Thank you all so so much!!
Let me tell you a bit about who I am...
My name is Barbara and I’m 19 year old. My whole life I grew up in Melbourne, I never grew up with much but I found a love with animals and always wanting to help out and give. I also used singing as my escape from my many medical issues from club foot, asthma, scoliosis, fibromyalgia, heart conditions, major depression, major anxitey, other mental and just mild stomach issues. It wasn’t until I turned 14 that my health took a turn for the worse.
In 2012 I was on a holiday with my mother and her carer when after eating something I began vomiting little bits of food. At first we thought it was just a bug but after time on out holiday went by the vomiting got worse and soon I was keeping less and less things down. We went to the hospital 3 times with doctors saying it was ‘Reflux’ or ‘Constipation’ and just sending me off with anti-acids or laxatives, but it wasn’t until the third time they admitted me but still couldn’t find an issue and because I was a healthy weight, I was sent home.
The vomiting got worse and soon I was no longer keeping anything down. 8 months from the admission to hospital I had a surgery to correct my club feet, that was when I met a doctor who was worried about my case as I had lost 10kg. She continued to see me as an outpatient but within 3 months my health had deteriorated worse from abnormal blood tests, severe dehydration and also more weight loss. I was admitted once again and an nasal gastric tube was placed into my stomach. But still I vomited everything that went down.
My health continued to go up and down constantly in and out of hospital as I had now used an nasal jejunal tube (while in hospital) but always deteriorate (once out of hospital) over the next 4 years, from continuous kidney failure, more weight loss, abnormal bloods, but also coming close to dying many times. I was accused of having an eating disorder, then psychological vomiting.
It wasn’t until an admission in an adult hospital (Christmas 2015) that I met a gastroenterologist and got one of my diagnosis’s SEVERE GASTROPARESIS. I thought things would finally turn around and I would be living again, with a permanent feeding tube placed in my jejunum. But I was wrong. I still began to loose weight after the tube was placed, even though I was running feeds, but also receiving severe abdominal pain and bloating worse than before. On November 16th 2016, I entered hospital and my life changed forever.
I went through countless of tests, feeds and trials but still began to get worse, it was to the point doctors and nurses no longer thought I was going to make it, so they went with their one and final resort… TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition). They thought a six week trial would get my intestines and gut to work again so I could continue tube feeds, but they were wrong. On January 24th 2017 I was diagnosed with intestinal failure and told I would spend the rest of my life on TPN.
You may ask what TPN is, it’s nutrition that goes into a line in your arm (PICC Line), Neck (Central Line) or Chest (Hickman Line) into the vein, traveling and sitting just above the heart. I also will receive IV fluids and bloods will be taken from my Newley Hickman Line which is the longer term option.
Which brings me to why I need your help. The Funds I am raising are to be able to go home with my Hickman line as I need financial help to get the things for it and my health but also for running back and forth to the hospital, plus medications and extra expenses (like finding a place to live and a bed to sleep on as I have been sleeping on a couch). I hate having to ask for help and usually prefer being the one giving the help to anyone out there anytime I can, but desperate times comes with desperate measures. So please open your heart and your wallets as I need to raise these funds as soon as possible so I can get home!
Some things I am using the funds for:
*Fridge for TPN
*Blood Sugar Machine
*Blood Pressure Machine
*Stainless steel medical trolley with drawers
*Blood sugar strips and needles
*Drawers to place medical supplies
*Bag to carry TPN and IV Fluids
*Money to help moving (Finding rental home suitable for health)
*Bed For Sleeping (Currently sleeping on couch)
*Money for constant transportation to and from hospital and doctors (Will be going a few times a week)
*Unknown medical costs
Thank you all so so much!!
Organizer
Barbara Sass
Organizer
Cocoroc, VIC