Fundraiser for Ashley

Hi, my name is Erica and I am fundraising for my sister, Ashley.

She is a beautiful 36 year old, single woman raising 3 children and taking care of our grandmother. The downfall of her health started 15 years ago when she was first diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. She was dealing with severe swelling and pain in her joints and hands and blood labs showed high inflammation markers throughout her whole body. She was put on several medications and steroids that either were intolerable or caused allergic reactions, and eventually her body would build up an immunity to.

That all went on for years...Her health took another turn and was hospitalized with huge bruises all over her body and unfortunately nobody could explain. After being poked and proded for blood, they diagnosed her with I.T.P

(immune thrombocytopenia), a low platelet count disorder that formed due to all the medication and steroid use to help treat RA. Bone marrow biopsies were performed to rule out leukemia. A kidney biopsy was performed to only find the true diagnosis of SLE (Lupus: systemic lupus erythematosus), an inflammatory disease caused when the immune system attacks its own tissues. Lupus (SLE) can affect the joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart, and lungs.

Now the next few years Lupus will have attacked her body to battle many sicknesses and hospital stays such as Pancreatitis, gallbladder removal, Appendicitis, ovarian cancer cell removal, many cervical procedures with cancer cells, then finally a hysterectomy.

Over time, her lupus then attacked her kidneys. She was immediately referred to Mayo hospital where she was then told she was in stage 4 kidney disease.

Her doctors were ready to put her on dialysis but the mayo nephrology team decided her only last fight option was chemotherapy to act as a bomb and set it off for several months to try to reset and hopefully put her kidneys into remission.

11 hard months of chemo, many many sick days and nights, many hospital stays and loss of her hair, she overcame her kidney disease. To keep her kidneys stable and her lupus under control, she remained taking 18 medications and vitamins each day and night.

Unfortunately 5 years later, she's haunted by the aftermath of such harsh chemo and many many years of other prescribed drugs and steroids to help me through all of her sicknesses, she has now been diagnosed with AVN (Avascular necrosis),

the death of bone tissue due to lack of blood supply. AVN became present in both of her knees. Her team of doctors had 8 holes drilled into both legs to try artificial stem cells which failed after 3 months in one leg then 6 months in other. Her only option was a total knee replacement in one then 6 months later in the second knee.

As she is still trying to recover from her last knee surgery in March, her AVN has now spread to her hands which is now called keinbocks disease, a disease in which the blood supply to the small bones in her wrist is interrupted. Not only has one bone died in her wrist but three have. On July 20th, she underwent one of the worst painful surgeries she has endured on this whole journey. More scans show the AVN has begun to spread to her other hand but nothing can be done until she is fully healed and rehabilitated from the first surgery of her other wrist.

Ashley is a wonderfully talented hairdresser and unfortunately, the AVN has taken away her ability to provide for her family. Our family is committed to helping her as much as possible but this burden is just too much to carry on our own and we need help. She has medical bills that have been piling up, and home bills that have been sent to collections because of her inability to work and pay for her bills. We are asking for any help that can be given. No amount is too small. We want to be able to afford my sister the peace of mind she deserves to know her and family are going to be alright. Any funds raised will go directly to paying her medical bills and all home bills.