Tiffany's Journey

Tiffany is a 30-year-old single mom of three beautiful boys (ages 11, 9 and 7) Tiff is a very kind, compassionate goofball who brings joy to everyone in her life. Tiff is not only an amazing mother to her children, but she is also an amazing nurse bringing joy, comfort, compassion and a therapeutic touch to her patients. Last year she began experiencing issues with her eyes losing sight for a period of time, she went through intense panic attacks out of nowhere. This eventually led to her going to the doctor then being referred to neurology. She underwent a spinal tap, MRI's and MRA's and a Venogram to be told that there were no findings at that time. This whole time Tiffany body was under stress leading to her not functioning on her normal level. After going to a Neuro optometrist at the University of Minnesota, Tiff was diagnosed with bilateral ocular atrophy. (where the nerve that connects the eye to the brain starts deteriorating) Upon this diagnosis the eye doctor referred her to a genetic counselor. The test was performed in March of this year, 10 weeks later her worst fear became a reality. Tiffany was positive for Mitochondrial disease, autosomal dominate POLG-related disorder. This disease can affect any and all parts of her body and can shorten her life span by decades. When individuals have mitochondrial abnormalities, they are unable to produce adequate energy, particularly with increase physical stress. When the body is under increased physical stress (a catabolic state) and other examples include dehydration, vomiting, surgery, or prolonged fasting, it becomes even more difficult than usual for her cells to create adequate energy which can cause cellular or organ injury. Symptoms that may manifest include stroke like symptoms, muscle weakness, fatigue, activity intolerance, severe headaches, vomiting and other gastrointestinal conditions (pancreatitis, pain, obstructions,) hearing loss, kidney (oliguria, nephrotic syndrome), cardiac failure, endocrine (thyroid, low or high glucose/ diabetes) growth concerns, liver dysfunction, skin problems, ataxia, peripheral neuropathy and seizures. After these terrible diagnosis's Tiffany continued to have problems with her body not functioning, inability to eat any food, a mass amount of unintentional weight loss resulting in fatigue and hypoglycemia, Tiffany went back to the specialist to receive yet another terrible diagnosis of Parkinsonia muscle disorder. Tiffany has many appointments and surgeries ahead of her as they continue to try to help her.

During this long struggle of endless doctor's appointments, driving back and forth to the cities, many emergency room trips and missed hours at work, have played a toll on Tiffs spirits. With the amount of negative news that Tiffany has received over the past 13 months, we are just trying to lift her chin up a little bit, to help her share her beautiful smile and laugh that has been so missed as she has had to struggle almost feeling alone in the world. Any amount will help her and her family at this point.