Cure Claire Fundraiser

Hi everyone. My name is Caro, and along with a team of friends, we are hosting this fundraiser for our friend Claire who is an artist, professional model, and our fave silly little guy. Unfortunately her current circumstances make it hard for her to be any of these things.

About 2.5 years ago, Claire began to experience severe abdominal pains that made any kind of movement very difficult. Over the last year, these pains increased to the point of being debilitating, at first they were on and off and then they became constant, and unbearable. In Claire’s words, out of a scale of 1-10 they were at a 9 or more consistently.

As we know, the medical system in Canada is free, but because of this it is very clogged up and moves quite slowly, especially when specialists are needed. Because of this, Claire has had many hurdles and lots of stalled time in getting referrals and getting treatment. Claire has spent countless hours in emergency rooms and hospitals trying to expedite the process. Even after being diagnosed with endometriosis and receiving laparoscopic endometriosis surgery 6 months ago and an epidural for a slipped disk in her spine, she is still in pain.

Claire seems to have exhausted her efforts in the MSP route of healthcare, and her pain is only getting more severe and more consistent. She is essentially unable to work, or get out of bed, is losing weight at an alarming rate, and is in unbearable pain that is affecting her mental health along with her physical. Without the ability to work, eat, be silly, and with no answers its hard for her to remain hopeful.

We’re making this Gofundme today to take some of the financial burden off of Claire and help her to access medicine in a different way, through paying for private specialists, naturopaths, and acupuncture. Unlike a lot of us, Claire doesn’t have parents to rely on financially as they have both passed away <3.

Community care is about supporting each other when all else has failed, and luckily Claire has a very strong community who loves her and wants to see her pain free and being a weirdo again. We love you Claire!

Please consider donating as much or as little as you can. Literally, every dollar counts, so no matter how small we thank you so much for your donation!

Here are some words from Claire :

"Hello friends

My name is Claire and my incredible friends suggested creating this fundraiser as I have been struggling immensely dealing with undiagnosed chronic pain. The pain has been consistent, as an every. single. day. for the last 2 1/2 years.

I was born and raised in East Vancouver to an amazing Mother Virginia Ross who tragically passed from Cancer in 2010, later my father passed in 2021.

I have done my best to navigate this world without parental support, leaning on my surviving family members and chosen family, but need more help then I can access on my own.

As you can imagine, I am truly at my wits end. Being in this level of pain for this amount of time you start to lose your mind. I barely have energy to brush my teeth or shower, this comes with a lot of shame as I want to be independent and have energy. Lately, my body seems to be deteriorating at a quick rate.

I have lost my apetite from the pain, and looking at my body in the mirror is concerning. I don’t recognize my body anymore. I have lost 10 pounds in a week.

I have had one surgery to try and get rid of the source by performing a laparoscopy and excision of any damaged tissue within me that could potentially be endometriosis. That surgery was August 17, 2023 and I am yet to see any progress.

As somebody with limited resources, forcing myself to work through This pain is just not sustainable at this point I really need help. I am so thankful for my community and everyone who has reached out to me to check in or offer help seriously, I am reminded that there are still extremely kind people in this world. All I want is my health so I can give back to this community, I miss having the strength to visit my friends and family.

Thank you for your time to read this and hopefully I can get some answers with a little help from my community ❤️"

- Claire Ross

———Ways the fundraiser will help ———

:all costs are approximations:

Not having to stress about covering the costs of the following for the next 12 months :

Access to alternative medicines (Chinese, acupuncture , naturopaths

Average $140 a session acupuncture (multiple needed- guess 10-12ish sessions )

Average $175 a session naturopath (multiple needed, guess 6 sessions )

Average $250 first session naturopath

Total = 1540+1050+250 =$2840

Not having to force my body to go to work when I’m in debilitating pain

Work missed (??? 2k a month x 12 months? likely more than this but with other costs met, this will probably be enough )

Total = $24000

Covering rent, food and other bills

Monthly rent $2000

Monthly Food $600

Monthly bills $400

Total = $36000

Access to private Drs so wait times for pain managing treatments aren’t 6-12months

$5-$10k

Total = $5-10 k

Cover cost of medications including prescriptions and medibles for pain management

$2-5k

Total = $2-5 k

Physiotherapy

$190/ hour (multiple sessions needed guess 12-15)

Total = 2280-2850

Therapy

Average session is $140/hr biweekly roughly 26 sessions in the year

Total =$3640

Transport to appointments etc

avg $15-20 a ride, 3-4 times a week for the year

Total = $2340- $4160

Total = $70967- $73645