Danielle's Breast Implant Illness Fund

Hi, my name is Ani Phearce and I'm raising funds for a beautiful soul named Danielle who is currently suffering from Breast Implant Illness, and is in dire need to get them removed.

Somewhere around late 2017, Danielle started to experience several weird symptoms/health issues. She started having issues with her stomach, strange rashes - weird reactions to being out in the sun at times, unexplainable weekly fevers, extreme fatigue and lethargy, headaches, concentration & short term memory issues/brain fog, joint/nerve pain, dry eyes/mouth & skin, her hands would shake at random, and more.

Danielle started her health journey by first seeing a Gastroenterologist who soon diagnosed her with GERD, IBS, Gastritis, & gallstones. But none of this explained her other symptoms. After this, Danielle got bounced around from doctor to doctor for almost three years - they all seemed confused. Her white blood cell count was abnormal and some doctors thought she may have some form of cancer, or some strange infection in her body. At one point a few doctors also thought maybe she had an issue with her thyroid. Many tests were ran and it was determined she did not have cancer, nor an infectious disease, nor an issue with her thyroid.

Around 2019 Danielle was feeling frustrated with still not having an answer to what was happening to her. She asked her Gastro, begged him, to please help her find answers. Her Gastro agreed to take a list of her symptoms she had made and pass it around Broward Hospital where he practiced out of to other medical staff and try to get her some sort of answer of what could be wrong with her and what type of doctor to see. Her Gastro soon informed her that his colleagues thought she had an autoimmune disorder and that she should see a Rheumatologist.

She waited 6 months for a new patient appointment with a Rheumatologist in Fort Lauderdale, FL. After this appointment & intensive bloodwork, around October 2019 Danielle finally got some answers, she had Sjogren's Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Finally her symptoms made sense. Initially she was told that she is Chronic and that she would have this life-long with no cure.

Sjogren's Syndrome causes dry eyes, mouth and skin, the possibility of organ failure, inflammation, hair loss, swollen glands, rashes (and rashes in the sun), fevers, fatigue, muscle pain, neurological issues and more. Fibromyalgia causes nerve pain, and rheumatoid arthritis causes joint pain. With autoimmune disorders such as these, patients have what is called flare-ups. Patients have good days and bad days, and everything in between - often these people do not "look sick", but they are. Autoimmune disorders are often referred to as 'invisible diseases' since you cannot see nerve pain, fatigue, muscle pain, etc.

After getting answers Danielle went in search of the "why". No one in her family, to her knowledge, has any of these autoimmune disorders - she finds it hard to believe there's no cure. No cure that is known, maybe. She believes all diseases do have a root cause even if Western medicine doesn't look for this and tends to turn to pills instead. This mindset led her to do massive research on her own.

Around 2022 it came to her attention that there is such a thing as Breast Implant Illness (BII). BII it turns out can cause almost all of her ailments that she has been diagnosed with. Breakthrough. She asked her rheumatologist about this and her doctor confirmed, it was possible. Danielle then saw two plastic surgeons, both in West Palm Beach, FL area who specialize in BII and explant (removal of implants). One of these doctors is Dr. David Rankin of Aqua Plastic Surgery in Jupiter, FL. Both plastic surgeons also felt it was a strong possibility that the implants could be causing the health issues. Bingo. There is no one test that can determine if implants are causing health issues unfortunately. Even if implants are in tact they can cause BII due to it being a foreign object inside the body. Apparently, any medical device put inside the body can potentially cause an autoimmune like response (this includes people who have screws in their body due to surgery etc.). There is research on this. It doesn't mean this will happen - simply that it can or may. Everybody is different and different bodies react in different ways. Wow, she was shocked.

Danielle, like most women, was not told about this risk back when she got her implants at the age of 19 (she is now 35). She wishes she had been better informed and deeply regrets her young decision. She now realizes it is best to love yourself how you were born, in your natural state. Danielle wishes all women were properly warned about the risks of breast implants - through all this she also found out they can cause cancer.

Explant is Danielle's only viable solution or hope for her life back. She wishes to go to Dr. Rankin to have them removed and start her healing journey. She has been sick for approximately seven years or so now, with little to no help, each year progressing worse (she is "progressive", which means as time goes on - the disorder gets worse). She is scared that if she keeps on this path she may go in to organ failure one day. Her health care is expensive, she struggles to work 40+ hours a week to survive and pay her bills, it hurts to even clean her own home (hands, wrists, joint pain, etc.) Some days she is bedridden - she has ups and downs ('flare ups' as they are called).

Please donate whatever you can to help, every bit helps - so we can give Danielle her health & her life back hopefully through explant surgery.

Thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity.