Donate to Carly Francisco's Surgery and Care

Hello

My name is Carly Francisco and I am having an upcoming surgery (two actually). In 2022, I began to have abscesses that were continually lanced and drained. After about the 5th or 6th one, a seton was placed for 2 weeks for the area to drain and heal properly, a procedure I was told would fix the issue. I was told at this time that I had a fistulous tract but it was 10CM away from the area where they would be required to do surgery. I had no abscesses after that surgery in 2023.

Fast forward to October 2024. I was coming back from a fundraising weekend at Virginia Beach and noticed a familiar pain. I thought maybe it was just from the long walk and generally being tired until I woke up the next day and realized it was another abscess. Not just any abscess, the worst one I had to date. After a trip to the ER where they did nothing but tell me I had a fistula and send me on my way, I went to my PCP, barely being able to sit on the exam table due to the pain I was in. She directed me to a surgeon immediately to get this taken care of. On November 6, the surgeon told me that I would have to have one of two possible procedures but he was not sure. He didn't inspire me with confidence, so I sought out a second opinion.

In December 2024, I went to the second opinion and found out that the original procedure should have never been done without taking care of the fistula first. The surgeon at UVA stated that I was always going to have a recurrence even worse than 2022 because it wasn't properly taken care of. I now have to have 2 surgical procedures to not only fix the tract but numerous weeks off of work and wound care. Our family depends on my paychecks and Virginia does not have State Disability for such events, so being on Short Term Disability severely affects our finances.

Short term disability through my work is nor guaranteed as I have only been paying 10 months into the policy (I started working at my job in January 2024). While I have an agent who is going to work very hard to get it approved, there is a possibility that it won't be. That would mean we are out 2k a month for our bills and necessities.

Additionally, the surgery costs are going to be about 2k for both surgeries, not accounting for the wound care that will have to come in the first four weeks to help me with packing and managing the wound to prevent infection. My initial goal is 8k to help pay for the initial surgery, wound care, and some of our bills while I am out on short-term disability. Anything right now helps!