Health Fund to Help Madeline Shanley
Donation protected
Give Madeline a Future!
We are Jen and Chris Shanley. Please help us give our daughter her life back.
Madeline Shanley, 23 years old, was struck by debilitating illness in her freshman year of college. Then, she was drugged and robbed by her nurse. We watched as mysterious illnesses took Madeline from a successful and driven honors college student studying Business Management to a young woman 100% bed-bound. Madeline is suffering from horrific full-body muscle contractions that turn her limbs around backwards, cause contortions across her body, and leave her in a pain-filled paralysis-like state where her muscles tear each other and her body apart with superhuman strength. These spasms often occur in episodes that can last an hour, several hours, days, weeks, and months at a time. She’s had a nonstop migraine since February 5th of 2019. Madeline’s abilities wax and wane alongside her medical episodes, including often costing her the ability to see, speak, and move her own body.
Madeline’s medical challenges hijack her body, but they have not stolen her mind and her drive. This is why we seek help. Madeline, despite what she has, is, and will endure, is still herself. She still wants to leave a positive impact on the world. She’s still fighting, even after all these years. We ask you to please help us help our daughter meet her needs so she may one day fulfill her goal of meeting the needs of others and doing good.
Misdiagnosis and lack of access to local specialists sent us on a medical journey around the country for answers. Unwilling to let our daughter die, Madeline drained her college fund and Madeline’s father and I drained our retirement accounts and sold our furniture to pay for Madeline’s medical treatment.
Madeline is suffering from a number of illnesses, including extreme malnutrition, gut dysfunction, Stiff Person Syndrome, and severe b12 deficiency. She has multiple, other, complex medical conditions that have left her 100% bed bound. Madeline is fighting and slowly working towards healing. We hope that someday she will be able to be a happy, healthy, successful person out in the world. For now, she is bed bound, unable to sit up, stand up, or sit in a wheelchair. Madeline is an incredible young woman who has fought a 3-year-long illness that most people could not tolerate for even a day. She has not given up and neither have we.
Madeline and her family have been the unfortunate victims of an alleged crime by Madeline’s night nurse. We allege the following details and actions regarding Madeline’s former nurse, all in relation to the nurse’s charges. Madeline’s night nurse stole from Madeline, her father, and me while we were sleeping. In association with what she did to Madeline and our family, this nurse has been arraigned in New York on the charges of Felony Endangering the Welfare of an Incompetent or Physically Disabled Adult in the 1st degree and Felony Grand Larceny in the 3rd degree.
This nurse stole dozens of things of value, need, strength to Madeline’s medical fight, and things of personal value, further depleting our resources to care for Madeline and provide for her future. The nurse stole medical supplies, the beautiful, hand-made, wire-woven jewelry that Madeline made before she lost the use of her hands, and Madeline’s small memorial to her beloved, deceased cat, and the ring that my grandmother had given me from when she came to the US to escape the Nazis in WWII. She also stole medicine, medical supplies, clothing, money, gift cards, jewelry, books, childhood toys, craft supplies, Taylor Swift merchandise that meant so much to Madeline and her fight for her life, and more. While neglecting Madeline’s care in our home, this nurse cased our home and Madeline’s room by flashlight. In Madeline’s grief and battle for her life against severe disabilities, Madeline has had to rely on others’ help to try to start to clean up the extensive chaos this nurse created while robbing our home and stealing Madeline’s belongings. It’s taken months to try to clean up. She even stole the bag of items that Madeline used to meditate to help her though the horrific pain… right off of Madeline’s home hospital bed.
Please help us save Madeline and try to give her back some of the life that she lost. We need help with medical supplies, adapted transportation, and to purchase items for Madeline’s room to make it easier for her care team to care for her at home. Our resources have been further depleted, as they were stolen from us.
We have raised $30,000 towards her stair chair, ramp, medications, and future transportation through our original GoFundMe. We are still in great need of any and all help. My husband, Chris, and I both work two jobs each to pay for all of Madeline’s medical needs that are not covered by our insurance and Medicaid. Chris has been an elementary school teacher in the Rochester City School District for the past 22 years. I work for a non-profit, Abilities Movement, an organization that provides healthy exercise, adapted sports teams, and community integration for people with disabilities. We both also care for Madeline for 12 hours each night, overnight, as we have no night nurse anymore. So, sleep is something we can only remember now.
We are trying to get a vehicle to transport Madeline to and from her doctors’ appointments. We need a specialized vehicle that can accommodate both a stretcher or a wheelchair, as we hope Madeline will be able to be in a wheelchair again. We are also asking for help to pay for the therapies and medications that we pay for out of pocket, as well as to help us with adaptive medical equipment for Madeline’s room. We believe Madeline has a future that can be bright and free of her horrific illnesses.
In order to keep Madeline in our home and out of a nursing home, we still need to raise money for the following:
* An additional $12,600.00 for Madeline’s vehicle. We are so close! We have saved and will be selling our other car to help pay for the specialized vehicle that can take her on her stretcher (and hopefully one day when she can sit up, her wheelchair) to medical appointments.
* $1,910.50 per month in medications and therapies that are not covered by insurance or Medicaid (None of these medications are narcotics or painkillers). Per year, these medications and therapies total $22,967
* Money to pay for adaptive equipment for Madeline (body positioning pillows, body braces, adapted utensils, bedside tables, etc.) $1,874.00
This is why we are asking for support in the amount of $70,000. This includes the $32,600 already raised through your generosity on GoFundMe. It also includes 12 months of medications/copays that are not covered by Medicaid or insurance, but are crucial for Madeline’s ability to heal and our only chance at giving her a future. We took down our GoFundMe last year, back when we were unsure if Madeline would live or not. We survived that horrible time. We now know that she will live through this, as we have seen tremendous healing. We have survived a horrific medical crisis, a difficult path through the healthcare system, a robbery by a nurse tasked with helping us, tremendous loss, and a pandemic. I’m pretty convinced we are unstoppable. We are aiming for the future and for Madeline’s healing! We ask for your help so that Madeline can continue to progress towards healing. Please consider sharing and donating to help Madeline. No amount is too small. We could use all the help we can get.
Madeline is an amazing person who has always been the champion for those who are voiceless. She is a fearless, kind, driven, compassionate advocate. She is the kind of daughter that dreams are made of. Madeline is a brilliant young woman whose body has failed her. She is fighting illnesses that have taken so much from her. But, with your help, we can win this battle.
Please consider sharing our story and donating to help us. Please help us heal Madeline so that her future will be bright and she can go on to her goal to be a force of good and have a positive impact on the world.
We are Jen and Chris Shanley. Please help us give our daughter her life back.
Madeline Shanley, 23 years old, was struck by debilitating illness in her freshman year of college. Then, she was drugged and robbed by her nurse. We watched as mysterious illnesses took Madeline from a successful and driven honors college student studying Business Management to a young woman 100% bed-bound. Madeline is suffering from horrific full-body muscle contractions that turn her limbs around backwards, cause contortions across her body, and leave her in a pain-filled paralysis-like state where her muscles tear each other and her body apart with superhuman strength. These spasms often occur in episodes that can last an hour, several hours, days, weeks, and months at a time. She’s had a nonstop migraine since February 5th of 2019. Madeline’s abilities wax and wane alongside her medical episodes, including often costing her the ability to see, speak, and move her own body.
Madeline’s medical challenges hijack her body, but they have not stolen her mind and her drive. This is why we seek help. Madeline, despite what she has, is, and will endure, is still herself. She still wants to leave a positive impact on the world. She’s still fighting, even after all these years. We ask you to please help us help our daughter meet her needs so she may one day fulfill her goal of meeting the needs of others and doing good.
Misdiagnosis and lack of access to local specialists sent us on a medical journey around the country for answers. Unwilling to let our daughter die, Madeline drained her college fund and Madeline’s father and I drained our retirement accounts and sold our furniture to pay for Madeline’s medical treatment.
Madeline is suffering from a number of illnesses, including extreme malnutrition, gut dysfunction, Stiff Person Syndrome, and severe b12 deficiency. She has multiple, other, complex medical conditions that have left her 100% bed bound. Madeline is fighting and slowly working towards healing. We hope that someday she will be able to be a happy, healthy, successful person out in the world. For now, she is bed bound, unable to sit up, stand up, or sit in a wheelchair. Madeline is an incredible young woman who has fought a 3-year-long illness that most people could not tolerate for even a day. She has not given up and neither have we.
Madeline and her family have been the unfortunate victims of an alleged crime by Madeline’s night nurse. We allege the following details and actions regarding Madeline’s former nurse, all in relation to the nurse’s charges. Madeline’s night nurse stole from Madeline, her father, and me while we were sleeping. In association with what she did to Madeline and our family, this nurse has been arraigned in New York on the charges of Felony Endangering the Welfare of an Incompetent or Physically Disabled Adult in the 1st degree and Felony Grand Larceny in the 3rd degree.
This nurse stole dozens of things of value, need, strength to Madeline’s medical fight, and things of personal value, further depleting our resources to care for Madeline and provide for her future. The nurse stole medical supplies, the beautiful, hand-made, wire-woven jewelry that Madeline made before she lost the use of her hands, and Madeline’s small memorial to her beloved, deceased cat, and the ring that my grandmother had given me from when she came to the US to escape the Nazis in WWII. She also stole medicine, medical supplies, clothing, money, gift cards, jewelry, books, childhood toys, craft supplies, Taylor Swift merchandise that meant so much to Madeline and her fight for her life, and more. While neglecting Madeline’s care in our home, this nurse cased our home and Madeline’s room by flashlight. In Madeline’s grief and battle for her life against severe disabilities, Madeline has had to rely on others’ help to try to start to clean up the extensive chaos this nurse created while robbing our home and stealing Madeline’s belongings. It’s taken months to try to clean up. She even stole the bag of items that Madeline used to meditate to help her though the horrific pain… right off of Madeline’s home hospital bed.
Please help us save Madeline and try to give her back some of the life that she lost. We need help with medical supplies, adapted transportation, and to purchase items for Madeline’s room to make it easier for her care team to care for her at home. Our resources have been further depleted, as they were stolen from us.
We have raised $30,000 towards her stair chair, ramp, medications, and future transportation through our original GoFundMe. We are still in great need of any and all help. My husband, Chris, and I both work two jobs each to pay for all of Madeline’s medical needs that are not covered by our insurance and Medicaid. Chris has been an elementary school teacher in the Rochester City School District for the past 22 years. I work for a non-profit, Abilities Movement, an organization that provides healthy exercise, adapted sports teams, and community integration for people with disabilities. We both also care for Madeline for 12 hours each night, overnight, as we have no night nurse anymore. So, sleep is something we can only remember now.
We are trying to get a vehicle to transport Madeline to and from her doctors’ appointments. We need a specialized vehicle that can accommodate both a stretcher or a wheelchair, as we hope Madeline will be able to be in a wheelchair again. We are also asking for help to pay for the therapies and medications that we pay for out of pocket, as well as to help us with adaptive medical equipment for Madeline’s room. We believe Madeline has a future that can be bright and free of her horrific illnesses.
In order to keep Madeline in our home and out of a nursing home, we still need to raise money for the following:
* An additional $12,600.00 for Madeline’s vehicle. We are so close! We have saved and will be selling our other car to help pay for the specialized vehicle that can take her on her stretcher (and hopefully one day when she can sit up, her wheelchair) to medical appointments.
* $1,910.50 per month in medications and therapies that are not covered by insurance or Medicaid (None of these medications are narcotics or painkillers). Per year, these medications and therapies total $22,967
* Money to pay for adaptive equipment for Madeline (body positioning pillows, body braces, adapted utensils, bedside tables, etc.) $1,874.00
This is why we are asking for support in the amount of $70,000. This includes the $32,600 already raised through your generosity on GoFundMe. It also includes 12 months of medications/copays that are not covered by Medicaid or insurance, but are crucial for Madeline’s ability to heal and our only chance at giving her a future. We took down our GoFundMe last year, back when we were unsure if Madeline would live or not. We survived that horrible time. We now know that she will live through this, as we have seen tremendous healing. We have survived a horrific medical crisis, a difficult path through the healthcare system, a robbery by a nurse tasked with helping us, tremendous loss, and a pandemic. I’m pretty convinced we are unstoppable. We are aiming for the future and for Madeline’s healing! We ask for your help so that Madeline can continue to progress towards healing. Please consider sharing and donating to help Madeline. No amount is too small. We could use all the help we can get.
Madeline is an amazing person who has always been the champion for those who are voiceless. She is a fearless, kind, driven, compassionate advocate. She is the kind of daughter that dreams are made of. Madeline is a brilliant young woman whose body has failed her. She is fighting illnesses that have taken so much from her. But, with your help, we can win this battle.
Please consider sharing our story and donating to help us. Please help us heal Madeline so that her future will be bright and she can go on to her goal to be a force of good and have a positive impact on the world.
Fundraising team (2)
Jennifer Shanley
Organiser
Fairport, NY
Chris Barker Shanley
Team member