Expenses due to unexpected illness

Hello, my name is Ashley, I’m 22 years old and I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) on 12/17/2016. I want to first share some information about MS, and then share my story.

　

About MS

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body due to nerve damage. MS is an autoimmune disease where your immune system attacks and damages the myelin coating around the nerve fibers in the central nervous system, as well as the nerve fibers themselves. That damage is what interferes with the transmission of nerve signals between the brain, spinal cord and the rest of the body. MS causes many different symptoms including, vision loss, pain, fatigue, and impaired coordination. The symptoms, severity, and duration can vary from person to person. Some people may be symptom free most of their lives, while others can have severe chronic symptoms that never go away.

　

My Story

I am a single mother of a 2 year old son that is my pride and joy. He is truly the reason I breathe and fight to better myself every day. From the moment I found out I was pregnant, being his sole provider, I have done everything in my power to do just that, provide. I worked at a convenient store through my entire pregnancy up until the day before I had him. I even went to my OBGYN 5 weeks after I gave birth to obtain a note, after being checked of course, stating I could return to work early because I couldn’t afford to lose anymore pay. When my son was a little under 1.5 years old, I moved 45 minutes away, to a bigger city that had more job opportunities, in hopes that I could make more money for my son and I. I went from making $8.35 an hour, working part time at a convenient store, to making $10.00 an hour, working 40+ hours a week at a call center a little over a month after I moved. After working at the call center for 5 months, I decided to go to college for medical billing and coding. Although I was grateful for the raise in pay, between the cost of living and my son growing so fast, it just wasn’t enough. Thank goodness for my mother, she watched my son while I worked from 8:00am to 4:30pm, sped to school, and then attended school from 5:30pm to 10:30pm. I usually returned home around 11:00pm, did homework, and did it all over again the next morning. There were some nights that I had so much homework; I didn’t finish until 30 minutes before my alarm would go off to wake up. I remember falling asleep typing up papers and the one time I had to stay awake for 46 hours straight. My son was usually asleep, both when I left home for work and returned home from school. I sometimes went days without seeing him which broke my heart and put a damper on our relationship, but I was doing it all for him, for him to have a better life. I finally made it through school with A’s and B’s, just 200 externship hours to do and I was officially done! At my extern site, I did what I always do, I put my nose to the grindstone, soaked up every bit of information I could, and worked my hardest! Although I wasn’t getting paid, it was from 8:00am to 4:30pm, in an office full of friendly, welcoming, helpful individuals, I had an amazing trainer; I was having the best time of my life and saw myself fitting right in as a new employee. After inquiring if there were any positions available, the CEO himself approached me and asked for my resume. He studied my resume for about 15 minutes and called me into his office. That’s where I humbly climbed to cloud 9. He hired me! Getting my own desk with a long shelf and 2 large drawers that locked, 2 computers, and office supplies galore, I felt that my hard work had FINALLY paid off. Then I found out I would be making $15.00 an hour, 40+ hours a week, benefits that people haven’t seen since the 80’s, quarterly bonuses, and doing something I actually love, I was ecstatic! That evening, I held my son and cried tears of joy. No more struggle, I thought. I did it, I finally was able to begin my career and give my son the life he deserved! Then, a month after being employed at my dream job, on 11/30/2016, I woke up for work with a sore throat, weakness and body aches. Thinking it was just allergies or maybe I slept with my mouth open, I went to work. By lunch time, it had progressively gotten worse, shivering, being the only one freezing, I went home early. As soon as I got home, I went to bed with a fever and slept through the night. The next morning I felt even worse, I called out of work and went to my primary physician who diagnosed me with strep throat, provided me with a prescription for antibiotics and said I shouldn’t go back to work until the following Monday, for I was contagious. I did as she said but the next day, on 12/02/2016, I woke up and I couldn’t feel the right side of my face. I looked normal, it was just numb. I also noticed hearing loss in my right ear along with feeling a bit off balance, the best way I can explain it is that it felt like I had drank a bit of alcohol. I was still able to function and drive, I was just running into walls and not as good of a driver as I usually am. I called my primary physicians office and informed them of the new symptoms, and they advised me to go to urgent care. I did as they said but after being examined and confirming I wasn’t having a stroke, I was told, "It’s probably some weird symptoms caused by the strep throat, seeing as you just started the antibiotics yesterday, it hasn’t had enough time to work. Give it some more time to kick in." I did as he said and went back to my usual life thinking, ‘this sure is a bad case of strep throat!’ Going back to work the following Monday, I felt fine, other than my face, ear and balance. That week, I wore my glasses while driving back and forth to work and drove real slow, and stumbled around the office, almost taking down a co-worker and laughing about it, making fun of myself. On 12/07/2016, I received a "courtesy" call from the urgent care I went to, asking if my odd symptoms had subsided. After telling him no, he instructed me to go to the ER immediately. I finished my work day and went to the ER where they, again, confirmed I was not having a stroke and diagnosed me with bell’s palsy and vertigo. He sent me home with a prescription of steroids to hopefully rid me of these symptoms, and antiviral medication to get rid of any other possible infections. He told me there wasn’t a definitive cause for bell’s palsy or vertigo, but not to worry, in time it would fade. Although it was weird, I walked away just fine for the most part. On 12/12/2016 I woke up for work, feeling weird now for 10 days, I got ready, went to the office and got to work just as I did every weekday, although this day was completely different. A couple of hours into my work day, the room started spinning. I went from stumbling around, to feeling like I was on a fair ride, spinning in circles. I started feeling nauseous from all the spinning but continued to push myself to work. We had a meeting to go to, me disoriented, had lost track of time, so a co-worker of mine (my awesome trainer) came over to remind me of our meeting and saw that I looked different. Apparently my face had lost all color and portrayed how sick I was feeling. She asked if I was ok, and I remember saying, "I’m going to be sick". Clenching my stomach, I stumbled to the bathroom, having a difficult time getting through the door, I finally made my way in and thank goodness, that co-worker followed me. Apparently I went into a stall, passed out for a minute, then came to and vomited. She called an ambulance that took me to the hospital, and there began an abundance of testing. Spinning so fast, the vomiting wouldn’t stop; I was miserable. I had to stop half way through the MRI of my brain and rush to get my head out so I wouldn’t choke on my own puke. I had to delay the needle going into my spine during the spinal tap, as well as lay there long after it was done to puke more. Thankfully, after enough nausea medicine, that night it stopped, but I noticed I had gained new symptoms. I have double and shaky vision, the vision in my right eye is close to nonexistent, forcing me to wear an eye patch over it just so I can focus out of my left eye, the spinning is so bad I can’t walk without a walker, coordination in the right side of my body is close to gone and now, instead of my face just being numb, the muscles are also clenched up. After 6 days in the hospital and 5 days of intravenous steroids, I was diagnosed with MS and released on 12/17/2016. Since then, all the symptoms I have experienced have stayed, except for the constant vomiting. I’m still spinning, though I think now I’m so used to it, it doesn’t make me nauseous. I’ve had 2 attacks since then, one on 12/22/2016 leaving me with severe daily pain, and a small one on 12/29/2016 that thank goodness, didn’t leave anything but terror. I could literally see the color leave objects and my brain shutting down. I went from being alert to talking slow, not being able to comprehend conversation, and being so weak I could barely walk with my walker. I saw the neurologist the hospital referred me to on 12/28/2016. He spent 2 hours with me, asking questions, performing test, explaining treatment options, and finally, showing me the MRI of my brain. He showed me that I have dozens of lesions on both sides of my brain, a brain barrier leakage, and black holes (a nice way of saying "this is permanent damage because you have holes in your brain"). He explained that I have a severe, fast progressing, aggressive, relapsing case of MS. Because of my age, how aggressively progressive it has been, and how severe the symptoms I’ve been left with are, he and I have decided that I will participate in Lemtrada infusions as soon as my insurance hopefully approves it, for usually Lemtrada is reserved for MS patients that have tried and failed 2 other medications. In the mean time, I have went from a hard working, independent, proud single mother, finally succeeding in life to being completely dependent on my mother who now HAS to stay home and take care of my son and I, as well as drive me to all my appointments. I have applied for disability, as I am now handicap and disabled, but that decision could take up to 4 months to get back. I went from making checks I wouldn’t have dreamt of, to having no income and facing homelessness come 02/01/2017. I don’t know how I am now going to support my son, mother, and I. I’m not usually one to ask for help, but this has knocked me down lower than I could have ever imagined and I don’t know what else to do. Thank you to anyone who reads, supports, donates, prays or sends good vibes my way. My family and I truly appreciate anything and everything!