Hannah's bile reflux, SMA syndrome surgery

Update: Hey guys, I had my consult with the sma surgeon in California and it did not go well at all. He was not concerned with the severity of my sma syndrome, said he would not consider surgery on me, and gave me some bad/false information on bile reflux (told me I needed a FULL gastric bypass to treat bile reflux which is extremely false). After meeting with him I decided to move forward with my previous surgeon who is in Florida who has been working with me as far as bile reflux surgery prior to the smas diagnosis. I spoke to him further about the sma syndrome and he let me know the bile reflux/bile diversion surgery would bypass my duodenum and the partial obstruction when diverting the bile away from my stomach, thus addressing the smas as well, as food and drink will never have to pass through that area of my intestine ever again. We are moving forward with surgery this month. Insurance has refused to cover surgery related to sma/bile reflux because it is considered "experimental". So unfortunately we will be paying out of pocket. We are still trying to raise money for this and anything helps. Thank you everyone for your help this far, it means the world to us.

Hey, everyone. My name is Hannah and I was finally diagnosed with superior mesenteric artery syndrome after a 4 year battle with severe unexplained stomach issues. SMA syndrome is an extremely rare disease that causes the lower part of the duodenum to be compressed underneath the mesenteric artery. Because this part of the small intestine in compressed, food and drink cannot easily pass through this area, causing a type of traffic jam and significant slowing of digestion in the duodenum. Because of this, food and biliopancreatic juices such as bile back up into the stomach and cause debilitating symptoms such as, nausea, vomiting, feeling full, severe chemical gastritis due to bile reflux, constipation, and diarrhea.

Basically I am in a state of severe pain and suffering 24 hours a day with no relief of symptoms. Because this is an extremely rare disease no medical professionals in my area know how to adequately treat this disease. I will need to travel to see an SMAS specialist out of state and do not know yet if insurance will cover any of this because it is a rare disease and surgery options vary and are understudied because of the rarity of the disease. Asking for help is something I rarely do, and I'm only asking for help now because of how serious this condition is. My last ER visit showed stomach bleeding on my CT scan.

Regardless of if insurance covers surgery costs, I will be responsible for out of pocket expenses like travel and lodging. Because of the extensive testing and hospital visits I've had in the last few years, as well as being unable to work from how sick I've been, we are already very tight on money.

1 in 3 patients with SMAS will die, most often from lack of treatment and lack of care. This terrifies me for myself, but also for my son. Please consider donating to me in any capacity. You don't know how much the help would mean to us. Thank you so much and I pray I'm one day well again.