Help Aliya Overcome SMAS with Life-Saving Surgery

Hi!

I’m Aliya! I’m 22, and I’m reaching out to request support as I prepare for a crucial surgery that could save my life. This surgery represents my best and possibly last chance to regain the ability to eat and drink, and to minimize the extreme chronic pain that I endure daily. However, the procedure is not covered by insurance as it is out of network for me, and I am facing a significant financial burden. I need to raise $15,000 to help with the surgery costs, and I am asking for your support.

Eight years ago, at age fourteen, I began experiencing severe pain that made eating and drinking impossible. For years, I struggled with malnutrition and a constant decline in my health, but doctors were unable to determine the cause. In October 2021, I had a nearly fatal medical episode, which resulted in what ultimately became a six month hospital admission, during which time the malnutrition had taken such a toll on my body that I had to relearn how to walk and talk.

It was during this extended hospital stay that I was diagnosed with a disease called Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome (SMAS), a rare condition with a 33% mortality rate, that is often diagnosed at autopsy. SMAS occurs when the duodenum (the first part of the small intestine) is compressed between two major arteries (the superior mesenteric artery and the aorta), restricting blood flow and making it impossible to eat. This condition leads to severe malnutrition, chronic pain, and other serious complications. In my case, the situation was compounded by additional vascular compressions, which required several open abdominal surgeries that I have undergone over the last couple of years.

Because I am unable to eat and drink, I now depend on a surgical feeding tube for nutrition and a central line for hydration. Despite multiple surgeries, my health challenges and debilitating pain persist, and after extensive research, I found a highly specialized surgeon with a unique expertise in treating SMAS. After two years of waiting, I will finally have surgery with him in early December of this year.

This timing is especially meaningful to me, as it falls around the same time I will be graduating from Belmont University with degrees in Songwriting and Music Business. After everything I’ve been through, I am eager to take this next step toward a healthier future. The surgeon I’ve waited so long for is one of the few in the world performing this specific procedure, and his high success rate far exceeds that of other surgeons.

Any contribution, no matter the amount, will bring me closer to achieving this life-changing goal. If you are unable to donate, sharing my story with others would be incredibly helpful as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story and for any support you can offer. Your generosity means the world to me.

Thank you,

Aliya Rix Hedgecock