Help Autumn Receive CRPS Treatment

Hi, my name is Sommer and I am fundraising for the Eade family. Ronda and Autumn will be traveling to Spero Clinic this summer for intensive treatment in the hopes that it will affect Autumn's Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. To be successful, they will need to be there full-time for about 3 months. They will need to pay for both living and medical expenses while they are there. Please consider donating to this wonderful family! Below is Autumn's story in her own words:

Hello! My name is Autumn Eade. I am a 21-year-old college student who has Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) that has spread throughout my entire body. Before I tell you about that, let me first tell you who I was before CRPS. I was a very active and outgoing kid. I loved swimming, dance, gymnastics, sports, piano, and art. I was also very involved in my church youth group and church camp. My friends, along with my family, were a huge part of my life. There was nothing I would not try… at least once.

When I was 14 years old, I began having severe leg pain, but it was intermittent. I ended up quitting dance, sports, and gymnastics the first year I had pain, as it was just too intense. My pain began to grow and was spreading. Within a year, my pain was constant, and my world began to shrink. I had to give up swimming, art, and piano, along with most social activities. By the time I was a sophomore in high school, I was in a wheelchair and stayed there for two years. My world consisted of my family…that is about it. We tried every treatment you can imagine, but the pain continued to grow. Finally, we ended up finding Scrambler Therapy and traveled to Rhode Island. While this gave me enough relief to get out of the wheelchair full-time, I continued to have a lot of pain and traveling back and forth was not an option. After our home was paid off, my mom took out a home equity loan to buy a Scrambler Therapy Machine. Even so, the pain grew and spread, but the machine gave me enough relief, periodically, to be able to walk.

Move forward to today. I am no longer the person I once was. Not only are my hobbies no longer options, but I am not able to work despite loving my job. I am in college, but I have to have a suitcase so that I can roll my computer and books, as I simply cannot carry them. I am not able to type my assignments, so my mom is my personal secretary and I have notetakers for each of my classes. I visited Spero Clinic after one of my friends had gone there for treatment. I can honestly say, this is my source of hope again. This is a 13-week (average length, though some a little longer) intense treatment program. It is Monday through Thursday from 8:00 – 5:00. Though incredibly tough, I am ready to take this challenge on to be able to be active and involved with friends, family, church, school, and pursue my dream job of becoming a social worker to work with kids with special needs. If you can help, I would be forever grateful!! I cannot wait to be a “normal” person and just get to love life again.