Help Emily Pay for Life Saving FSGS Medications

In 2021, Emily (living in the UK) met Erik (living in Canada) online through a shared love of poetry. Over the coming year, the two fell in love and ultimately decided that Emily would move to Canada so they could start their life together.

Unfortunately, only a few weeks after relocating to Canada to start her new life, Emily fell very ill - what first appeared to be stomach flu led to severe swelling of the entire body and face, leading Emily to seek emergency medical care in the hospital. After a multitude of tests, Emily was diagnosed with a kidney disease called Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS).

FSGS is a disease where scar tissue develops on the glomeruli (the small parts of the kidneys that filter waste from the blood). In Emily's case, her FSGS diagnosis has no known cause. If untreated, FSGS leads to Kidney failure and can only be treated with dialysis or a Kidney transplant.

Unfortunately at the initial onset, Emily's condition was not caught quickly and therefore the disease had progressed quite severely. Emily was admitted to South Health Campus hospital where she was admitted for over a month, receiving multiple rounds of dialysis and the introduction of an intense medication routine to not only get her body back to a healthy space but achieve and maintain remission of the disease. At this point, Emily was in Canada on a visitor visa with travel insurance. Luckily, her insurance company paid the majority of her $200 000 hospital bill, however, she was left with a total charge of $5000 for mental health-related services (support from psychology, psychology assessment and medication to manage anxiety) which needs to be paid out of pocket as it was linked to pre-existing noted anxiety.

After being discharged from the hospital, Emily and Erik knew that they wanted to stay together and that not having Emily here with legal status in Canada with ongoing medical needs was going to be a battle; they ultimately decided to get married. Since the wedding in October, Emily has been in remission, working hard to establish a life in Canada and work through the immigration process of becoming a permanent resident of Canada.

However, in February 2023, it became apparent that Emily's health was again taking a turn for the worst after watching her body swell excessively over only a couple of days. A trip to the emergency department again confirmed her worst fear - her FSGS has relapsed. As of today, Emily is admitted to South Health Campus where she is again beginning dialysis treatment. Emily currently has an Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan number, however, this status will be revoked on April 1 due to policy changes around spousal immigration processes and people choosing to reside in Canada before permanent residency has been granted. Moreover, after Emily and Erik were wed the travel insurance company is no longer involved in covering medical bills, meaning that Erik is paying for all of Emily's medications out of pocket (Erik does not have health insurance through his employer). Emily's medications cost about $300.00 per month and so over the next 5 months, her regular medications will cost $1500.00.

Yesterday while consulting with a physician, Emily was informed of the new medication that she will require to mitigate the relapse of her FSGS and work towards sustaining remission in the future. The pharmacist at the hospital projects that this medication will cost about $10.00/day for the next 5 months... the total cost of this being $1550.

As Emily is unable to work and not safe to fly back to the UK (as per doctors' orders), she is asking for help paying for her previous hospital bill ($5000), her regular medications ($1500) and her new medication ($1500) as well as additional expenses related to the hospitalization, so she and Erik can get back on track.

Thank you so much for your time, contribution and support.