Help Jessica Dance Again!
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If you know Jessica you know that she is a fierce advocate for her students, a tireless arts educator, a fierce entrepreneur, a loyal friend, a bad*ss manager, and a loving wife. She is always full of energy. Full of life. Always there to step in when needed and support you. Despite all her hard work, love, and smiles she freely shares, she's been dealing with intense pain and GI issues for several years. After being told "you just need to change your diet," or "it's all in your head", or "take more fiber", or "must be Irritable Bowel Syndrome". She listened to her body and new despite her high tolerance for pain, this was so much more than a diet or IBS issue. After a constant stream of doctor appointments and a colonoscopy that provided now answers, she did some research herself after a friend suggested she could be suffering from endometriosis.
On January 23rd Jess went in for exploratory diagnostic surgery. Her doctor found that she indeed, had endometriosis and it was aggressive. Tissue had grown in a way that her ovary, fallopian tube, bladder, and colon were all attached together. The doctor tried to separate some of this but decided that she would need a later surgery to remove the fallopian tube and ovary. During the surgery, her doctor gave her medicine which caused a very bad reaction and she was in an intense amount of pain. Later that day she had another bad reaction to medicine with her fever spiking and, again, intense pain. Despite her pain, she was released from the hospital and sent home.
After a few days home, little to no sleep or relief from pain, she returned to the ER when she couldn't sit up or walk. They gave her more pain management but said it was just the air she needed to release from surgery. After a few days, she was sent home again.
On Saturday, Feb 1st she went to the ER for the second time with intense pain and blood in her stools. After an MRI they found an abscess the size of a baseball. Apparently, this is what was causing the pain all along. Doctors installed a drain, but it didn't drain as they had hoped so they did surgery to remove it. While they were in removing the abscess doctors noticed that when they tried to remove the tissue in the first surgery the doctor had ripped her bowel causing bacteria to enter her body causing the abscess. Due to that, they had to remove the upper and lower colon and her a colostomy bag. She was also left with a c-section horizontal scar and a vertical abdominal scar. Luckily the ostomy will be a temporary situation, in three months they will reverse the bowel surgery and take the fallopian tube and ovary.
Jess and Lisa were just married in November and this is not the honeymoon they expected. Having just gotten an apartment together they were looking forward to a new life as a married couple. However "sickness and health" was tested very early in their marriage. Jessica's ever-increasing medical expenses have simply become untenable. Jess has had to miss two weeks of her full-time job she just started in July of 2019, and knows with recovery she will be missing many more. She has also been unable to go to Wisconsin to train her beloved dancers that are a part of her dance company: Raw Inspirations. Lisa has taken off several days off of work in order to be at Jessica's bedside and will be filing FMLA so she can help Jessica when she will be home for at least a month to recover from her next surgery. All that time will be unpaid for Lisa and Jessica is currently out of sick and vacation time.
The bottom line is that Jessica needs considerable financial help to pay for the essential medical procedures required to keep her alive and healthy. Currently unable to work her job due to her condition, she also needs help keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table as she enters a new round of surgeries and ongoing treatment. Please consider helping Jessica and Lisa so they can focus on her health instead of mounting debt and get her back to doing what she loves, teaching dance and helping all fall in love with the arts.
On January 23rd Jess went in for exploratory diagnostic surgery. Her doctor found that she indeed, had endometriosis and it was aggressive. Tissue had grown in a way that her ovary, fallopian tube, bladder, and colon were all attached together. The doctor tried to separate some of this but decided that she would need a later surgery to remove the fallopian tube and ovary. During the surgery, her doctor gave her medicine which caused a very bad reaction and she was in an intense amount of pain. Later that day she had another bad reaction to medicine with her fever spiking and, again, intense pain. Despite her pain, she was released from the hospital and sent home.
After a few days home, little to no sleep or relief from pain, she returned to the ER when she couldn't sit up or walk. They gave her more pain management but said it was just the air she needed to release from surgery. After a few days, she was sent home again.
On Saturday, Feb 1st she went to the ER for the second time with intense pain and blood in her stools. After an MRI they found an abscess the size of a baseball. Apparently, this is what was causing the pain all along. Doctors installed a drain, but it didn't drain as they had hoped so they did surgery to remove it. While they were in removing the abscess doctors noticed that when they tried to remove the tissue in the first surgery the doctor had ripped her bowel causing bacteria to enter her body causing the abscess. Due to that, they had to remove the upper and lower colon and her a colostomy bag. She was also left with a c-section horizontal scar and a vertical abdominal scar. Luckily the ostomy will be a temporary situation, in three months they will reverse the bowel surgery and take the fallopian tube and ovary.
Jess and Lisa were just married in November and this is not the honeymoon they expected. Having just gotten an apartment together they were looking forward to a new life as a married couple. However "sickness and health" was tested very early in their marriage. Jessica's ever-increasing medical expenses have simply become untenable. Jess has had to miss two weeks of her full-time job she just started in July of 2019, and knows with recovery she will be missing many more. She has also been unable to go to Wisconsin to train her beloved dancers that are a part of her dance company: Raw Inspirations. Lisa has taken off several days off of work in order to be at Jessica's bedside and will be filing FMLA so she can help Jessica when she will be home for at least a month to recover from her next surgery. All that time will be unpaid for Lisa and Jessica is currently out of sick and vacation time.
The bottom line is that Jessica needs considerable financial help to pay for the essential medical procedures required to keep her alive and healthy. Currently unable to work her job due to her condition, she also needs help keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table as she enters a new round of surgeries and ongoing treatment. Please consider helping Jessica and Lisa so they can focus on her health instead of mounting debt and get her back to doing what she loves, teaching dance and helping all fall in love with the arts.
Organizer and beneficiary
Shannon Cameron
Organizer
North Aurora, IL
Jessica Duplessis
Beneficiary