Help Julia Heal from Cushing's Disease

Hello friends, family, loved ones!

As many of you probably know, I was diagnosed with Cushings Disease in 2022 after my doctor found a 4mm pituitary tumor on my brain MRI. This tumor is benign but is expected to be producing excess cortisol (the stress hormone). Im sure you can imagine how it feels to have an excess of the stress hormone in your body! It’s been a long road to treatment as there are many different standards and hurdles when it comes to treating Cushings disease. Its a disease that is understudied and not very well understood. Though we found my tumor in 2022, I’ve been suffering for a lot longer than that. Symptoms of Cushings are infections that your body can’t heal, muscle wasting, weight changes, fatigue, mood changes, vision issues, hormone issues, and that’s just a small few. Cushings wreaks havoc on every system of your body due to the pituitary being "the master gland" that controls hormone function, cortisol, body temp regulation, blood sugar etc. To say that this disease has changed the way I live my life is an understatement.

My surgery has been long awaited and is going to be in Texas at MD Anderson hospital on 12/6. Recovery from the surgery itself is extensive because it’s a brain surgery. However recovery is more extensive than that as, after surgery I can expect my body will slowly withdraw from the cortisol that my tumor was producing all this time. This will happen over a matter of months (hard to say how many) as I taper down on steroids that I’ll need to take as cortisol replacement due to my pituitary not functioning until it wakes up again.

Because the nature of Cushings recovery is unpredictable, I’m not sure how long I’ll need to be out of work. I’ve applied and been denied from FMLA due to not living and working in Massachusetts for long enough. This means we’ll be living solely on Daniel’s income and as everything is so expensive right now, this will prove to be difficult. I will have numerous health procedures along with surgery due to the need to be monitored for many months by my medical team. My goal amount is our deductible ($6,500), because we are sure we will meet our deductible quickly, plus some extra for paying for groceries and our mortgage while I’m out of work. Going through this has already shown me what a beautiful and supportive community I have, and as much as I hate to ask for more, I’m so grateful for any way that anyone can help. I count myself very lucky to even have a community that I can ask these things of. Please give only what you can/if you can and we appreciate you all so much!

Love Julia, Daniel, and Carl