Help Tracy Get Back to Living Her Best Life!
Hi! I'm Jen, Tracy's cousin. I'm hoping we can raise some money to help Tracy cover a few of her expenses as she recovers from what will hopefully be a life-changing surgery.
If you know Tracy, then you know she is always ready to help someone who needs help, no matter how much time or energy it will take. Now it's our turn to let Tracy know how much we appreciate her.
Tracy had her surgery in hopes that it will improve the intense pain she has been living with for several years. It was a complicated procedure that took more than 5 hours to complete and left her with a railroad track of 67 staples running from her breast bone to her bikini line.
We're all keeping our fingers crossed that it will turn out to have been worth it and that as she heals, her quality of life will improve and she will be able to return to work.
Tracy's health journey began when she was 10 months old. She had a 2.5-pound tumour removed from her abdomen; the tumour had grown around a large vein called the inferior vena cava (IVC). Surgeons had to cut the vein at both ends and then reattach it.
In the years that followed, the vein began to collapse, which meant the vein had no direct flow through it and spider veins developed, although this went unnoticed for several years.
That was the first of many surgeries for Tracy! At age 8, she tripped and hit her neck, which damaged her voice box. She had a tracheotomy for months and 3 surgeries to repair her trachea. She had a few more surgeries for various other health issues in her thirties, including a cyst removal surgery.
Two weeks after that last surgery, Tracy developed a blood clot in her right leg, which caused extreme pain with every step she took. Her vascular surgical doctor did a lot of research to try to find a fix.
Finally, after 3 years of living with pain that even the best painkillers could not completely take away, on June 9, 2021, she had a double vein bypass. Artificial veins were put in place in hopes to improve blood flow and give Tracy her life back.
While she waited for her surgery, Tracy wasn't able to work her full-time job, since it was too physical. She was left with only her part-time job, about 8hrs a week. She didn't realize it, but working these 8 hours would mean she'd be denied when she applied for long-term disability (LTD). She hired a lawyer to appeal and got a small bit of money, but that has already been spent on her living costs.
All this has made it really challenging for Tracy to pay her bills, even with her family helping out. This has all been very stressful and emotionally difficult for her.
It took a bit of convincing for her to agree to this GoFundMe, as she is someone who doesn't like asking for help, as you likely know! I hope we can show Tracy how much we love and support her as she works to get her life back on track.