Chronic illness: Help Lisa Coronado!

Lisa Coronado is a brilliant actress, a die-hard friend, and a light to the artistic community at large. She's an amazing mother to two incredible kids, a wife still madly in love with her high school sweetheart, and a spirit whose brightness and tenacity will rise above these terrible current circumstances.

My best friend is in her second year of battling an undiagnosed illness that is effecting not only her health, but her livelihood as an actor, and her family's finances.
Lisa was forced to greatly reduce her acting career in order to deal with her illness, causing the loss of wages and preventing her from following her dreams. Before she became ill, Lisa's career flourished with a leading role on Z-Nation and a critically acclaimed appearance in the new Twin Peaks. But loss of work caused the loss of her SAG insurance, forcing the family onto an expensive alternative plan.

Now, that insurance company insists that Lisa has to pay even *more.*
For the past year and and a half, Lisa pursued every hope for a diagnosis, only to be met with dead ends and frustration. Last month, her insurance company denied claims they previously processed and paid, forcing her to back-pay for costly treatments out of pocket. She needs our help. This is her story. This is my plea.

A not so simple illness.
In July of 2017, Lisa was on her way to an acting job when she began feeling sick. She became incredibly ill, and over the next five weeks she saw multiple doctors, including two trips to the ER for losing consciousness.  Besides her general practitioner, she saw an endocrinologist, a neurologist, and a gastroenterologist.  After five weeks, she wound up back into the ER a third time.  Doctors didn't know what was going on; they gave her a CT scan and prepped her for an MRI, but one doctor in particular had the idea to give her a mono test: it came back positive.

Finally there seemed to be an answer to her mysterious illness --- but it turned out to be only the beginning of her ordeal.  By October she wasn't better, and November dealt the first financial blow.


Too sick to move.
Lisa was scheduled to go to England at the end of November for a paid appearance at a Comic-Con as her popular character Dr. Merch from the hit SyFy show, Z-Nation. This work trip was also to be a first trip to Europe for Lisa and her whole family -- husband Tony, and children Alex and Bella. But the trip wasn't to be. Lisa relapsed, finding herself in agony, unable to move or get out of bed.

"We had to cancel the trip on Thanksgiving Day, the day we were supposed to fly out.  Nothing was refundable, the flights, hotel, train tickets, nothing."  Thousands of dollars were lost as she returned to the grueling process of searching for a diagnosis for the illness that was stealing her life.

A desperate search for answers.
The illness, the search, and the trials continued for months into a new year. Besides an infectious disease doctor, anti-virals, and indeterminate Lyme disease tests, Lisa also saw three different naturopath doctors and had over 30 tests done, for her immune system, GI tract, ebv and HHv6, heavy metal toxicity, marcons, thyroid, iron, vitamin deficiencies, lyme, lupus, hashimotos disease, arthritis, full blood counts, diabetes, POTS, "and many, many more." Each time, the results were usually of no help or downright confusing for her doctors.

Trying anything to heal.
Lisa refuses to give up.  Doctors prescribed  treatments that include as high dose intravenous Vitamin C, IV Meyer's cocktail, acupuncture, Chinese herbs, reflexology, energy work, antidepressants, GABA,  tinctures to boost her low cortisol levels, tinctures to boost her immune system to help fight viruses, iron infusions via IV, a high dose of Valtrex ( a powerful antiviral) for over 3 months straight, antibiotics, colloidal silver, and over 20 supplements. While some bring temporary relief, true healing remains elusive. Lisa is not as sick as she was in the beginning but she isn't fully healed like she should.  December of last year, Lisa was referred back to her neurologist for an MRI, and a muscle and nerve test.

Then, bad news from the insurance company.

Claims denied, payment demanded.
"My insurance company came back and said they paid my naturopathic doctors in error, and were requesting refunds from them all, and that we now have to pay it back." After processing and paying claims for these treatments, the insurance company demanded back-payment, even though admitting it was their own error.

Love keeps them going through the financial strain.
Lisa and her family are exhausted, emotionally and physically, and still their hope and love sustain them as a united front, looking for a diagnosis, looking for the right doctor to ask the right questions. Her family's love is a bond that is holding them through this time of incredible stress -- you can regularly find Bella spending time with her Mom, watching a favorite movie or series while cuddled up in bed with Kita, their Shiba Inu. Husband Tony is supporting the family on his own and often goes to work, coaches the kids' soccer games, and comes home to make a late dinner for the family. Their love for each other is fierce and strong through the most challenging trial they've ever faced.


We can help.
More than anything, I want to find a diagnosis and a cure for Lisa, but what I can do -- what we all can do -- is ease the financial fears and the very real financial dangers they now face.

Your donation gives the Coronado family breathing room. It buys them the gift of time. It will lighten their stress, and provide peace. No one should face this amount of financial crisis due to their health. We all deserve the right to live and thrive. We can and must do better, as friends and as a community.


Please help the Lisa and the Coronado family. No gift is too small. Thank you.

P.S. You can follow Lisa chronicling her search for a diagnosis and a cure here on Twitter .