Melissa's Recovery Fund
Donation protected
Melissa’s Story:
Melissa is a wonderful, beautiful person inside and out! Her entire career and personal life has been helping others. She is a devoted single mother with sole custody of 4 beautiful children.
After graduating with a Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy she has worked hard to support her family. She started her career treating the mentally ill, conducting child abuse investigations, and now assists in implementing programs that improve our community. On a personal level she is warm, encouraging, and always looking for the positive when she can. She has opened her home many times to children who need a place to stay and helped them reconcile with their families when possible. She has done all this while battling systemic lupus for the past 10 years. While putting everyone else first her health has been declining over the past year and, unfortunately at the end of November, her body gave out and she went from attending work meetings and having family time straight to hospitals, doctors, and test, after test, after test. Now, in addition to the Lupus, she has been given a myriad diagnoses:
- Hughes/antiphospholipid syndrome - a blood disorder
- Sarcoidosis - the growth of tiny collections of inflammatory cells (granulomas) in different parts of your body — most commonly the lungs, lymph nodes, eyes and skin.
- Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD) - a disorder with features of systemic sclerosis (SSc), lupus erythematosus, and polymyositis.
- Systemic Vasculitis - inflammation of your blood vessels
- Behcet’s – causes inflammation of your arteries, veins, knees, elbows and ankles
- Intestinal Chemical Corrosion
- Lympandeonoathy - a disease affecting the lymph nodes.
- Anticardiolipin Syndrome – occurs when your immune system mistakenly attacks some of the normal proteins in your blood. This can cause blood clots to form within your arteries or veins.
She is finding herself in more pain than she has ever been in before. She now has difficulty eating and difficulty breathing, so everything from walking to even talking is a struggle. She feels as if her body has literally turned on her!
At the beginning of June she was given a glimmer of hope when her doctor said they were going to try Chemo infusion to treat most of what she is suffering from and the nurse said that the doctor had already gotten approval through insurance, but the the nurse was mistaken and Melissa is still waiting for insurance to approve the treatment. In the meantime, while she has been waiting for their approval she has been unable to work since December. Her car has been repossessed, the bank has started foreclosure proceedings on her home. Being the only provider to her children, and no family nearby, this has put an enormous strain emotionally, financially, and every way imaginable on all of them. It’s an uphill battle, but she continues to fight to get better so she can return to work, support her family, save her home and get her car back. The very woman who LOVES to help, now needs it! I'm facing the most arduous uphill battle of my life, and I'm not one to ask for help- I'm the one who LOVES to give the help!!.
Please join me in helping her out!
I'm trying to raise funds for an amazing and strong mom (and new grandma).
After all she has been through, asking for help may be one of the hardest things she has ever done. She is fiercely independent and has proudly been able to get things done on her own. But, forces beyond her control are leading her to admit that she will not be able to this time. She needs help.
Currently, the biggest burden that won't go away with any treatment or medication is the fact that her car has been repossessed and her home, her first home which she was able to buy 4 years ago, is in foreclosure. She applied for food assistance, and even though her current income is way below the lowest level income amount allowed, she was still denied. She owes the city (her employer) $2700 for medical premiums. And she regularly sees her primary care doctor, Rheumatologist, Oncologist, a very specialized Gastrointestinal Dr./Professor with Duke Hospital, Neurologist, and other various specialists attempting to help decrease her symptoms. Along with all that and the accumulating medical bills, she needs help. Let’s do as much as we can to help this wonderful woman who has given so much to others. I know that she would be there for all of us if we needed her. Thank you for anything you can do!!!
If you're interested in learning more about what Melissa is facing medically, Google is your friend! The Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and John Hopkins have the most reliable information. Please keep in mind that some of these diseases are very mild in some people, and severe in others- Melissa is one of the "others" who symptoms have become debilitating.
Melissa is a wonderful, beautiful person inside and out! Her entire career and personal life has been helping others. She is a devoted single mother with sole custody of 4 beautiful children.
After graduating with a Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy she has worked hard to support her family. She started her career treating the mentally ill, conducting child abuse investigations, and now assists in implementing programs that improve our community. On a personal level she is warm, encouraging, and always looking for the positive when she can. She has opened her home many times to children who need a place to stay and helped them reconcile with their families when possible. She has done all this while battling systemic lupus for the past 10 years. While putting everyone else first her health has been declining over the past year and, unfortunately at the end of November, her body gave out and she went from attending work meetings and having family time straight to hospitals, doctors, and test, after test, after test. Now, in addition to the Lupus, she has been given a myriad diagnoses:
- Hughes/antiphospholipid syndrome - a blood disorder
- Sarcoidosis - the growth of tiny collections of inflammatory cells (granulomas) in different parts of your body — most commonly the lungs, lymph nodes, eyes and skin.
- Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD) - a disorder with features of systemic sclerosis (SSc), lupus erythematosus, and polymyositis.
- Systemic Vasculitis - inflammation of your blood vessels
- Behcet’s – causes inflammation of your arteries, veins, knees, elbows and ankles
- Intestinal Chemical Corrosion
- Lympandeonoathy - a disease affecting the lymph nodes.
- Anticardiolipin Syndrome – occurs when your immune system mistakenly attacks some of the normal proteins in your blood. This can cause blood clots to form within your arteries or veins.
She is finding herself in more pain than she has ever been in before. She now has difficulty eating and difficulty breathing, so everything from walking to even talking is a struggle. She feels as if her body has literally turned on her!
At the beginning of June she was given a glimmer of hope when her doctor said they were going to try Chemo infusion to treat most of what she is suffering from and the nurse said that the doctor had already gotten approval through insurance, but the the nurse was mistaken and Melissa is still waiting for insurance to approve the treatment. In the meantime, while she has been waiting for their approval she has been unable to work since December. Her car has been repossessed, the bank has started foreclosure proceedings on her home. Being the only provider to her children, and no family nearby, this has put an enormous strain emotionally, financially, and every way imaginable on all of them. It’s an uphill battle, but she continues to fight to get better so she can return to work, support her family, save her home and get her car back. The very woman who LOVES to help, now needs it! I'm facing the most arduous uphill battle of my life, and I'm not one to ask for help- I'm the one who LOVES to give the help!!.
Please join me in helping her out!
I'm trying to raise funds for an amazing and strong mom (and new grandma).
After all she has been through, asking for help may be one of the hardest things she has ever done. She is fiercely independent and has proudly been able to get things done on her own. But, forces beyond her control are leading her to admit that she will not be able to this time. She needs help.
Currently, the biggest burden that won't go away with any treatment or medication is the fact that her car has been repossessed and her home, her first home which she was able to buy 4 years ago, is in foreclosure. She applied for food assistance, and even though her current income is way below the lowest level income amount allowed, she was still denied. She owes the city (her employer) $2700 for medical premiums. And she regularly sees her primary care doctor, Rheumatologist, Oncologist, a very specialized Gastrointestinal Dr./Professor with Duke Hospital, Neurologist, and other various specialists attempting to help decrease her symptoms. Along with all that and the accumulating medical bills, she needs help. Let’s do as much as we can to help this wonderful woman who has given so much to others. I know that she would be there for all of us if we needed her. Thank you for anything you can do!!!
If you're interested in learning more about what Melissa is facing medically, Google is your friend! The Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and John Hopkins have the most reliable information. Please keep in mind that some of these diseases are very mild in some people, and severe in others- Melissa is one of the "others" who symptoms have become debilitating.
Organizer
Melissa Baker
Organizer
Charlotte, NC