Froglet's Medical Tests, Care & Survival

Hi, I’m Froglet. I’m a 44 year old disabled unhoused female in Texas with Long Covid & resulting immunodeficiency. I’m crowdfunding for medical tests & treatments that might help me manage my illness instead of doing this to survive month to month. Please, if you don’t read any further, just take a moment to share this campaign on your social networks before you go.

I contracted SARS-CoV-2 in February 2020, and never fully recovered. I have since been diagnosed with persistent CD4 specific lymphopenia - which is the same type of immune deficiency seen in HIV/AIDS. I’ve experienced significant neurocognitive decline, changes in vision and hearing, dysautonomia, and opportunistic infections including reactivated cytomegalovirus, candidiasis, and p jirovecii pneumonia, as well as ongoing GI and dermatological symptoms, weight loss, night sweats, pain, and fatigue.

There’s still no test for Long Covid, or approved treatments. I’ve been unable to work regularly since becoming ill nearly five years ago, but don’t receive any form of government assistance - nor do I qualify for insurance thru the ACA, and my state has chosen not to expand Medicaid. I have to pay out of pocket for the little medical care I can access, and my health continues to decline.

I take whatever odd jobs I can get when my health allows, and I’ve cut every expense possible. I live in a makeshift tent; I’m typing this on a prepaid phone; I even hand wash my clothes most of the time - but I can still barely make ends meet.

I’ve been holding on to hope that research would find tests - and treatment - for people like me, but with an incoming administration that wants to drastically cut public health spending, shift the focus away from infectious diseases, and impose a moratorium on research and drug development - the next four years look pretty bleak. I won’t be able to survive if something doesn’t change.

Thats why I have decided to ask for help in raising funds to get a battery of tests that other people with Long Covid have reported helpful. Depending on the results, it could point me towards a path of treatment that some patients have had success with. At the very least, identifying and addressing secondary issues might give me some stability and improvement in symptoms and hopefully allow me to work again.

Obviously, I won’t be able to do these all at once. But I would like to start on some of them as soon as possible, if only to at least have the peace of mind of knowing the most recent symptoms that have started aren’t anything that is immediately life threatening. The more I am able to do at once, the better financially though - because this list doesn’t include lab fees or doctor consults.

I’ll also still have to meet my critical recurring needs along the way, so the fundraiser goal will have to increase if it takes a while to get them done. That includes food, already prescribed meds, phone, etc. These are the things I normally ask for help with every month, and what I hope to not need to for much longer.

I would really appreciate it if you could help me reach my goal. Every donation, and every share, helps me get a little bit closer. So even if you aren’t able to donate, please - just take a moment to send this to your friends on twitter, facebook, bluesky, instagram, threads, etc. Thank you, and blessed be.