Shayla’s Fistula repair trip to India

Hi everyone, if You don’t already know, I’ve been suffering from chrons disease since 2014. Over the course of the last decade, I’ve had three abdominal surgeries and a lot of trauma. About six years ago, I started having recurrent perianal abscesses that did not respond to antibiotics. The doctor I had at the time brushed it off, even after I brought up the possibility of fistulas forming. (The medical definition of a fistula, because I didn’t know what they were until I suffered from them:

A fistula is an abnormal connection between two body parts, such as an organ or blood vessel and another structure. Fistulas are usually the result of an injury or surgery. Infection or inflammation can also cause a fistula to form.) So I was ignored for months, given steroids and antibiotics, and the fistulas started to spread in my nether regions. I finally was admitted for sepsis in 2019, shortly after switching primary care doctors. I started a new biological immunosuppressant medication, hoping it would help. It didn’t. I went from Riverbend GI to OHSU in 2021, hoping they would have some new ideas, but unfortunately all they had to offer me was more invasive tests (which exacerbate my symptoms) and the possibility of an ostomy (which I had for two years from 2014-2016 and it was also a nightmare) and/ or seton placement, which often makes matters worse as well. So yeah, for the past five ish years, I’ve just been quietly trying to live with this awful affliction, feeling completely hopeless, doing all I can with natural medicine and prayer. Then I started joining recto vaginal fistula support groups, and found that this is actually an issue that affects a lot of women world wide, and the US medical system simply doesn’t know how to deal with it properly. Through these groups, I heard about Healing Hands Clinic in India. They use advanced laser technology to heal even the most complex cases from the inside out, and from what I understand (I’ve made some new friends I’ve been chatting with who have been there and are cured!) the procedures are not all that painful, and the success rate is 99%! Which is hugely better than here, where the various invasive, traumatic procedures they offer are about 20-40% effective.

The big hurdle, and the reason I’m rambling on here, begging for money is that we simply can’t afford all the costs for the trip. The procedures take between 8-12 weeks, and cost about 8-10k. That, plus passport fees, plane tickets, and lodging for the three of us, would put us back quite a bit. But I’m just praying that God will make it happen. I honestly really need this, as my symptoms lately have been unbearable. I’m in constant pain, and I’m having incontinence issues (I hate to publicly admit that second one, but I feel it’s important for people to understand the gravity of my situation) my mental health has been pretty bad from all of this, I’m just so tired of feeling so broken. So, if you feel compelled to, and have the means to donate to my cause, it would be greatly appreciated God bless.