Get Tamarra to Digestive Clinic!
Donation protected
How do you help someone that is always helping everyone else?
Well, I am starting this campaign for a family that is in need and would never ask for it, THAT is how!
Bryan “The Car Guy” Armstrong needs no introduction, but his incredible wife Tamarra does!
Welcome to the official: GET Tamarra to the gastric specialist at the Digestive Disorder clinic in Cleveland project.
First you need a little background on Tamarra’s condition:
Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome (SMA) means that when she eats, the arterial branch going into her abdomen gets crushed and cuts off the blood supply. She also has inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia this makes her resting heartrate approx. 110-120 but it can, and will, shoot up to 170-180 without cause or provocation. When these 2 combine it results in multiple ER visits. She just had her 3rd Nissen fundoplication, where they detach the upper lobe of her stomach and wrap it around the entry from her stomach to the esophagus to rebuild the sphincter muscle as her diaphragm herniates and allows her stomach to begin putting pressure on her heart. The excess bile from the constant back flow from her stomach has now decreased the motility in section 3-4 of her esophagus and she can't eat without choking. She has been on a feeding tube that was surgically inserted into her small intestine for 16 mos. now and though she takes in up to 2000 calories a day from her nightly feeds she still can't maintain a weight above 100 lbs for any extended time. One of the major expenses is the specialty food that they require her to have to sustain her health. Unfortunately the insurance companies deem it as “food” so it is a non-covered expense and his extremely expensive.
Tamarra has undergone 1-2 major surgeries every year since 2011 and multiple diagnostic tests, bravos, CT Scans and x-rays...so much so that she is now deemed a high cancer risk. Daily life for Tamarra is on a feeding tube for 12 hours a day and then she fights nausea and bloating as well as severe abdominal pain. Because her metabolism is so high, it's been described as akin to a hummingbird, she has little to no energy for very long without paying a severe physical toll for it. Oral intake of any food results in choking and nausea and painful cramping and swelling as her system processes any intake within a 20-30 min. window.
Tamarra’s strength is BOUNDLESS. In spite of all her struggles she cares for their 4 kids (3 newly adopted) and continues to work!
Any little bit helps for this amazing family and their very long journey!
**UPDATE... Utah doctors are unable to help Tamarra anymore, and she has officialy been accepted into a Digestive Disorder Clinic in Cleveland!
Well, I am starting this campaign for a family that is in need and would never ask for it, THAT is how!
Bryan “The Car Guy” Armstrong needs no introduction, but his incredible wife Tamarra does!
Welcome to the official: GET Tamarra to the gastric specialist at the Digestive Disorder clinic in Cleveland project.
First you need a little background on Tamarra’s condition:
Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome (SMA) means that when she eats, the arterial branch going into her abdomen gets crushed and cuts off the blood supply. She also has inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia this makes her resting heartrate approx. 110-120 but it can, and will, shoot up to 170-180 without cause or provocation. When these 2 combine it results in multiple ER visits. She just had her 3rd Nissen fundoplication, where they detach the upper lobe of her stomach and wrap it around the entry from her stomach to the esophagus to rebuild the sphincter muscle as her diaphragm herniates and allows her stomach to begin putting pressure on her heart. The excess bile from the constant back flow from her stomach has now decreased the motility in section 3-4 of her esophagus and she can't eat without choking. She has been on a feeding tube that was surgically inserted into her small intestine for 16 mos. now and though she takes in up to 2000 calories a day from her nightly feeds she still can't maintain a weight above 100 lbs for any extended time. One of the major expenses is the specialty food that they require her to have to sustain her health. Unfortunately the insurance companies deem it as “food” so it is a non-covered expense and his extremely expensive.
Tamarra has undergone 1-2 major surgeries every year since 2011 and multiple diagnostic tests, bravos, CT Scans and x-rays...so much so that she is now deemed a high cancer risk. Daily life for Tamarra is on a feeding tube for 12 hours a day and then she fights nausea and bloating as well as severe abdominal pain. Because her metabolism is so high, it's been described as akin to a hummingbird, she has little to no energy for very long without paying a severe physical toll for it. Oral intake of any food results in choking and nausea and painful cramping and swelling as her system processes any intake within a 20-30 min. window.
Tamarra’s strength is BOUNDLESS. In spite of all her struggles she cares for their 4 kids (3 newly adopted) and continues to work!
Any little bit helps for this amazing family and their very long journey!
**UPDATE... Utah doctors are unable to help Tamarra anymore, and she has officialy been accepted into a Digestive Disorder Clinic in Cleveland!
Organizer
Jessica Richardson
Organizer
South Jordan, UT