Support Madison's Urgent Medical Journey

My name is Kala Shelton. I’m the mother of Madison Shelton.

(Mad), as we jokingly call her, is 21 and my youngest daughter.

I’m writing this to help Madison as she travels on an urgent referral to see Dr. Amy Broach.

The reason for the urgency is to see if her only remaining ovary can be saved to get relief, surgeries needed, and to relieve the pain from severe endometriosis that has unfortunately become very aggressive.

In October of 2023, Madison had been dismissed repeatedly for pain by her OBGYN, who stated, “You’re a 20-year-old woman in reproductive health that does not yet know what pain is.” They would load her up with pain meds and muscle relaxers and send her home. The pain meds only made her sick and were no help due to continued vomiting from the pain.

She became so frustrated and began to believe the doctors. She would ask me if it was all in her head.

As her mom, I knew something was wrong. The last night she was sent home, in October 2023, I urged her to go to one of our local hospitals outside our city of Asheville.

We could have never prepared for the information we would continue to receive.

An ultrasound image showed an 8-9 cm cyst on her right ovary. (A typical ovary is between 3-4 cm.) A CT was performed to confirm the results of the ultrasound. Madison was prepped for emergent surgery. While in surgery, the OB discovered the cyst had infiltrated and was feeding on the blood supply of her ovary.

I couldn’t be at the hospital, as I was home taking care of her twenty-two-year-old brother who is on in-home hospice care.

All this news about the surgery was being updated via text from her boyfriend, who still didn’t know she had lost the ovary.

Once I was able to get to the hospital, her boyfriend handed me the images from the surgery. My heart shattered.

Madison had not yet come out of anesthesia, but I knew when she did, her worst fears were gonna become reality. I cannot convey in words, seeing my baby not only in physical but tangible overwhelming sadness.

The loss of the ovary made the healing process much more difficult. The trauma is still overwhelming for her most days.

Two weeks later, Madison started having extreme pain again. She went back to the hospital. After another ultrasound, she was prepped for another surgery to remove a complex structure that had formed at the stump of where her right ovary was removed.

Fast forward to May, four months after her second surgery. This time, a 10 cm cyst had ruptured on the left and only remaining ovary. The fallopian tube had also begun to twist, putting the ovary at risk for ovarian torsion.

I could see on the ultrasound screen, there was no blood flow reaching the ovary. I’m not a tech, but I have seen enough to know that as soon as the tech brought the doctor in to recheck, I was correct.

Madison thought, because of other exams, it was too short. Even though she kept questioning me and the tech, it took everything in my power to lower my heart rate and just tell her they had done so many, they just got what they needed.

The OB came down and let Madison know that she had gotten there just in time. The pain she felt was the 10 cm bursting, but the twisting of the fallopian tube had to have started while she was there. She told her they didn’t see blood flow to the ovary, but she would do everything in her power to save what she could of the ovary, even if only a small section. The OB was able to save the ovary. She took a very long time with her surgery. She knew the stakes of this surgery. She didn’t want to have to tell a 21-year-old woman she had now lost both.

I am so thankful this doctor listened to her, calmed her, and was able to save the ovary. Unfortunately, once she was inside, lesions were discovered all through Madison’s pelvic floor, and complications of PID arose due to the ruptured cyst, leading to a weeks-long hospital stay and four powerful antibiotics that made her healing harder. Doxycycline and the other powerful antibiotics that they gave made her very sick to her stomach. Zofran and other antiemetic drugs didn’t help.

This past Friday, Madison was back at the hospital in extreme pain. She had a 4 cm cyst that had ruptured and another cyst growing right beside it.

Because of Madison’s extreme bowel and bladder pain from endometriomas (endometrial tissue growing all throughout her lower extremities), she is at high risk of not only losing her left and only remaining ovary but now faces the strong possibility that the endometrial tissue has deeply infiltrated her surrounding organs, specifically bowel and bladder.

She was listed as urgent and will be traveling to Duke this Wednesday for a Thursday appointment.

I’m requesting help for her gas, housing, and food expenses while she is down there, as well as the unknown surgical expenses. We know an ablation will be covered. However, a bowel resection will not. Bowel resections can start at $6,000 and go up, depending on the findings.

I will continue to make updates, including what surgeries and procedures are needed.

I will not be able to travel with Madison due to being her brother’s caregiver and it being such short notice. As a mom, this breaks my heart. Really, that’s an understatement. I feel helpless, knowing I can’t fix it. Finding hope that we have one of the leading and best hospitals for complicated endometriosis right here in North Carolina.

Madison has worked at Hell or Highwater in Black Mountain. In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, she threw herself into volunteering. Until a few days ago, Madison has been an invaluable member of their team. She is highly esteemed by owners and coworkers.

They have become a family to Madison. I can’t thank them enough for their compassion in what she is facing.

She is loved for her caring nature, dedication, and strong work ethic. Before Hell or Highwater, she was lead server at Leo’s in Biltmore Park, with the most 5-star ratings of any server.

She is the person that connects with people. She doesn’t meet a stranger. Her empathetic and bubbly personality are contagious.

She has her whole life ahead of her.

I’m asking, as a mom, that people stand in the gap with prayers, donations, and sharing. Also, that the upcoming expenses not be something to add to her worries, so that she can rest somewhere comfortable before going in to meet with Dr. Broach and the days following, as we go into the unknown.

Thank you in advance,

From the bottom of my heart.

Kala (Madison Victoria’s Mom)