Supporting Jenn Ben
Donation protected
*I’m increasing the goal as we have nearly reached the current goal in 24hrs. Y’all are amazing! Please do not feel obligated to donate! I want to be able to continue to provide updates throughout Jenn’s course of treatment to all of you who care for her so much.
To know Jenn Ben is to love her. Jenn has spent so much of her life helping pick others up and now needs some support from those around her. Jenn has been fighting Lupus and RA for months and just found out she has breast cancer. Jenn has not been able to work and the cost of doctor visits, meds, insurance, and living are adding up. Please read below for Jenn’s personal statement. Any support you can provide is so appreciated whether that is monetary, words of encouragement, prayers, etc.
I was diagnosed with Lupus several years ago and never had any real symptoms. Every once in a while I’d have to take steroids and was better within a week. Never was more severe than a little joint soreness, and funny skin rash, and that was nothing. I could manage it.
Last spring, though, it was unbearable. I couldn’t lift my head up, let alone stand up. I had gone from picking up absolutely every shift I could for extra money, traveling 5 times in three months to Disney and Orlando and walking several thousand steps a day to being bed bound, unable to travel downstairs, to not even be able to walk. I could no longer work, which is the absolute worst thing of all. I’ve spent most of my life helping people, comforting them and telling them it will all be ok. I’ve held parents as their worlds end, daughters as they tell their mothers goodbye, and listen to families relive miracles of their child surviving all odds. Now, I can barely hold my head up. Most days I’m not out of bed and I Fall. All. Of. The. Time.
I walk with a cane or use a wheelchair. My family and friends are absolutely amazing, but it’s so hard to be happy for everyone. They’ve been so gracious taking me on trips, I even have one coming up in May. This is just about the only thing I can look forward to, but it’s filled with motorized scooters, isolation masks, and sleeping in the hotel when I could be out roaming Disney. I am forever thankful for this life, no matter how hard it gets. And man is it hard now.
As much as I hate falling, it seems to have saved my life. I noticed a lump in my breast and kept an eye on it. I really thought it was a bruise, that just wasn’t going away. I have a lot of those.
Fast forward to 8 weeks later and I was with my OB/GYN and brought it to her attention. We agreed having a mammogram was best, just to be safe. Thank goodness. I had a mammogram Friday, was squeezed into the lunch hour for a biopsy, and confirmed Tuesday that it is breast cancer.
I see a surgical oncologist on Thursday and we will go from there. I was lucky enough to have a job that provides me with tremendous benefits. My short term disability ran out in December and in Feb I got denied long term disability. I have gone through my savings, my parents savings, and a credit card of mine and theirs. Most of this was for meds and appointments. I have no income, and no way to continue paying for all of these things. There are no words for the losses I am facing. I’ve lost all of me, all that I know I am. Helping people is the reason I live, and the barriers keep growing taller and taller. Im afraid I won’t be able to keep fighting, paying for all of the meds, for the Lupus, for the Rheumatoid Arthritis, and now Breast Cancer. These are the only things that will keep me alive, and how am I supposed to get back to me. To get back to holding babies, their parents, my coworkers, if I can’t afford medication.
To know Jenn Ben is to love her. Jenn has spent so much of her life helping pick others up and now needs some support from those around her. Jenn has been fighting Lupus and RA for months and just found out she has breast cancer. Jenn has not been able to work and the cost of doctor visits, meds, insurance, and living are adding up. Please read below for Jenn’s personal statement. Any support you can provide is so appreciated whether that is monetary, words of encouragement, prayers, etc.
I was diagnosed with Lupus several years ago and never had any real symptoms. Every once in a while I’d have to take steroids and was better within a week. Never was more severe than a little joint soreness, and funny skin rash, and that was nothing. I could manage it.
Last spring, though, it was unbearable. I couldn’t lift my head up, let alone stand up. I had gone from picking up absolutely every shift I could for extra money, traveling 5 times in three months to Disney and Orlando and walking several thousand steps a day to being bed bound, unable to travel downstairs, to not even be able to walk. I could no longer work, which is the absolute worst thing of all. I’ve spent most of my life helping people, comforting them and telling them it will all be ok. I’ve held parents as their worlds end, daughters as they tell their mothers goodbye, and listen to families relive miracles of their child surviving all odds. Now, I can barely hold my head up. Most days I’m not out of bed and I Fall. All. Of. The. Time.
I walk with a cane or use a wheelchair. My family and friends are absolutely amazing, but it’s so hard to be happy for everyone. They’ve been so gracious taking me on trips, I even have one coming up in May. This is just about the only thing I can look forward to, but it’s filled with motorized scooters, isolation masks, and sleeping in the hotel when I could be out roaming Disney. I am forever thankful for this life, no matter how hard it gets. And man is it hard now.
As much as I hate falling, it seems to have saved my life. I noticed a lump in my breast and kept an eye on it. I really thought it was a bruise, that just wasn’t going away. I have a lot of those.
Fast forward to 8 weeks later and I was with my OB/GYN and brought it to her attention. We agreed having a mammogram was best, just to be safe. Thank goodness. I had a mammogram Friday, was squeezed into the lunch hour for a biopsy, and confirmed Tuesday that it is breast cancer.
I see a surgical oncologist on Thursday and we will go from there. I was lucky enough to have a job that provides me with tremendous benefits. My short term disability ran out in December and in Feb I got denied long term disability. I have gone through my savings, my parents savings, and a credit card of mine and theirs. Most of this was for meds and appointments. I have no income, and no way to continue paying for all of these things. There are no words for the losses I am facing. I’ve lost all of me, all that I know I am. Helping people is the reason I live, and the barriers keep growing taller and taller. Im afraid I won’t be able to keep fighting, paying for all of the meds, for the Lupus, for the Rheumatoid Arthritis, and now Breast Cancer. These are the only things that will keep me alive, and how am I supposed to get back to me. To get back to holding babies, their parents, my coworkers, if I can’t afford medication.
Organizer
Julie Venis
Organizer
Indianapolis, IN