Surgery for Lindsay Bane Hemphill

Hi all, my name is Amanda Adkins, I am an Endometriosis Advocate/Educator in Phoenix, Arizona.  Lindsay Bane and I met at a local Endometriosis group.  We are just two of many women working together to create Endometriosis awareness and support. 

Lindsay needs our help! She is a filmmaker and educator, a mom to two boys, a wife - and she has Thoracic Endometriosis Syndrome, a health condition that threatens recurring lung collapses and is caused by endometriosis. A disease that is a painful disorder in which tissue similar to the tissue that normally lines the inside of your uterus — the endometrium — grows outside your uterus. It can go anywhere in your body and affect multiple organs.  In Lindsay’s case her lungs.

In October 2019, her lung collapsed for the first time, she was hospitalized with a chest tube for 4 days. At the time, we were all really confused about the cause for this and called it a ‘spontaneous pneumothorax’. 

Since then, she has lived with random chest pain on both sides of her chest, sporadic shortness of breath and daily fatigue.  She also experiences terrible headaches and leg cramps on occasion.  Lindsay’s quality of living has taken such a dive.  

Christmas week of 2019, a second lung collapse occurred, and this time a surgeon fused her lung to her chest wall in an effort to prevent future lung collapses.  This was a very painful procedure and Lindsay’s breathing has never been the same, since.  She has ongoing nerve damage on the right side of her chest and wonders when/if this will ever return to normal. 

Recently on June 12th, She felt familiar shoulder/neck pain, the start of another lung collapse.  A CT scan confirmed two new holes in her lung. Lindsay was hospitalized for a few days, kept under observation, but sent home to heal.  

She is now coming up with more obstacles in the time of CoVid - because she is a high risk and needs to get surgery sooner than later. Arizona’s local medical care team does not have the experience needed to surgically remove the Endometriosis that persists in her chest cavity and/or lungs. 

There are very few surgeons skilled at addressing this whole-body disease, capable of excising the Endo from Lindsay’s pelvic area up to her lungs, and Dr. Ken Sinervo at The Center for Endometriosis Care in Atlanta, Georgia is the expert.  

For more details about how Dr. Sinervo treats this condition, thorough information is provided here: http://centerforendo.com/thoracic-endometriosis

At this time Lindsay and her husband Bill will have to move Atlanta, GA - to be close to the CEC and Dr.Sinervo, and to reestablish their lives where Lindsay can have the healthcare available in a more affordable way.  Dr. Sinervo accepted her application for surgery, and she is tentatively looking at a September 3rd date.  

The Self Pay out-of-state cost for the surgery is more than $73,500, and this is the minimum cost estimate.  It does not include Anesthesia or Pathology fees. $8,500 is the estimated cost just for surgery with the Center for Endometriosis Care.  $65,000 is the estimated Inpatient cost at Northside Hospital, where the CEC operates from. 

With in-state residency, Lindsay will be eligible for financial assistance with Northside Hospital, so we are hopeful that that large cost will be reduced.  Living in Georgia would also help secure future, ongoing care for this very specialized form of Endometriosis, rather than traveling across the country and perhaps returning on a Self-Pay plan. 

The funds we are asking for will cover the surgery cost at the Center for Endometriosis Care and her after care (as she will be unable to work for some time).  Your donations will also help with the move from Phoenix to Atlanta, and establishing a new home in Georgia. 

This is a sudden shift in Lindsay’s and Bill’s lives and Lindsay needs our help to receive the much needed care that her diagnosis requires.

Rest assured that Lindsay, as the beneficiary, has direct access to your donations, they will be deposited directly into her bank account.  
Thank you so much for your support! Every penny counts and is appreciated.