Surgery Fund for Sydney's Pain Relief

Hi, my name is Matt Evans and my wife Sydney suffers from Stage IV Endometriosis and Adenomyosis. She has suffered with severe pain since her early teens, but wasn’t truly diagnosed until 2018 when she had her first surgery. Unfortunately, her Endometriosis was found on almost all of her abdominal organs. From that first surgery, she then proceeded to have a total of 3 ablation surgeries approx. every 12 months to try to decrease her daily pain.

There are two types of surgery for Endometriosis; there is ablation, where they just burn the top layer of tissue (which is covered by insurance) and the other being Excision, which is the standard for removing her stage of Endometriosis. Excision involves an endometriosis specialist so unfortunately, excision specialists do not take insurance. There is currently no billing code for excision of endometriosis, so everything is out of pocket.

In 2021, she was able to apply to get in with a fantastic excision surgeon in ATL, and with the help of family, Care Credit, and GoFundMe, she was able to have surgery. The surgery was a pivotal point in her journey with Endometriosis. She had her left ovary and fallopian tube removed, and had extensive work on her uterus, sigmoid colon, diaphragm, and an appendectomy. Sydney was then able to live a pain free life for about 2.5 years, which was the longest time she had been without surgery. In the summer of 2023, we decided to begin the process of IVF, since we knew conceiving naturally was very unlikely. We had a successful IVF round and now have a happy, healthy 8 month old son. Thankfully during pregnancy, endo and Adeno symptoms really quiet down, and Sydney was able to enjoy the pregnancy without pain!

Well soon after birth of our son, Sydney’s pain returned. By 7 weeks postpartum, she was already on heavy medication trying to shut down the ovary again. From then on Sydney’s symptoms have escalated. She was then put back into medically induced menopause, and started seeing a pain management doctor again. Sydney got to the point of passing out at work, passing out using the bathroom, days of being unable to stand/walk for long periods of time.

Sydney has no quality of life at this point, and have decided to go back into surgery to try to alleviate some of the pain. We are also hoping this surgery helps with reducing inflammation so that when we are ready to transfer another embryo, it will be just as successful as the first time around.

The surgeon’s cost for surgery is around $15,000. We are hoping that the hospital and anesthesia will be covered mostly by insurance. Any donations would be extremely appreciative during this time. Even if you cannot donate, sharing Sydney’s story to spread awareness of this terrible disease would be appreciated.