Help me live

hi! i’m caitlyn, aka caity may. i’m 22 and have been struggling with chronic, severe health issues since i was a kid. i’ve lost all of my teen years due to my illnesses, and all of my college experience so far.

i have 17 chronic health conditions total, and most are rare, very rare, and incurable. none of my illnesses are funded enough to research more and discover enough effective treatments. so i will suffer from these the rest of my life. my most troublesome condition is complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and it’s the most painful condition discovered, also known as the suicide disease.

at 17 i had a bowel obstruction and had just a couple hours left to live. i had emergency surgery and the odds of me coming out of it alive or with a colostomy bag was higher than me not.

i was paralyzed for 2 years with no known cause. then i became quadriplegic for a period of time because of neglect from doctors. like others with my conditions, i've been told i was crazy, just stressed, or drug seeking. i was a child suffering every second of my life.

oh, i also had thyroid cancer at the same time that my mom had breast cancer

recently my doctor (for no known reason) decided to stop prescribing me my only pain medication that helps most. i’ve tried weaning off of it 3 times and the last time i nearly fell back into a quadriplegic state.

so i’ve had to find other ways to get this medication and i only have 2 months to do it, or i risk dropping out of college and becoming quadriplegic again, screaming in pain every second i’m awake. i’ve found a website i can get it from, but its at least $100 a month. i’ve started seeing a wellness place nearby for alternative treatments to actually help the root cause of my illnesses (my central and autonomic nervous systems) but it’s about $5,000 every 12 weeks. i live off of disability and a single mothers income.

i’m quite literally hanging on by a thread. i am once again asking for anyone’s help. while i have a great mother and grandmother trying to help, i am tired of being neglected by everyone else. i am begging for this help. i’m set to go back on campus to school in a couple weeks for the first time in 7 years. i can’t do that if i’m in a vegetative state again.

i’m genuinely such a good person. i give to people more than i ever get. i’m kind, understanding, and resilient. i’m intelligent, supportive, and actually funny. i love animals and babies so much. i love creating art. i love helping others in any way i can. but i’m also beyond traumatized. i was healing from my c-ptsd, and this has set me back more than ever. even if you have $1 to give i will appreciate that more than you could ever imagine.

my main conditions are autoimmune autonomic ganglionopathy, POTS, EDS, CRPS, endometriosis, psoriatic arthritis, small fiber neuropathy, scoliosis, autism (getting diagnosed) and something causing my muscle weakness yet to be discovered