Urgent Need for Fistula Surgery

My name is Shannon Lavell and I am here to ask for your help. Juliana, my daughter, has battled with severe auto immune disease, including ulcerative colitis, and now Crohn’s disease, since 2017. Fistulas have formed that cause severe infiltration of surrounding tissue. The results are severely debilitating when she eats. Her photos don't show what kind of burden this is for her. Since May, 2021, she has had fistulas. She is still on immune suppressant biologic injectable medication and the fistulas are still there. Other surgical efforts to repair the fistulas have not helped. Thank you for your attention to the following information. We a have found a specialized Doctor in India, and we are in contact with many people/patients who have had success with the same condition.

In November 2020, Juliana was near death and had emergency surgery to remove her entire large intestine and the majority of her rectum. This left her with an ostomy bag (external bag to collect feces) for 6 months. Juliana is highly allergic to the ostomy bag glue. Her external belly was very painfully inflamed for six months.

Juliana was then able to have J-pouch surgery, where her small intestine is looped to create a kind of reservoir to act like a large intestine. This required 2 more surgeries that left her with her small intestine sewn to her rectum.

Since May 2021 she has struggled with fistulas (small leaks of fecal matter that burrow out near the anal canal). These fistulas are very painful and have left her with a lack of bowel control, pain and swelling when she eats or sits or stands for any length of time.

If she wants to work, do yoga, socialize, or hike she must not eat that day, and must take anti-diarrhea medication.

A variety of medications have failed to help the fistula problem, including: immune suppressant biologics and antibiotics. She has spent thousands on naturopaths and alternative therapies without much success due to the severity of her illness.

Her Doctors and Surgeon in Canada are saying a permanent ostomy bag is her only option now, and this would be a return to a chronic and very painful allergic skin reaction. There are no other options in North America.

Through her research, Juliana discovered Doctor Ashwin Porwal, a colorectal surgeon located in Pune, India at the Healing Hands Clinic. He is an extremely skilled and successful surgeon who has developed a technique to heal fistulas using a DLPL laser. He is published in many medical journals and has a world class clinic where he has a 99% success rate with over 3000 fistula patients.

https://www.healinghandsclinic.co.in/dr-ashwin-porwal/

We have talked to several people from the US, Australia, Europe and Canada who have travelled to India to receive treatment successfully with Dr.Porwal. The technique is not yet available in Canada, or anywhere else in the world, yet.

After almost 3 years of struggling with fistulas, Juliana has reached her breaking point where she is needing help before they get worse and potentially create abscessing, eroding of muscle tissue, or sepsis, as described by other people in this situation. Juliana is hopeful for timely intervention with Dr.Porwal to heal the fistulas. Juliana would not only lose about five more feet of her small intestine with an ostomy bag, attached externally by adhesive to her stomach, but she would live with red, burning reactions to the adhesive required for the bag.

We need coverage for Juliana’s medical expenses plus the cost of travel and a minimum 10 week stay for post surgery healing and follow up. She will need a caregiver to travel with her for post operation assistance.

Juliana is optimistic that Dr.Porwal can save her from having an ostomy bag and improve her quality of life so she can return fully to her life as an active Mother, Yoga Teacher and outdoor adventure enthusiast.

Before she became sick with Ulcerative Colitis/Crohn’s, she led a healthy and active lifestyle. We are praying for a miracle to get her back to living her best life with her family. We hope to get her to Dr. Porwal in Pune, India for his specialized intervention. This is by far her best option.

Thanks so much for your attention.