Urgent Surgery to Help Stephanie Reclaim Her Life

Taylor Lauer is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Stephanie Long.

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Help Stephanie Heal: A Mother’s Fight for Relief

Hello everyone! My name is Taylor Lauer, and I’m writing this with a heavy heart for my dear friend and colleague, Stephanie Long. We work together at Dayton Children’s Hospital, where Stephanie has dedicated her life to caring for others. Now, she needs us to care for her.

Stephanie is the kind of person who leaves an impression on everyone she meets. Her kindness, warmth, and gentle spirit light up every room she walks into. She is a devoted nurse, a loving wife to her husband—a first responder—and an extraordinary mother to her two beautiful daughters, Caroline and Olivia, who are her everything. But lately, Stephanie has been in a battle she can’t fight alone.

Stephanie’s Story

Stephanie is enduring unimaginable pain. She underwent a medically necessary hysterectomy and pelvic floor repair to address severe anemia and debilitating health issues two months after losing her mother to lung cancer.

During Stephanie's surgery, a mesh urethral sling was placed intended to improve her quality of life. Unfortunately, she started to experience crippling pain at 6 weeks post-op, and since then, her life has been stolen. She is living a nightmare.

The sling started to tighten and adhere, causing inflammation, which compressed her urethra, making it impossible for her to empty her bladder. This caused immense bladder and pelvic pain. Only a small area of the sling was able to be partially removed due to the risks involved with full removal.

Her indescribable pain continued after the surgical revision due to the remaining sling. Stephanie is enduring excruciating, burning bladder, pelvic and groin pain, and lower abdomen pain, which makes it hard for her to walk. The sling has caused a widespread immune response, resulting in severe inflammation, chills, nausea, and chronic fatigue. She is losing weight and feels beyond vulnerable in her sickened state. Her body is fighting mesh, a foreign body that is hindering her body from functioning.

Medications have failed to bring relief. She can barely sleep. This pain overwhelms her 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. She can’t escape it. She has told me that she feels like she is being cut in half in the pelvic area. “It’s like a knife in my bladder that can’t be removed.”

Her daughters, who once had a mom who played and laughed with them, now see her struggle to even get out of bed. She has told me, with tears in her eyes, that her pain is so overwhelming, it feels like it might take her life.

A Lasting Solution

Her only hope is to have the sling completely surgically removed. However, this isn’t an easy fix. The surgery is so complex because the mesh fuses with tissues and nerves and can attach itself to organs and bones. The longer the mesh remains in the body, the greater the potential for damage to occur. The extent of the mesh damage cannot always be known until the removal surgery takes place. So, only a few surgeons in the United States can perform it.

Stephanie is struggling to continue to work in her debilitated state and needs a surgeon who can remove it successfully without causing more damage. Dr Veronikis is world-renowned and Stephanie’s best hope to regain her life. Mesh victims fly from all over the world to receive life-saving surgery from him. He does not accept insurance for this procedure. The cost is $17,000 and must be paid out of pocket.

Stephanie has explored every option to pay for this surgery-anything to escape this pain. She is a woman of faith and is relentlessly praying and fighting every day for her life. But she shouldn’t have to fight this battle alone.

The surgeon’s next available surgery date is January 31, 2025, but Stephanie needs the full $19,000 available by January 10th to secure the surgery ($2,000 for travel and hotel expenses). If she misses this deadline, the next available date is in April, meaning months more of unbearable pain and suffering. Work is like a "pain marathon." She is fearful that she will not be able to work without experiencing pain for months.

Her becoming disabled is a true concern for her. Unfortunately, that is the case for many mesh victims. They lose their home and everything they have worked so hard for. Stephanie found out about Dr. Veronikis from Sling the Mesh Facebook group, a support group for over 11,000 women who have been injured by mesh.

Did You Know?

Mesh bladder slings are a common treatment for pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence, with thousands of women undergoing these procedures every year. Unfortunately, complications like Stephanie’s—where the mesh integrates into surrounding tissue or compresses the urethra—are not uncommon.

Studies suggest that up to 15% of women experience significant complications from mesh slings, ranging from chronic pain and infection to mesh erosion and integration into the vaginal wall. For some women, like Stephanie, the impact is devastating, leaving them in severe, daily pain with no relief from medication or non-surgical treatments.

Those who experience complications face challenges few can imagine. Removal surgeries are incredibly complex and require specialized surgeons, many of whom do not accept insurance.

How You Can Help

Stephanie has spent her life giving—to her patients, her family, her friends, and her community. She is the kind of mother who goes to every game, every event, every bedtime story. She is the kind of nurse who treats every child as if they were her own. And she is the kind of friend who shows up for you, no matter what. Now, it’s our turn to show up for her.

Here’s what you can do to help Stephanie:

• Donate: Every dollar brings Stephanie one step closer to relief.

• Share: Spreading this fundraiser far and wide could make all the difference. Share with businesses, churches etc.

• Encourage: Let Stephanie know she’s not alone in this fight.

A Message of Hope

Stephanie deserves to heal. She deserves to play with her youngest daughter, Olivia, be actively present in her oldest daughter Caroline’s last 2 years of high school, laugh with her husband, and return to the life she loves.

Your generosity means the world—and to Stephanie, it means a chance to truly live again. To have a quality of life without chronic pain. Please, from the bottom of my heart, help us give Stephanie the chance to reclaim her life.

Thank you for your kindness and support.