Some of you will remember our niece Brittani, who was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma when she was 15. Brittani underwent chemotherapy to kill off the cancer, which worked. Unfortunately, the chemo also killed off her lungs. Brittani had a double lung transplant in May 2007 to correct this.
For the first year after the surgery, things went fairly well. She went diabetic, then not diabetic, then back to being diabetic, which she remains. For most of the year following her recovery, Brittani got to act like a normal kid, albeit an extra careful one, since her immune system is suppressed by the anti-rejection drugs she must take.
But in the past few months, she has started to lose lung function.
There is no sign of organ rejection, no infection...and no answers.
So the doctors want to perform an open chest biopsy of her lungs, to see if they can discover why her lung function is decreasing.
Her insurance is about gone, due to reaching her "lifetime maximum benefits" - as a teenager.
And the medication, constant doctor visits, travel and missed work, and a ton of other stuff has left Brittani's family in dire financial need.
We have come here today to ask for your help. We are drowning, and once the insurance is gone, it is only going to get worse.
We don't know what is going to happen to Brittani without outside help of some kind. All we know is that family-wide we have exhausted every conceivable financial tool available to us to help her.
We've asked corporations, both large and small, that we do business with on a regular basis, for help, and have received...nothing. What government assistance is available has been exhausted as well, and there is nothing left there, either.
So please help Brittani. Please
donate to Brittani here.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you would like to know more about Brittani, her condition, and our efforts to help her, you can click
here.
Cindy & Dan
PS - Brittani got to graduate with her class last month. She wants to go to college now - she's decided she wants to become a nurse...
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