Laural’s Medical Expense TN/EDS

A very kind and sweet family, Laural, Fin and daughter Takala, are in a state of crisis and financial loss. Their needs are extensive and wide-reaching because of the many health issues of Laural which include - Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) type 1 and 2, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome type 3, auto-immune diseases, soft tissue and skeletal deformities, Severe Chronic neurological, muscle, and organ pain causing altered mobility, inability to chew food, chronic gastrointestinal distress, malnutrition, exhaustion and TN pain attacks and "seizures" are some of the main problems Laural deals with day to day.

Laural’s uninsured Medical expenses are in excess of $20,000. She is on Oregon Health Plan (Medicaid) and all prescribed treatments and most specialists have been denied coverage. Her diseases of TN, EDS, autoimmune and allergy conditions are so rare, that they’re too low to be covered on the Oregon Prioritized List of Health Services and/or the specialists are out of network. OHP refuses to help despite the facts that TN is the most painful condition known to medicine, her allergies are life threatening, and EDS is a progressive disease that gets irreparably worse and further disabling without proper care.

For more info on Trigeminal Neuralgia http://www.aans.org/patient%20information/conditions%20and%20treatments/trigeminal%20neuralgia.aspx

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome http://oreds.org/about-eds.html

This family needs our help and even if you have $1 or $50 - please know that it not only goes towards helping them survive day to day but also towards a very real huge debt. They live simply, and do good work in their community.

Immediate needs:

Medication- Immediate need approx $1000 for all of the meds needing to be refilled. Laural is currently going without needed meds, which is creating more severe symptoms and interfering with the healing progress.

Medical Treatments required immediately including pain management, GI and other diagnostic tests, MRI, CTs, oral prosthetic, IV therapies to address severe malnutrition, allergy/mast cell testing and treatment, craniocervical instability imaging, POTS testing/treatment and possibly brain/neck surgery.

Basic Living Expenses - rent, utilities, transportation, food, and such.

The budget has also been stretched because Laural has been unable to work much, as she has been dealing with all of the lawyers and courts, extra home responsibilities and her disability. They are behind on all major bills and were already in need of assistance for uninsured medical care.

Fin, Laural’s primary health caregiver and wage earner for their family, assists in parenting Takala, especially when Laural’s health issues flare up.

Fin was incarcerated unjustly, and unfairly on April 2, 2015 on contempt charges for child support nonpayment (of the small amount of $600 from 2010). He is now out on bail as of April 21st. (**Details below) Fin is back on his feet but there are issues to be dealt with that include lawyer’s fees, bail and travel to South Dakota for hearings. The family experienced a major loss of wages and huge legal expenses while Laural’s quality of health plummeted.

Fin is a devoted provider for his family and a reliable, hardworking employee at a locally owned natural foods store. He is also a stagehand union worker. He assists in the care of his stepdaughter, Takala, and other children when their parents are at work.

Laural perseveres as a very strong mother who often faces extreme challenges. She works for a locally owned co-op electric repair company. When she is able to - she serves on the Board of Directors, volunteers and assists in managing a 501C3 non-profit that provides medical and crisis services at large public events and music festivals. They are both valuable assets to our community worth supporting through this crisis.

**Fin always has had 50% of all his paychecks garnished for child support for the entire time he has lived in Oregon (which already creates a financial hardship for his current family’s needs.). This is well documented. There is ample evidence to prove Fin’s innocence for past child support payments going to two South Dakota accounts, which was garnished on his paycheck as shown on pay stubs. The payments were not paid into the correct account by his employer, with the State of Oregon failing to correct and properly disburse money to the proper South Dakota child support accounts, causing the $600 past due balance. Contempt charges were filed for the warrant.

Fin has been in Oregon for 10 years working and supporting his family. South Dakota and Oregon have had his address and place of employment in their records. Yet SD and OR claim they could not locate him and therefore, did not notify him of the warrant charges or notify him that he would be charged additional contempt for failure to appear and charged as a fugitive (because he is in OR not SD). Fin and family have been punished because of a red tape error and totally not their fault.