Help for Heather Surgery Six

Hello to everyone who is reading this, and thank you for taking the time to care for others. From the bottom of my soul I thank you.

My name is Amber Pitts and I am starting this fundraising campaign for my baby sister Heather whom I love beyond words. She is a single mom that has been dealing with a recurrent tumor growth in her ear and is about to undergo her sixth surgery. I live in a different state from my sister and I am in school full time without a job so I cannot give her the help she so desperately needs, so I have put my hope in each and every one of you. Below is Heather’s story.

Since Heather was a very little girl I remember her having trouble with her ears. It seemed like she always had an ear infection and at a very young age she had to have tubes put in her ears, and removed and put back in, and removed, and so on. There was always a bottle of antibiotics in the refrigerator and after years of infections and antibiotics she developed a resistance and an immune system that didn’t work quite right.

As an adult, Heather continued to be plagued by ear infections, pain and frequent visits to doctors that prescribed antibiotics that did nothing for her anymore. Then a few years ago she developed pain and pressure in her ear that far surpassed anything she had dealt with before. After numerous trips to doctors who kept sending her home with antibiotics she finally found one who took more than a cursory look. She was found to have a growth in her middle ear called a cholesteatoma plus a horrible infection. She was booked for an intense surgery for the removal of the tumor and infection and the rebuilding of her hearing.

After a painful recovery, Heather was once again in horrible pain. It was discovered that her cholesteatoma had started to grow back and once again harbored a nasty infection. She was booked for another intense surgery and barely after healing from her last one, she was in the operating room. Once again, it grew back and another surgery was completed. After this third surgery, Heather developed chronic nerve pain from the constant trauma to the surgical site. She was then sent to a specialist surgeon at Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital in Portland for further treatment. Since then Heather has gone through two more surgeries due to regrowth of the tumor; the last surgery being 4 weeks ago and taking 6 hours to complete. Today Heather was scheduled for her sixth surgery as the cholesteatoma has returned again.

Due to all of this, at 30 years old Heather is left in constant pain and unable to work. She struggles every day to get out of bed and care for her son. She loves her son so much and feels guilty for not being able to be the mom that she do desperately wants to be for him. I have watched her struggle and struggle to keep a positive outlook, but over the last year she is having a real hard time staying positive. Since she can no longer work, she has been placed on state healthcare and unfortunately has had to deal with doctors that continually fail to care for her properly or even offer a word of encouragement in the midst of her sturggle. Her outlook on life has dwindled and it breaks my heart.

I appeal to all of you to help my sister. She is having trouble making ends meet and needs assistance paying utility bills and rent for her and her ten year old son. Assistance once a week in the house would also be a great help to her. Even if all you can donate is a dollar and a few words of encouragement to my sister, it would mean the world to me, as she needs encouragement so badly right now.

If you are a experienced specialist in this field and would like to donate your knowledge or services, that would also be a Godsend.

To all who have read this far I thank you. From the bottom of my soul I thank you. You and your family will be in my prayers always.

Sincerely,

Amber Pitts.