HELP ME SAVE MY MOM

My whole life I grew up watching my mom bend over backwards to help others. She is the most generous and kindest person I think in the world. I could fill this page with examples. I am not saying that just because she is my mother. It is what anyone would say if you asked. She does not think about herself. She thinks about what she can do to make other people happy. My mom would never ask for other people's help, that's why I'm doing it for her. We are in desperate need to keep our home and get her medical attention. Please read on....

She was born a Daughter of DES with congenital birth defects that are severe and degenerative. Her first time having Cancer was at 17,cervical Cancer. The angel on her arm in the picture is me. She got it at 20 when she had me. At 19 she had the Cancer again but it was worse & spreading. The doctor said she could not keep me, but she did. She just knew she may not have anymore children because of her issues & she was right. Even though she was young she was a better mother than any other mom I have ever met. She says I saved her life in many ways &.The doctors said it would not lie dormant for 9 months & she could basically be endangering her life to have me. They also that they could not treat it or do anything while she was pregnant. They also warned her she would not make it past the first trimester.When I was born the Cancer was gone we guess from the cervix effacing during birth or something...maybe a miracle! It stayed away till her late 20s and was easy to catch with frequent visits. Now my mom needs help. For starters her birth defects. If she was healthy right now & could heal correctly without complications there are 5 surgeries she could get to correct it all. They would do them simultaneously.These would be done at The Limb Lengthening Center in Maryland. I think its called Sinai Hospital? The doctor there is Dr. Paley but she has not been able to afford a visit there since I was like 7. Since then the damage is way worse. She would have her foot reconstructed, at the moment it is fracturing Osteo bone. It is missing most of the bones and has four toes. It swells huge when she walks just a block even on it, or just goes grocery shopping, or does chores. It is painful to look at. Her femur & Tibia are both missing a few inches and one leg looks small and thin but the other is normal. Her "Nemo" foot as we jokingly call it (my mom makes light of things in the best way & can laugh at herself) would definitely be the first thing she would do after getting her health up enough to have surgery if she could do just one. The smaller leg, on her right side lost it's cartiledge in the hip & knee & started having what they call bone erosion by the time she was 23. Her normal leg is starting to develop erosion now, vericose veins, & the knee, like the hip, has lost most of it's cartiledge too. She would have titanium put in two places on her right leg and get her knee fixed or replaced. She would be in an external fixater for a year having to be in a handicapped ready van to Maryland every 2 weeks to turn screws that would slowly make the titanium grow into her bone. Our home would need to be wheelchair accessible. A year or so after this her back would straighten a lot, she has severe scoliosis, and she could walk without a heavy limp & wear shoes the same size instead of buying a 6 to save money because one foot is a 5 and the other a 7. She also needs special shoes made but this is way to expensive so she just does without. She  is a single mom who didn't receive child support for me because my father fled the country to Spain, but when he was here he was no help either.  Now my mother's problems have gotten worse. I am so disappointed in the health care system with all I have seen my mom put through recently. getting the care or treatments you need are like pulling teeth. It is a full time job & she already had 2 when she got sick! Now she can barely keep up with 1 job. Doctors do not listen and treat people like cattle to be rushed in & out and misdiagnose things! Medicaid makes a person get an MRI in pieces even if it is an emergency each one has to be approved separately! The forms, phone calls, & finding the right doctors alone is a lot of work & stress. If a person has the issues my mom has they may not have the strength. I don't think I would be able to do what she does & stay positive. She had to sell our car to pay bills & rent & bills awhile back. She was a power seller on eBay for a long time as a 2nd job to managing a car lot & a store nearby but that became to much & she had to close it. She was sad about that. She really has a great head for running a business & fashion/art & The surgery she was about to get when she lost her insurance to remove the part of her Uterus with amp; the cancerous growths was almost 9 months ago! A letter came the day before she was supposed to go for results from an Endocrinologist,and then go in for her surgery. It basically said that because she has a pre existing condition and cannot provide them with impossible things to provide like results from doctors she hasnt gotten to visit yet! she had been dropped from her insurance. That sent her back ten steps. The Endocrinologist was because the Gyno was unsure of how bad her Endometriosis had gotten because of new symptoms & hormonal, fertility issues. He wanted an opinion of whether the surgery he was going to do was enough. If she needed more, like for the Endo, he needed to know. She had been hemorraging & her cycle had become so painful & so heavy she could not stand. She would shake & vomit. Its scary. She is cometely debilitated from it. He thought maybe it had spread and was doing something that he explained as like little ropes tying the pelvic organs together. So while she works as much as she can & supports us she has to FIGHT for everything. I just want to see her get to the doctors & get the surgeries she needs & not have so much on top of her so she can concentrate on gettin well. She was also born with Drusin of the optic nerve which causes extreme swelling of the eyes and migraines that are terrible. I have it too. Hence the "Daughters of DES". Mine is fine & under control though & I have been checked for the cervical Cancer & am healthy. She is very annoying in a loving way about eating right & vitamins. Okay so in all, in the past 11 yrs she has been diagnosed with severe Fibromyalgia,(some days she cant move & always being an active person this makes her feel awful & responsible for our financial problems), 2 broken and healed wrong vertebrae in her neck from a hangman's break,& several herniated discs, she has cancerous growths in her uterus, Endometriosis, wheat & dairy allergies, an exhausted adrenal gland ,and her immune system is shot. Then there are he birth defects on top of that. The immune system thing causes a ton of other symptoms too. Its a mess. It's complicated & a lot to take in I know. Imagine trying to explain it in short? She started getting brown spots all over her face called a pregnancy mask from hormone issues,and every tooth in her mouth started rotting out fast & her gums are receding due to her immune system not working properly and mal-absorbtion of nutrients. She is in pain from her mouth so bad & has had infections & abscess'. She cant afford a dentist right now, but needs one desperately. She blew up around the middle in a matter of 2 months when she got the Endo & people kept asking if she was pregnant. Each problem is fixable. It will just take some time & the right doctors & maybe not being under a ton of stress will help. Just eating correctly could help so much. I hope she can be healthy again and flash her big smile. Sorry if I am not explaining it all Right. Theres a lot. I think they all stem from one though, the DES causing her Immune system to break down from stress. One person can only handle so much in a lifetime. If I could tell you her life story I would. The main thing is that trying to care for herself while juggling so much stress & being so far behind makes it IMPOSSIBLE to heal & get ahead. It took 5 years of electrocuting, poking, prodding, blood work, & so many doctors who some of were HORRIBLE & she would leave in tears before they even pin pointed it being an Immune disease causing a lot of symptoms. They settled on that as an explanation for all the neuropathy, and pain, the chronic exhaustion, and the fevers & sweats. Her insurance is gone & expects her to go on disability but she not only needs to see doctors to start the disability process she would rather get well & work. I want to do this for her so please help me? If you could only know my mom. She gets up anyway even when you can see it hurts to move a muscle and asks if I need anything. She goes above & beyond. The problems have built up along with the debt so the stress on her must be awful she still smiles & laughs & tells me it is all going to be okay! She takes it one day at a time and does what she can, but I can see that it's too much for anyone. She still makes my dreams seem possible to me. Lately my mom's been sicker than ever & although she has always pulled us through desperate times I see her being less able & I decided it was time to get help because we need help now. Our home & her health are in jeopardy. This must all sound so complicated to someone who does not know us and wasn't along for the ride but feel free to ask me any questions at all. When we can move, when I graduate we will move somewhere warmer & more affordable. My nana is losing her small business that has been there for 33 years due to a large corporate version of her opening around the corner and she is in no position to help us unfortunately. My mom is in debt up to her neck trying to keep us afloat. I want to get her medical & pay her bills up to date so she can worry about getting well. I want to get her back to the Endocrinologist, (who seemed to be a doctor with real answers for her) & after her health is built up & she gets the surgery on her uterus and the Endo too then we can deal with lifts on her shoes to help with that. Maybe someday she will be able to get the wheelchair ready van & the coverage for her leg surgeries. I would love to see that. She is the kind of person that would wake up everyday & live life appreciating every moment. We owe $6000 on the house taxes and they are very late. Our extension is up in less than a month the house belongs to the town!!! She has a lot of late bills as well, she has kept up somehow the whole time she was sick by being resourceful & creative but now she can barely function. we have a lot of emergency room & hospital bills since her medical cancelled as well &She can't afford the lifts she needs on her shoes or the inserts which together are 4.5". She can't really even afford anything right now. We can barely do our wash or keep up with little things. There is so much. I don't know if $10,000 is too much to ask but I'm hoping it will help us just to get back on our feet so she can concentrate on getting well she would need probably double that but at least that is the taxes to keep the house & and help for bills or medical expenses till disability is possible. We do really need a car to get to & from appointments. We borrow my nanas a lot but that's not a good thing for her. It's a stressful relationship & it isn't something I will get into. Lets just say she pays a high price for ANY favors she asks for from family! Its gone too far. It feels like it's too big to fix sometimes, but she would tell me nothing is impossible. Thats why I am doing this! She is 37 now so she has a Long life ahead. I want my mom to be living well, I want her to get the treatment she needs, and to get that we need help getting back on our feet. My mom was a happy, go get em, make the best out of the worst kind of mom. She changes peoples lives just by knowing them! She was so creative and full of life and I want her to be like that again. I want my mom to grow old and be an amazing grandma. I want her at my wedding. I want her at my graduation this year. Please help me help my mom. She truly deserves it. My name is Savannah-Sky. I am a dancer/singer/song writer/photographer & I will be rewarding donations over a certain amount with photos of your choice from my collection. THANK YOU!!!! By the way I used my nana's paypal because I don't have one yet, I am 17 and I don't have a bank account so she will help me & if you want to reach me about my photos or anything she will let me know each day after school but to be faster just email me at [email protected]. When you donate I will email you all my best photos or a link to my flikr account and you can see which ones you like. Please consider us. I am counting on the kindness of strangers right now. Happiness~Health~Love~& Laughter to all of you.