The Amanda Fund

"The Amanda Fund" is what some would call crazy but there is a very sincere reason behind it. Here is the story...

Hi. My Name is Amanda and this is my story. I am 27 years old and a single parent of 2 great kids. I am what you would call morbidly obese. I have been over weight for most of my life and no matter what I do I cannot seem to get the weight to come off and stay off. I have done every diet and even some un-ethical things just to try to lose weight. I have never considered weight loss surgery until this past summer. I was at an amusement park with my daughter who is 8 and she decided that she would be brave enough to ride the big roller coaster at the park. Well of course she could only ride if she had someone riding with her since she was not tall enough. Me not being a roller coaster type person I decided to suck it up and do it for her. Well as we waited in line for the ride to stop so the next group could get on, I was thinking "Dear Lord please let me be able to fit in the cart on the ride". The ride stops and we make our way to our spot to board. Needless to say I fit great in the cart but when they tried to put the bar that goes down in front of you on your lap it would not latch. I watched as my daughters facial expression went from so excited to confused and upset. The ride attendant told me that if the bar would not latch then we couldnt ride. I asked him if there was any way my daughter could atleast ride the coaster one time by herself or even with one of the attendants riding beside her. He said "NO". Everyone was stareing and even some snickering and laughing at us. I felt so humiliated but not as bad as I felt for my daughter. But my daughter being the up-beat little person she is and always thinking of others, looks straight at me and says "don't worry about it moma, that ride was probably boring anyway and those mean people are just jealous because I have such a cool mom". My 8 year old was stronger than I was at letting what people say and do just roll off your back. Even when she wanted to ride the roller coaster so bad and couldn't she never thought of herself but of me and my feelings. I knew then that no matter what I was going to do something for myself and my kids so I could have a better life with them.

I began researching weight loss surgery on the internet and even went to a bariatric seminar about weight loss surgery. I made a decision on having the Gastric Sleeve done and decided to go for it. I checked with my insurance at work and found out that they do not cover any type of bariatric procedure. My hope was smashed flat! I didn't know what to do?? This meant I would have to self pay for my surgery but being a single parent of 2 children my income was pretty tight. One of my friends said "you know you should start a fundraiser for your surgery". I thought to myself "yeah right who is going to want to help out a complete stranger with weight loss surgery". That night I went home and was picking up around the house when my daughter come up to me and handed me $9 dollars. I asked her what was this? She told me "I heard you talking about trying to save money so you could have a better life with me and bubba (her lil brother) so I want to give you this to help out." I told her no to keep her money because that was hers to save. She told me no she would rather help me than keep the money and that she was going to start saving from now on so we could put the money in a big jar.

So here I am asking for anyones help out there. Anything would be greatly appreciated. My goal is to have the surgery before summer of 2013 so on my daughters birthday I can take her back to that amusement park and ride with her as a reward to both me and her. Thank you so much for reading my story.