My wife Andrea started a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds to help her fight fibromyalgia — a nasty chronic condition that causes her a lot of pain.
If you decide to donate, there is a link to her campaign at the bottom. This platform doesn’t charge any fees so 100% of money will go to her.
If not (which is just fine), you can understand what she is going through right now.
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My name is Andrea, I am 53 years old, I have 4 children and no prospects. I lost my home, my son, my health and I am losing my daughters. For years, I’ve been a person who would help others; I even set up an organization for this. So, asking for help for myself is really hard.
Each night, I fear going to bed. I am afraid of the mornings because they can be unbearable for those suffering from fibromyalgia. I open my eyes and my body is screaming as if I have run a marathon or unloaded railcars with my bare hands. It feels as if your body is aching from a flue and you’re having muscle soreness at the same time, which never stops. Tears often stream down my cheeks. Touching a pillow or my clothes also hurts. Each morning I fight my own body that resists even minor movements. After a few hours, the stiffness will go away, the tendons and ligaments will warm up, mobility will return, and ONLY strong pain will remain, which is usually only partially relieved by an opiate medication. Our youngest daughter Danka will walk down the stairs from her bedroom just before lunch, pain expressed on her face. She is only 19, she is supposed to be enjoying life, but she’s also got fibromyalgia. She is dreaming to become a surgeon, but… Nothing can relieve her pain at all, the pain is so strong that she is losing the will to live, and I just can’t helplessly watch it.
When people see the external appearance, they have no idea what’s inside
Photos say little about what we are going through. We often want to show a prettier reality and leave the sad things behind closed doors. Until you can no longer keep fighting on your own.
I’ve had fibromyalgia for decades. I’ve been going to see all kinds of doctors about my pain since I was 17. It is invisible, untreatable and nowadays it is no longer a rare disease though its origins are still unclear after about six thousand medical studies. There are no methods to diagnose it, there are no drugs to treat it. The diagnosis is usually made by a rheumatologist, but medications to relieve symptoms are prescribed by a neurologist, algesiologist (pain management specialist) or a psychiatrist. Danka is highly resistant to all medications, and as for me, I either have strong intolerance to most of them or they cause allergic reaction. This is nothing unusual for those with fibromyalgia. I’ve spent 6 long months at a hospital. They tried different medications and kept me under observation, but finally they had to discontinue all medications except for painkillers that I actually shouldn’t be taking due to poor blood clotting and intestinal issues.
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