Karla’s Story

Site created on September 5, 2022

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Lisa Esser

https://gofund.me/50efe893

 

I NEED YOUR HELP!!!

 

Many of you have been following my updates on my mom, Karla and her medical journey.

In 2017, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. At that time, and for the following several years, she had minimal ‘symptoms’ and progression.

In October, 2021, my mom received the life-saving gift of a kidney transplant.

With her body undergoing so much and having to support the new kidney, she started seeing so more pronounced symptoms of her Parkinson’s diagnosis. The most notable was the neuropathy in her legs and feet.

Neuropathy is a condition where nerves are damaged, usually in the hands and feet, causing numbness/tingling, cold/burning sensations, cramping, pins/needles, and balance issues. My mom started experiencing all of these.

On Aug 17th, 2022, she went and saw a Board Certified Neuropathy Specialist and had testing done to determine her sensory loss and nerve damage at that time.

Ironically, the very next day, my mom was hospitalized for an infection that ended up earning her 74 very long days in the hospital. Many of you followed along in her journey at that time, and many of you know how incredibly difficult and taxing that stay was on her and her body.

She has earned a clean bill of health from her extremely large team of doctors as of today!!!

However, many of you know that while in the hospital, her Parkinson’s symptoms started to progress pretty rapidly, due to the infection and being bed ridden for several months.

The HUGE benefit in all of this, is that this past week, mom had her nerves re-tested and they were able to compare the results to the tests she had the day before her hospital stay…(the doctor she is seeing said they normally don’t get a chance to re-test and have a comparison like this, so this is great for us to see what kind of diagnosis she could be facing).

The negative progress the tests are showing is pretty scary! In August when she had the testing done, she was borderline moderate/severe nerve damage. Last week when they tested her again, she is borderline severe/permanent nerve damage.

This progression has happened in just 8 months. So what that means for her, is if she doesn’t try to reverse some of the nerve damage, in another 8 months, she could be wheelchair bound or the possibility of amputation.

Here’s where the great news comes…Dr Watson is one of the only Neuropathy Board Certified treatment providers in the Midwest, and he is confident that with an FDA approved machine, he can reverse the neuropathy in both my moms hand and feet (the damage in her legs and feet is much worse than her hands, so he said with complete confidence her hands will improve to normal, but her legs and feet will have progress not perfection).

This machine is something she would purchase and use in the comfort of her own home. It will restore blood flow, as well as help stimulate and regrow her nerves in her hands and legs.

The urgency on this is imperative…we know the longer she waits, the less affective the reversal of damage and the harder it will be to get progress.

Here is where you all come in…the machine she needs is $5,632.00.

I am so confident that her friends and family will help her purchase this machine, that I scheduled her an appointment for next Thursday, April 13th! At this appointment, they will fit her for and train her how to use the device at home. She will use it 2 times a day…and she will commit to using it for the next 12-18 months for full results. After that, she will continue to use it weekly to maintain her nerves for the remainder of her life.

This device is her last hope in regaining the feeling and full use of her arms and legs.

 

If each and every one of you could contribute what you can, we can change her life! My mom has such an incredible ‘village’ and I know between all of us, we can make this happen.

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