It all started when Susan was 17: she had just had her wisdom teeth removed.  And suddenly, it seemed like her whole life became a whirlwind of sicknesses, pain, and suffering.

When the teeth were removed, an infection started.  Even after she had the surgery to fix the infection, her pain continued.

“I would get pain in my jaw, grind my teeth at night and, the jaw would lock up on me. To this day, I still cannot open my mouth fully.”

Her hair prematurely turned gray at the same time.  Nothing seemed to be going right.

But that was just the beginning of a life-long journey in the life of an undiagnosed person in need of answers.

She seemed to get diseases out of the blue.  Mono (twice in college, another time later in life), Herpes, and more, and each illness seemed worse than the last.

Growing older only seemed to make things worse for Susan.  She was continuosly ill, and the illnesses were more and more painful.

“These bouts of the flu didn’t seem like any ordinary flu bug, I felt like I was going to die — it was that bad. I missed a lot of work and lost a lot of weight. When my doctor suggested I get a flu shot, I had one and ended up in the hospital for 2 weeks due to a bad reaction.  I’ve never had a flu shot since that time. The migraines would continue to get worse along with my periods.”

As time continued, things got worse.  More illnesses.  More random symptoms.  More pain.  More suffering.

“My hair would slowly begin to thin out and fall out. I would lose the outer portion of my eyebrows, my eyelashes and my body hair would all fall out.  I would also experience weight gain, heart palpitations, insomnia, severe and chronic constipation mixed with diarrhea, swelling in my fingers and ankles and of course, those migraines got worse and worse (if that’s possible).”

She’s been diagnosed with everything from Hepatitis C to Metabolic Syndrome X.  She’s been getting sicker and sicker.  And although doctors can help her with her individual diseases, no one knows why she keeps getting so sick.

Even worse, she must care for her adult daughter who has multiple disabilities, almost completely on her own, including any need that the disabled daughter must have (therapy, doctor visits, lab visits, etc.).  She’s had one vacation in 9 years both because of her sicknesses and her care for her daughter.

When we reached out to Susan, she told us, “Thanks for the opportunity to be diagnosed.  It’s been many years and my situation is not improving.”

Susan has very few places to turn.  CrowdMed happens to be one of the few that might finally help give her the answers she’s looking for.

Please help fund her campaign and the rest of the people just like her by visiting our IndieGoGo campaign.  For every $300 we receive, we’ll be able to fund a patient like Susan.  Susan is next in line, so your donation will be going straight to her.