Chelsea Rushton is a 22 year old mother of two who developed Gastroparesis after the birth of her second child. She also suffers from Fibromyalgia as well. Her husband works full time along with going to school. It is hard to imagine the strain this illness can cause on not just her, but on everyone around her.
“I want to cry when I tell you that we need, so badly, more studies on gastroparesis,” [her mother, Sherri Petersen] said. “We need the awareness to get out there that this is a real disease. This is not something that is in your head that many are told it is … She has been told many times over, ‘You don’t really hurt. Just go home and take a Tylenol.’ “
Chelsea’s surgery was scheduled for March 10th, 2011. Hopefully things went smoothly. We wish her the best in her recovery & hopefully her rehabilitation from Gastroparesis.
You can read the full story at The Standard-Examiner.
The Moose Jaw Times Herald is running a story about Melissa Rowe, a resident of Moose Jaw, Canada who is trying to raise money for a gastric neurostimulator device. It appears the local Saskatchewan healthcare system has denied her claim to get the device. The estimated cost to get the device is approximately $50,000. She is appealing the decision, so let’s hope they change their mind.
Unfortunately the paper has left out information about the actual fundraiser in the online version of the article and redirects you to buy the paper. I am sure it was probably just an oversight, but it would be nice if they’re trying to help this woman to make sure the information is on the Internet. I’ve e-mailed them to see if they can provide this information. I’ll update this post if it becomes available.
Also I’d like to point out that this shouldn’t be used as a jab against the Canadian healthcare system as it’s no cakewalk to get the the gastric neurostimulator covered by US insurance. Though it’d be nice if both systems had a smoother path.