Many who see this might know me but for those of you who do not, my name is Valerie.

It's very awkward for me to ask for things for myself. I've written grants and done all kinds of things for clients over the years, and I did things to help myself when I got through college, but not in a long time. And now because of the declining health issues, I find I have to ask for help a lot.

It's been in the news a lot lately about crazy old single cat ladies, but I had no aspiration to be such a thing. I wanted to be a wife and a mother, and the career was really a backup plan. Then I learned I could not have children. I love'd my work, but I think God did me a favor when he had me medically retire when he did. I am not sure I could work in my profession today under the circumstances I would have to work in. My health definitely wouldn't allow it. I channeled the vast majority of my energy, and still do, into helping children and families. Though I was active most of my life I had a desk job in the last few years I slowed down steadily. At first I thought it was just getting older, but then these tumors started happening and the unbelievable pain, and I chalked that up to mostly arthritis and different things. But now we know that it's not just arthritis and there's a lot of other things going on too. That's why I am writing this to you.

I fought my weight all my life, and recently learned there were several reasons that I never knew or understood and was never told by the medical profession, for my weight to be what it is. I started to drop it and have lost over 120 pounds in the last year. I need to lose more, but now other things are going wrong very badly. The tumors had multiplied greatly, and although they were not cancerous we could not understand why I had so many and they didn't seem to be stopping and they were causing great pain. I have multiple painful conditions, and multiple serious medical conditions. At one point, I went to Mayo Clinic, and the one doctor observed, “It's like your body is at war with itself,” but the treatments that they proposed I was not a candidate for and nothing ever came of it. There are all kinds of autoimmune issues that we can't pin down.

For nearly a decade I lived in a region next to a superfund site that has not been cleaned up to date. That small area had an disproportionate number of cancers and weird autoimmune conditions. I think this may be the sources of many of my issues now. If any of you remember the medical show, “House” you will appreciate when I tell you that I have been in search of a Doctor House for decades. I may have found one. This man has been recommended to me over and over again over the years by many friends and associates who have said that God has used this individual to work miracles in their lives when the medical profession had written them off. In some cases the medical profession had made them worse. The reason I never went to this individual, was because I couldn't afford it. I think I cannot afford not to, now. This doctor does not take insurance of any type. He has been a homeopathic physician for over two decades, and has a well established practice in my area that is thriving. Some generous friends and family recently mailed me money and begged me to start a “ Give, send, go” to fund more care. I used that money to pay my initial fee for the first session, and I filled out a 42 page questionnaire in order to get admitted. I have a little over a month to raise the rest of the money to have at least a few sessions paid for, as well as tests he wishes to run, which I have been told cost from $180-$1000+ EACH.

The name of the practice that I will be attending is “ UP Holistic Medicine” https://www.facebook.com/upholisticmedicine .  Their official website is: https://www.upholisticmedicine.com . The doctor's name is Dr. Scott Doughty. He has a marvelous reputation and is in the local hospital network. He has been a part of this community for a very, very long time. I am convinced he is worth every penny he asks, and if he can't help me he will not string me along. I am thinking he will be able to though, because I've been able to obtain significant results all by myself, knowing almost nothing about this field. But now there are complications that I do not understand and I have to have professional guidance.

I've been in and out of the hospital and almost died multiple times over the last six months. I was unable to walk after my last admission, and am still unable to get my legs working again. I am making progress with in home PT. I tried rehab and a nursing home, but had a nightmare experience and I'm desperate not to go back. Unasked, friends and family pitched in and gave me money so that I would not have to lose my home, and I am now back in the duplex I have been renting (in total I have lived here for over a decade) for two months. However, the nursing home was so keen to get me out of there, because I kept calling them out on their code violations, they rushed my discharge and did it badly. The hospital bed that I am in is broken and this is the second hospital bed that I have had in two months that has been broken. They keep telling me they cannot get hospital beds up here in this remote area for people with my needs. That means someone having to find me a hospital bed that is going to cost most likely between four and $9000. That is not the only problem. I cannot get help out here for $18.20, which is all the agencies that helped me find workers will pay. I either have to find people and pay them more out of my pocket (out of desperation, and I really don't have anywhere NEAR that kind of money), or I'm going to have to temporarily relocate myself to somewhere where I can get the rehab and care that I need to get my legs back functionally. I don't want to do any of that until I can see Dr Doughty first.

I have Medicare and Medicaid, but they don't cover everything that I need, and what they do cover often isn't even remotely functional. Medicare bought me a lift chair 4 years ago, that never worked past six months and then they would never fix it. It took months to get the parts, and when they didn't work it was out of warranty and they refused to repair it after that. Those same people are the ones who keep supplying me the broken beds. To say that finding care for the less advantaged is a difficulty up here is an understatement.

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is not as remote as it used to be, but we still don't have access to as many services as other people. I will say though, that the quality of services available to those on Medicare and Medicaid, if you don't have supplements or other resources available to you, is not always the best. Hence my coming to you, and asking for your help. For those of you that cannot spare any money, please just say prayers. The prayer is the most important thing of all and I am profoundly grateful for each and every prayer warrior standing with me! For those of you who have already sent money thank you, because of you I was able to come home and have been making it thus far. For those of you who can see it in your heart to spare either some more money or anything at all, thank you and may God bless you.

I know that times are hard and I appreciate you taking the time to pray for me and to read this. This is only a small list of what's necessary. My wheelchair van needs maintenance, and I need so many different pieces of equipment and different things that I either can't get covered or can't get here. I need to either get a hearing aid or a better phone system, probably both. And out of the blue this month I got $150 water bill when my bill is normally $35 a month. They acknowledge that that's not my normal bill and something went wrong, and they acknowledge that it was probably a leak, but I am responsible for it anyway.

I just hired a lady and wrote letters to the court to help her out and bent over backwards to help her come to work here because she said she wanted to, and two days before she was supposed to start she informed me she didn't want to do it after all. I have one employee who has worked every day for the past two weeks and I haven't been able to give her any time off. I can pay cash if I have the money to hire somebody from one of the temp agencies privately, if I can get the money. And Medicare can't get mad at me about it, if I can show the receipts for all of the money being paid from medical needs and care needs, and I can do that.

I'm not going to cap the amount on this unless I have to, because I really have no idea how much all of this is going to cost. I hate to put an amount that's so ridiculously HIGH that it discourages people from giving, but I also don't want to put an amount that so low that it won't even come close to what I need to do the basic things. Let's put it this way if there is anything left that is unneeded, I assure you it will go towards something that you would approve of, one way or another. If I got something really, really large, then I would use it to take a trip to some of the healing places and miracle spots in America and I would do a pilgrimage. I would also meet some of the people that I have met online that I have never had the privilege of meeting in person, yet, who have been praying for me and sending love an support for years. There are family members and places that I want to see one more time in my lifetime. The three biggest things on my bucket list God has not seen fit to answer yet, and who knows when he will, it's his time, not ours that matters.

If you have questions, or have more verification that you would like, please message me I'm sure there's a way to do that through “Give, Send, Go” and I will get back with you. Thank you and may God bless you!