Donation Goal

I have decided that I need to hold off on mailing my medical records out to Northwestern University. Once I have the process started I'm told it goes pretty fast. However I sat down today and did a very general calculation on costs for the 9 week stay in Chicago. Figuring in air fare, lodging, and food for Mom and myself we're looking at $20,000. I have no idea what the insurance is willing to pay for the transplant as it will cost $175,000. The case worker apparently has a pretty good winning streak when it comes to convincing them to pay 100% but I will not know till we get closer to the actual transplant date. So for now I've set my fund raising goal at $20,000. I have to admit that I was a little heart broken when I saw the figure because it seems like an impossible amount. I just have to remember God still works miracles even in a crappy economy. I have added a goal tracker to the side of my blog and will update it as donations come in.

I still have some ideas left to look into. A friend of my Dad told us today that their church actually sponsors a few hotel rooms in downtown Dallas for people who need to stay for medical purposes. I have a list of the hotels surrounding the Northwestern University and I'm going to call and find out if they have any room sponsors, if not they should offer a medical rate which I hope will bring down the trip cost significantly.
Not sure if anyone reading this has ever been through anything like this but if you have any ideas that might help please leave a comment or you can email me directly at laurenccrow@yahoo.com. Thanks in advance! <3

Random Devic's NMO Facts:

• Often times the first symptom is nausea or hiccups that last for weeks at a time.
• If vision loss occurs it can sometimes return up to 10 months later.
• In 1894 Eugene Devic described a rare neurological disorder that resembled Multiple Sclerosis thus giving it the name Devic's NMO.
• Devic's NMO is called an orphan disease because it is extremely rare. It is said to effect 1 to 2 out of every 100,000 people! Basically that means there are 3,000 people in the United States who currently have Devic's NMO... the only issue is that most of them have been misdiagnosed with MS... I'd be surprised if even a 1/4 of that have actually been diagnosed with NMO.