Funds for Elizabeth: Help Send Elizabeth to Tampa, Florida for Treatment

MONTROSE, Colo., July 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Student. Wife. Mother. Friend. Sister. These are just a few of the roles that Elizabeth Jennings has assumed over the course of her life, but for the last 15 months she has also had to add Fighter to that list.

A shoulder surgery performed in April 2010 left Elizabeth with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD). RSD is a neurological disorder which causes a malfunction of the autonomic nervous system. Nerves misfire and send constant pain signals to the brain.  Elizabeth's RSD has spread to her arm, back, neck and head and will most likely spread to her entire body.

The mother of two young children, Nicholas, age 4 and Samantha, age 2, Elizabeth is practically bedridden and unable to care for her children during the day.  Those circumstances coupled with Elizabeth's other daily struggles with RSD has resulted in her husband Greg taking an additional job at night in order to pay for the daycare that the children have recently been enrolled in.

Surgery after surgery has been performed and countless options for treatment have been tried to no avail. Through all of this Elizabeth has never given up hope.

"The fighter within me refuses to become a victim to the circumstances I find myself in, yet constantly battling the pain in concurrence feels as if all the air is being forced out of my lungs.  My heart is always filled with hope at the prospect of being a capable mother and wife again.  Right now, I just need to be able to breathe," stated Elizabeth.

Her only hope for stopping the spread of this disease is to undergo an experimental yet FDA-approved treatment with a 70% success rate at the RSD/CRPS Treatment Center in Tampa Florida. Since this treatment is considered experimental her insurance will not cover it and the total costs are estimated at $15,000.

According to Elizabeth, she started her blog in hopes of "sharing our personal family struggles with Chronic Pain and Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. I want this blog to be a place free from judgments. A place for family members, patients, friends, caretakers, and the medical community to come and share the ways chronic pain diseases have affected their lives. I want this blog to be an open discussion on the active ways we are treating RSD as individuals, and as caretakers. I wish for this blog is able to bring awareness to this grossly misunderstood disease. I want to raise awareness, funding, and ultimately be a part of the cure. Thank you for joining me in our family's fight against this incurable disease."

Her entire family is in crisis and suffering from the effects of this horrible disease. Donations are currently being accepted for Elizabeth's journey through treatment and you can contribute here.

Elizabeth can be reached at [email protected].

SOURCE Friends of Elizabeth Jennings