Fire captain desperate to save his wife Contributor: Rochelle Ritchie Email: [email protected] Last Update: 3/16 10:08 am
Fire Captain desperate to save his wife
Help Save Diana WEST PALM BEACH, FL-- A fire captain living in West Palm Beach is desperate to save his wife's life.
Don Galloway has been told she will die if she does not get treated soon and he needs the community to help.
36-year-old Diana Galloway suffers from a rare combination of metal poisoning and Lyme disease. It is so bad any type of electronics can send her into a seizure.
Don says he is not giving up but he needs help if his wife has any chance of surviving. "No one can understand what she is going though," says Galloway.
Her husband says she has seen several doctors but her condition has gotten so bad her last doctor said there is nothing more he can do. "He said it wasn't anything immediate but she is showing organ failure and he believes she will die from this."
With the news of inevitable death, he reached out to a doctor in Seattle who specializes in treating the rare combination. But there is one problem. "Yes we need financial help, I need financial help," says Galloway, "It's very difficult for me to turn around to my friends and family and tell them 'listen I can't do this on my own.' "
Galloway says he has spent almost $75,000 of his own money on medical care for his wife, not to mention the credit card debt he has racked up. He has looked at every possible asset including his home.
"Unfortunately because of the housing slump and foreclosures in my neighborhood my house won't appraise and allow me to get anything out of it," he says.
He says their three children have been resilient. Even being by there mother's side when she is having one of her painful episodes.
"I never thought it would get to this point," says Diana's mother Rosemary Bryer, "I look at her and I think I might lose you and it's terrifying."
Diana tells her mother her biggest anguish besides the pain is the pain of not being around long enough for her children. "I really want to be around mom, I want to see my children grow up, I want to see my daughter get married, I want to be a grandmother."
Galloway says Dr. Dietrich Kinghardt in Seattle is his last chance. But the medical cost and housing will cost $10,000 a month and insurance will not cover it.
A website has been set up for Diana at helpsavediana.org.
This is so difficult for me to understand. How can people be so very ill like this that Infectious Disease doctors can't see that there is indeed a problem? Where is the compassion that brought one to become a doctor?
My heart goes out to this lady. I pray she will receive help, healing, and live.
Posts: 515 | From In His Loving Care | Registered: Apr 2009
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quote:Originally posted by randibear: i'm wondering if c in the midwest, er wherever, would be closer. isn't there one in the south?
i truly wish i could help but right i'm maxed out.
I would assume it's Dr. K in Seattle that she is seeing ..... I would think he would be the right doc to handle this considering she's so toxic in heavy metals along with the Lyme.
It's so sad that people essentially have to go begging to get treated. It's just wrong that they have no other choice.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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Did your daughter have just the lead or lyme too?
Posts: 448 | From minnesota | Registered: Feb 2010
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map1131
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2022
posted
If any doctor can help this woman....It's Dr K. He will deal with the very important part of detoxing her sick sick body first.
The money spent is mind blogging on this illness. If I thought our new Medical bill would help our group, I would be so excited. But I fear the worse.
But I really don't think it going to help someone like this woman who desperately needs the help of Dr K on the other side of the country. He's not exactly a tradionalists doc.
Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6478 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
Do you think it would be possible for Dr. K to work with Dr. S in Florida? Surely the docs would be willing to do this for her!
Posts: 677 | From Virginia | Registered: Sep 2002
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map1131
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2022
posted
I believe for Dr K's type work the patient would need to go to him. I'm sure there are things that the two doctors could work with in between visits. But visits there would be the only way.
Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6478 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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(Left) Wellington resident Diana Galloway before her battle with Lyme disease. (Right) Diana today.
Lauren Mir� 02.APR.10
Wellington resident Diana Galloway is fighting late-stage Lyme disease coupled with mercury poisoning that is causing her organs to fail, while costly treatment to keep her alive is straining her family's finances.
Although Galloway has been told that it is unlikely she will recover, she holds hope in getting treatment from doctors in Seattle who think they can treat her.
Diana, 36, and her husband Don Galloway are seeking help from the community to help them pay for the treatment that could save her life. They have already spent almost $75,000 of their own money, along with the debt they have accrued on credit cards.
``We've exhausted everything we have,'' Diana said. ``We've maxed out credit cards, and my parents have cashed in their CDs to give us money.''
The Galloways moved to Wellington in 2002. Diana worked as a registered nurse at Palms West Hospital, while Don is a fire captain. They have three children, Rebekah, Luke and Adam, who are in the sixth, fifth and third grades at Emerald Cove Middle School and Equestrian Trails Elementary School.
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection usually spread by tick bites. It is not common in South Florida, but is quite prevalent in the Northeast and Midwest.
Although she is unsure where she contracted the disease, Diana dates it to when she became sick shortly after a trip to North Carolina in August 2008.
``We had been in North Carolina because my husband's father passed away,'' she recalled. ``About 12 to 14 days after we got back, I got very sick. I had a fever, my whole body hurt.''
Diana went to a walk-in clinic, which gave her antibiotics thinking she had strep throat. But her condition only got worse.
``I continued to get sicker,'' she said. ``I would have burning pain all over my body. I lost a significant amount of weight to where I had people asking if I had an eating disorder. I went to the doctor, who found I had two different kinds of pneumonia and no immune system.''
After more than a year of doctors, tests, guesses and treatment, Diana was properly diagnosed with Lyme disease on Sept. 16, 2009 -- a date she remembers well.
The diagnosis was a mystery for so long because Diana lacked the telltale bull's-eye rash that is common in about 80 percent of patients with the disease. It was only after she contacted two environmental doctors in New York that anyone even suggested it could be Lyme disease.
Throughout that year before her diagnosis, Diana had been receiving antibiotics for several different diseases.
``I noticed I became significantly more sick,'' she said. ``It raised questions about mercury poisoning. The problem is that the medical community thinks that antibiotics and vaccines carry such a small amount of mercury that it won't hurt, but mercury can wreak havoc on the body.''
The mercury complicated Diana's treatment because Lyme disease causes a deficiency in liver function and weakens the body's ability to fight off poisons.
``The two things go hand-in-hand,'' Diana said. ``You can't just aggressively kill off the Lyme and not treat the mercury poisoning.''
Once she was diagnosed, Diana had to see several specialists, and the bills began to pile up as her insurance claims continued to be rejected.
``Insurance only covers up to 28 days of antibiotic therapy,'' she said. ``If I had had the rash and gotten a diagnosis earlier, they might have paid for treatment.''
However, at this late stage of the disease, all of her organs have been affected by the disease and are beginning to fail.
After nearly giving up hope, the family found Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt's practice in Seattle, which specializes in treating the combination of metal poisoning and Lyme disease. His treatment may be her only hope, but medical and housing costs are estimated at $10,000 a month and insurance will not cover it, Don said.
``The only thing we can do at this point is give her the treatment she needs,'' Don said. ``There's a risk she could die from the treatment, but they're positive they can help. In the meantime, we're researching ways to help eliminate the metals and build her immune system. It's so weak that if she catches a cold, it could kill her.''
Klinghardt's practice has helped other patients with the disease, including one patient whose symptoms were as bad as Diana's, she said.
``They've helped a lot of people suffering from the same symptoms I have,'' Diana said. ``They're not God, but they think they can help me.''
The family hoped to move her to Seattle early this month, but Diana's worsened condition and their strained finances have pushed the date back.
Life with Lyme disease is very different for the former nurse, who stopped working in November. Because of complications from the metal poisoning, Diana experiences seizures. Wireless devices, certain foods, products or health treatments can cause them. As a result, she cannot be around most electronics, is on a strictly organic diet and can only use certain products. She also has lost the use of her right arm and experiences constant pain.
``A lot of the little things that people would do on their own have caused me to have a seizure,'' she said.
The disease has changed the family's life.
``I try to work as much as I can to keep the house afloat,'' Don said. ``When I'm gone for 24 hours at a time, her parents help out with the kids and running errands. I don't know how I could get things done without them.''
When bills continued to pile up, Diana's parents began to use their credit cards to pay for her treatment. Her father came out of retirement to help pay for her medical costs, and her mother helps Diana with the children and household tasks.
``I'm not comfortable being with my own children alone,'' Diana said. ``If something were to happen, I would not be in any condition to take them to the hospital. And if something happened to me, I wouldn't want them alone in the house.''
But Diana's children are familiar with their mother's condition and have even stood by her side during seizures.
``When this first started, my goal was to keep things as normal as possible for the kids,'' Don said. ``But I see that it's getting to them. They bicker a lot more. They see the effect this has on her because of her sensitivity to [electronics], which has been the biggest setback. We've had to change a lot; it's not like business as usual.''
And finances are the hardest part. Because of her special needs, Diana is spending beyond her means to buy organic products, leaving little left over to pay for necessities for the family like food and clothing.
To raise money, they will hold a benefit on Saturday, May 22 at the American Polish Club in Lake Worth. The family also is accepting donations through the Firefighters Benevolent Association. For more information, or to donate money, food, clothes or other items, visit www.helpsave diana.org.
``All I can ask for is prayers and for people to look at the web site and pass it along to everyone they know,'' Diana said.
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Having late stage lyme myself, disabled, husband out of work, I thought I have to do something. So I Emailed everyone I knew giving out the newspaper's articles web site asking for anything. Who knows...Now I will just pray.
Posts: 161 | From midwest | Registered: Jul 2007
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