Thank you for visiting my fundraising page!  Please read my story, and if able please make a donation now to FMDSA.

MY STORY:

I was diagnosed with fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) in December of 2004.  I had gone to the doctor for a simple bladder infection, and, as I hadn’t been through a physical exam in a couple of years, my Nurse Practitioner decided to do some “listening around”.  She heard bruits in my neck and sent me to a vascular specialist for a Duplex carotid ultrasound.  The Duplex showed what the doctor suspected was FMD, so I was sent for an arteriogram.  I was found at the arteriogram to have the typical “string of beads” appearance in my bilateral internal carotid arteries, bilateral vertebral arteries and my right renal artery.  At that point I had a 9mm aneurysm in my left internal carotid artery.  Three years after my initial diagnosis, I was found on CTA to have FMD in both external iliac arteries with a 5mm aneurysm in the right external iliac.  These remain asymptomatic.  This year I was discovered to have another 2mm aneurysm above my 9mm aneurysm in the left internal carotid as well as being found on vascular imaging to also have FMD in my celiac artery.  The diagnosis in my celiac artery came when I was a volunteer “scan” patient for Dr. Jeffrey Olin at the Vascular Imaging Symposium in Philadelphia in October of 2010.  I was very discouraged that so many health care providers do not know much about FMD, therefore I began volunteering for FMDSA shortly after I was diagnosed and now sit as Vice President on the Board of Directors (I appeared in a television interview on Today’s Woman in North Carolina and published an article in the Atlantic County Woman). FMD has not slowed me down and my goal is to speak on FMD and continue to promote awareness to all health care providers.  I thank God on a daily basis for each day I continue to move forward.  My only prayer now is that one day there will be total awareness of what FMD is, what causes this disease and how to cure and prevent it in future generations. With your generous donation, hopefully we can accomplish this goal.

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