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For the past six years, Lisa Brown has been suffering from a disease that is slowly, but surely, taking her life away from her. The 34-year-old woman began to lose significant amounts of weight when she was just 28.
She was unable to keep her food down, vomiting after every meal, and suffered from intense stomach pain. By the time she finally stepped foot onto a scale, she had dropped to 112 pounds – and she was 5’10”.
Brown’s husband, Patrick, begged her to go see a doctor.
But even then, it took almost three years for doctors to diagnose Brown’s condition. She was suffering from superior mesenteric artery syndrome (SMAS), a condition where two arteries are pinching the intestines shut, not allowing any food to pass through.
In the time it took Brown to receive her diagnosis, she’d dropped down to 77 pounds and constantly faced strangers’ rude comments, telling her to eat a hamburger and stop starving herself.
“It was very hard to hear, but I knew the truth,” she admitted.
Although Brown was admitted to a hospital that specialized in treating SMAS in 2013, immediately after her diagnosis, doctors were still unable to help her. Corrective surgery only provided a temporary solution and by July 2015, Brown was 89 pounds and uncertain if she’d live to be 33.
Brown continued to remain in the hospital, hooked up to a tube that would provide her body with the nutrients it needed, but her condition only continued to decline.
Her last hope of surviving is receiving an intestinal transplant – but it would cost her mother and her husband $1 million, a price she thinks is far too high.
“It was my last chance at surviving,” she says. “But it didn’t happen. It was way too expensive to do on our own.”
On top of the price, Brown would also have to gain an extra 20 pounds before doctors would even consider performing the surgery on her. “I knew then and there I had no shot,” she says. “I couldn’t take it anymore.”
Brown has since entered hospice care where her mother and husband spend every day by her side until she passes. “It’s time to go,” she said. “I’m done fighting. I’ve tried everything.”
Our hearts go out to Brown’s family during this time. If you can help contribute to Brown’s memorial service, please do so here.
