THROUGH A RARE ILLNESS, I NEED NEW DENTURES. PLEASE HELP ME SMILE AGAIN

$1,764 of $5,000 goal
Given by 53 generous donors in around 3 months

Monies will be spent on NEW DENTURES, NEW SMILE, NEW CONFIDENCE.

Bay of Plenty

For those of you who don't know me my name is Teresa Collins. I'm a single mum, who worked full time as a qualified early childhood educator, up until illness took over my life in July 2016. It turned mine and my son's world upside down. I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy, CIDP for short. The easiest way to describe CIDP is by this little analogy explaining the D-Demyelinating part of CIDP (Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy)......Your new puppy (your immune system) thinks that bright new extension cord to your lamp, looks good. He starts to chew on the rubber coating (myelin sheath) covering the wires (axon or nerve cell). The wires start to short out and the light it’s plugged into (your muscles) begins to work and not work intermittently. He keeps chewing until the wires are broken into (nerve/axon loss) and the light doesn’t come on anymore...(Muscles don’t work right, foot drop, numbness in my hands and feet, chronic pain and many more). CIDP has been likened to MS as the symptoms are so close in nature. The diagnosis brought on the dreaded "black dog" *(depression), which is understandable with a life changing disease. Along with the depression, the condition is extremely isolating due to the chronic pain and fatigue. Also the physical changes your body goes through due to the disease, medication and treatment. I've sadly gained weight due to a round of high dose steroids and the inability to move and be active. My pain medication causes another set of effects. I'm now on LVIG which is a plasma infusion every 3 weeks for 2 days. A side effect of this treatment and one of the many symptoms of CIDP is TOOTH DETERIORATION I have found this one of the hardest side effects/symptoms to deal with. I am usually a happy smiley person, but have tended to isolate myself. I get constant infections, which we all know how we feel when we have a tooth ache! For me this is on-going and never ending. The oral surgeon at the hospital has put my surgery to remove my teeth as urgent. I'm fortunate in the sense that I don't have to pay for the removal of my teeth. But I cannot pay for my dentures and dealing with WINZ has been futile! Also I'm not in any position to get a loan from a bank etc. So I'm asking for a donation of $5000. So I can be happy and SMILE again???

Colleen Spiro's involvement (page creator)

I am Colleen, a friend of around 20 years of Teresa. It has been hard for me and other friends to see Teresa lose her independence and confidence through this illness. She is normally a happy, bubbly person.....Let's help return her smile at the very least.

Use of funds

Money will be spent on new dentures to help build up my self confidence.If any money left over. I might shout myself a new tablet to pass the time of many hours spent at the hospital receiving PLASMA TREATMENT.

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Latest donations

Raewyn
Raewyn on 18 Sep 2019
$20
Allison
Allison on 06 Sep 2019
Hope this little bit helps hun. Kia kaha TC xx
$20
Guest Donor
Guest Donor on 27 Aug 2019
Private
Guest Donor
Guest Donor on 22 Aug 2019
Wish I could do more. xx
$5
Melissa
Melissa on 15 Aug 2019
All the best for your treatment and dentures.
$40

Who's involved?

Colleen Spiro's avatar
Created by Colleen Spiro
Teresa  Collins's avatar
Paying to a verified bank account of Teresa Collins
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This page was created on 24 Jun 2019 and closed on 24 Sep 2019.