hi ellen iam a big fan my name is amanda i live with my husben and my two year old son and we live with his nanny becuse we cant get are owen cuz we only make 100 every two weeks and it is very hard to buy dippers and wipes i dont care if i cant get thing i just want my son to have what he needs he just turned 2 on sept 29 had we had to use foodstamps to get him a cake i really feel like i dont know what to do i dont have a highscool deploma are a ged cuse i was in ese growing up iam at a 3rd grade leavl i cant really spell that good and i would love it if the gold digger came to help me and my family

Dear Ellen,
I just sent in a nomination for my patient Sarah Mora through your stimulus package page, but I was only able to type 1500 characters, and I want you to be able to read this very brave young lady's story of her medical battles in detail so you can understand just what she goes through. I also attached a digital picture. We took that picture on a day she was getting casts on and she was paying attention to the cast tech's instructions and she does not know we took her picture!
I feel my patient Sarah Mora who is a courageous 23 year old is a wonderful candidate for your big stimulus package. She has been battling so many medical problems leading to big medical bills.
I apologize for it being so long, but please read it. It is truly an inspiring story.
She has osteogenesis imperfecta which is brittle bone disease and is not curable, she can fracture just moving her wrist the wrong way, she is constantly in casts, sometimes one on her arm and leg at the same time. She is constantly in pain. She has a cardiac pacemaker.
Where do I begin? At age 12 she got all her basic immunizations at her pediatrician including the hepatites B shot. She got severely sick because of this shot. It suppressed her immune system so she had no antibodies in her blood to fight off infections. She received several immunococal booster shots which helped to a point but her body still did not respond to the shots completely. She then started with sinus infections and severe nosebleeds. She would get nosebleeds every day that would not stop on their own and she would be at the ENT, walkin clinic or emergency room getting it cauterized with painful silver nitrate sticks or packed. Some of the doctors would not numb her nose before cauterizing, but she still managed to stay strong. This then led to a search for a better ENT which then led to an embolization which is an extremely risky procedure where an interventional radiologist inserted a catheter in her groin and fed it through until it reached her nose in attempt to seal off blood vessels in her nose. The doctor noticed she had an abnormal amount of blood vessels in her nose, so she sealed off blood vessels which helped for a while but then she started with the nosebleeds again. She then started with knee problems which led to arthroscopies of both knees starting in 2000 on the right knee, then 2001 for the left knee for plica syndrome. In 2003 she developed tarsal tunnel syndrome in both her feet so she had to undergo surgeries for that. She then underwent another knee arthroscopy on each knee again in 2004 because the plica grew back causing her pain and clicking yet again. Then in 2005 she underwent 2 elbow arthroscopies for plica syndrome. She had multiple ER visits before this surgery for her elbow locking up on her, she would be in excruciating pain and the ER doctors would not know what to do and finally they had to sedate her to straighten the elbows. She had 2 surgeons in the room with her and they both have never seen plica syndrome in an elbow before, but it was very obvious that Sarah had this plica in her elbows. She then endured shoulder pain leading to surgery on both of her shoulders for severe tendonitis and bursitis, the doctor was a sports medicine doctor and he commented that he had never seen a shoulder in that bad of shape even in the athletes that he treated in the past. She also in between knee surgeries would have locking in her knee where her heel would be touching the back of her thigh, she incurred many ER visits for this as well to straighten it under sedation.
She also had to have her appendix removed in 2003, she also had ovarian cysts removed at the same time and then was diagnosed with endometriosis. She had her gallbladder removed in 2005 which the doctor noted that it was an underdeveloped gallbladder. At age 16, she started fracturing. She fractured her left foot first, no injury, they put a cast on it, she then developed pain in her right foot, that became fractured as well, the only choice was to put her right leg in the cast as well but then she would be bound to a wheelchair so she had to wait until the left foot fracture healed and then the day they took the left cast off, they put a cast on the right leg. She continuted to fracture and noone knew why. She was sent to multiple major medical centers to try to figure this out. In 2005 she was finally diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta which is brittle bone disease which is normally diagnosed at birth but because her fractures didn't start until age 16, noone knew to look for this. They tried her on Actonel which did not work. She then was sent to another specialist in another state who recommended an IV medication but it is not covered by insurance. She continued to fracture and went to several Osteogenesis Imperfecta clinics throughout the country to get help. She was given false hope many times, being told that this would be the place to go each time but noone knew what to do. In 2006 she started with left hip pain and clicking, which led to her being sent to a doctor in another state who does hip arthroscopies, at the time there were very few doctors in the country doing hip arthroscopies. She had a labral tear which he repaired. She then developed pain and clicking in her right hip and was sent to another state for that resulting in a labral tear. She then developed hip impingement and had to travel to yet another state to get that fixed. The surgeries only lasted for so long and then she would get pain and the clicking back. She was sent to several hip surgeons throughout the country, each time being told this is the one who can help you. In between all of this, she would get episodes of blacking out and the doctors in her state of connecticut did not know why, so she was sent to a doctor at Baylor in Houston, Texas. He sent her for a tilt table test, she had an episode during it and her heart stopped which led to her being admitted and getting a pacemaker put in. For her hips, she was then told there was a doctor who definitely could help her, but at the time she was in Texas because she had gotten her pacemaker put in. She and her family had no money to send her back home to connecticut. So she gave up hope that her hips would never be permenently fixed. Her father then decided to just go for it, and she used a buddypass from a friend who is a flight attendent. She flew home and then her father drove her 6 hours in a car ride to the doctor. He said he could not help her but there was only one doctor in the country who could help her, and he was in Vail, Colorado. Sarah never heard of Vail and then started looking up hotel prices and realized it was an expensive town. She had her right hip operated in February of 2008 and her left hip operated on in August 2008. Her hips were in bad shape. This surgeon was able to reconstruct both of her hips. These were both 6 month to a year recoveries. This also meant a lot of therapy, which led to a tremendous amount of copays which she is still on a payment plan for as of today. Her protocol was for at least 6 months of therapy, her insurance stopped her after 25 visits. She was told she could go to a local gym, she cannot afford to go to a local gym, she was also told by her hip surgeon to just do swimming as a way of therapy but she can't afford to go to her local community center pool. It is also not safe for her to be at a gym because of her cardiac risks.
She then in October 2008 was having a problem with her hip adductor, so she had a special injection but it cost $950 which she or her family did not have the money for, but thinking this will help and being told by the office that insurance usually pays a portion of it, so they would at least get something back. Well insurance considered it experimental. She then developed knee pain and clicking again in her right knee so she underwent surgery again with the colorado knee surgeon this time in january of 2009 and she had a synovectomy. She then developed knee pain in her left knee so she then had to travel to colorado yet again in may 2009. She had arthrofibrosis in her knee which is on to arthritis. Both of her hip surgeries insurance kicked out saying they are experimental because this doctor in Colorado who did AROD's surgery, is the only one doing them, so it is not quite heard of yet. and they are $27,000 dollars. But her hips are doing so much better. She does need another injection in her hip adductor but she can't afford the injection fee and the injections that insurance will cover are steroid injections which she cannot have because of her bone problems and the steroids can cause longterm tendon damage.
She has also been going to mayo clinic in Minnesota for over a year now. She started with stomach problems in 2003 and was admitted multiple times but none of the doctors knew what to do. She went to a GI specialist at mayo last year. She was diagnosed with a slow motility disorder. He is the only doctor who can help her GI problem. She has been seeing him for over a year now and is doing much better with medication. She developed a serious infection called C Difficile multiple times and was treated and hopefully it will not come back.
She also has been seeing several other specialists at the mayo clinic to try to piece the puzzle of her other medical problems together. She saw a bone specialist who was just recently able to put her on an injectable medication that Sarah has to self inject every day.
She underwent an endoscopy in July 2009 and was diagnosed with candida esophagitis. She then had another one the end of July and she still has the candida esophagitis despite medication. During this endoscopy, they had to end it early because her heart rate went to 163. She has to undergo future endoscopies to see if the candida esophagitis is still there but due to her high heart rate she has to have anesthesia as supposed to sedation. Also after struggling with unbearable migraines for 5 years and numbness, tingling and weakness on the left side of her body, the mayo was able to diagnose her with hemiplegic migraines.
Meanwhile, she is burdened with a ton of medical bills. She owes a tremendous amount of copays to mayo clinic, she is on a payment plan for her copays and deductibles for Vail. She can no longer afford these payment plans, she was never able to afford them to begin with. She can barely wake up from the anesthesia and she has to immediately deal with these issues instead of concentrating on recovering from her surgeries. She also has to deal with her insurance having clinical policy bulletins so now before she can do any bloodwork, she has to get all the billing codes, call her insurance company and ask if there are any bulletins on them. She can't afford the hotel stays in Vail or mayo clinic etc. She does not qualify for housing because ronald mcdonald houses are for children and the only other houses they have are for cancer and they will not make exceptions. For her medical bills, she does not qualify for financial assistance since she does have insurance. Both Sarah and her father are constantly fighting these insurance battles.
With the exception of Colorado, and a few other trips, Sarah has traveled to all of these medical centers by herself. Her family can't afford to send her, nevermind one of them going. Her recent visit at mayo led to yet another knee arthroscopy this time a diagnostic arthroscopy due to an abnormal aspiration of her knee which they determined from that, she had crystals in her knee and an abnormal amount of synovial tissue and fibrous tissue in her knee. They have never seen crystals in a 23 year old before. They tried to proceed with an ultrasound guided biopsy but they were unsuccessful because the tissue was too deep. She then underwent the knee arthroscopy by herself, they did several biopsies and noticed that everything the doctor cleaned out of her knee in may grew back. She managed to hobble on the crutches through the airports to travel back home to connecticut. She was in excruciating surgical pain because she could not take pain medications being by herself.
For one of her knee surgeries in Colorado, she fractured her arm just because she was using the crutches for her knee so she had to get her arm casted and be fitted for a platform crutch. There are only certain doctors in the country that can help her so she has been sent out of state for most of this, therefore incuring airline fees, hotel fees, and countless doctor copays, deductibles and things that her insurance company kicks out as experimental. She is always asked by her doctors, who is with her, and she says "I came by myself" She is told how brave she is for traveling by herself, and she says well you have to choose which surgeries someone is required for and which surgeries someone is not required for. She is always told by her doctors that she has a smile on her face all the time even when telling them everything she has been through and is continuing to go through. Her motto is, if she doesn't smile and laugh, she will cry. Her dad traveled with her to Colorado for her hip surgeries because those surgeries were really involved so he had to go, regardless of not being able to afford it.
She is starting to make strides at mayo, but I don't know if she will be able to continue to make these strides because of her financial situation. She or her family can not afford the flights, hotel stays and payment plans for copays. She also needs a foot surgery in Colorado and right now she may not be able to have that either because of her financial burdens. She also needs to go to St. Louis where her cardiologist is, he moved from houston to st. louis recently. She needs to see him for her dangerously high heart rates. She is faced with not being able to see him because she cannot afford the travel expenses. She continues to get bills and cannot even afford the payment plans because its just too overwhelming. She is scared as to what is going to happen since she can't afford the past and current payments and can't afford future medical travel. She is terrified of what will happen to her once the appeals for her hip surgeries are denied and she is stuck with 2 $27,000 bills that she can never pay or even go on a payment plan for, if this happens, she feels like her life won't be worth living anymore.
Please consider this brave young lady as a candidate for your stimulus package. She deserves it. She finally was given hope after traveling to mayo and I don't want to see her lose this hope. Her case is truly a unique case and I being a doctor, have never seen anyone with this amount of medical problems and still managing to keep a smile on her face. I see her frequently as a patient and I could be having a bad day, but I see her with that smile on her face and it reminds me of what she is going through and she just makes my day. She truly is an inspiration to us all and I hope you consider her for your stimulus package and also I know she would love to be on your show, especially since all of her travel has been for medical, so she will just be glad that you aren't wearing a white coat, holding a needle. You both have something in common, you both are cheerful people, and I know you could put an even bigger smile on her face in these tough financial times for her and all the medical problems and surgeries she continues to endure.

Hi, Ellen, my mother and I love your show. you always keep it fresh and don't repeat the same thing all the time like alot of other shows. My mother;s house got distroyed in a set of storms that we had here. and then her car blew up. she finally found a job but with having to buy a different vehicle (which is a piece of crap)and putting all of her stuff in storage(which took 3 very large storage rooms)she has been unable to afford a place to live. Don't get me wrong i love my mother, but i have a family of my own and we are struggling to make ends meet as it is. She is not even supposed to be working since she was in a car wreck and broke her spine in 6 places. She really needs a little help if you are able to. The reason i can't continue to support her are that i am disabled myself and my twin daughters are disabled and are fixing to have surgery again. our vehicle barely cuts it for us. our money doesn't go far enought for us either and having her to support with all her bills is putting us way behind as it is and now we have people harrassing us. So again if you could please help her i would greatly appreicate it.

Hi Ellen,
Me and my two year old son Isaac and he loves to watch your show and loves watch you dancing and he danced along with you . I'm stay home Mom and my husband is the only person working fulltime and we re struggling with money and we cant afford to give my son his own room and he has to share his room with his 10 years old sister and we have thrid room which is in the attic and we would like to have master bed room in the attic so my two years old son can have is own bedroom and we need new Ac and heat pump to keep our home cool and warm. We dont have a lot of money to be able to put in new ac and hear pump and build master bedroom in our attic. I pray hope our dream comes true for us and hope my son will have his own room someday because we only have two bedrooms in our home and my son would love to have theme of disney cars in his own bedroom like bed and dresser and everything!! Hope my dream and my husband and my son and my daughter s dream will come true!!

HEY ELLEN, JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT I THINK THE GOLD DIGGER IS THE BEST IDEA EVER. ITS SO GREAT TO THINK THAT PEOPLE LIKE ME THAT CANT MAKE IT TO YOUR SHOW STILL HAVE A SHOT AT BEING A PART OF IT FROM HOME... IM SURE YOU WOULD HELP EVEYONE ONE WAY OR ANOTHER IF YOU COULD. AND I THINK YOU SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED FOR ALL THE GREAT THINGS YOU DO FOR PEOPLE. I LOV3 YOU AND YOUR SHOW. HOPE SOMEONE WITH MORE POWER THEN ME CAN SEE WHAT I SEE... TAKE CARE ELLEN AND REMEMBER SOMETIMES ITS YOUR TURN TO BE PRAISED FOR WHAT YOU DO.

Good Day Ellen,
I've been reading the emails and thought I would give it a shot.
I have recently been laid off. My husband I also lost most of our retirement saving in a Ponzi Scam (not the big one) from a person out of Buffalo, NY. It has been tough but I'm sure and hope things will improve. I am writing to maybe help my mother in law. She lost her income in the same Ponzi scam. My husband and I take care of her. She does at this time live on her own with our help. She doesn't drive so any shopping, most Doctor appointments and anything else she needs she depends on us. We are trying to do everything for her but money is getting very tight on both ends.
If there is anything you could do to help her out in turn it would help us out. I love your show and glad that I can watch it now that I don't have a job. I'm sorry to say I wasn't able to DVR it do to my husband and I cutting back on some things.
Thanks so much for your time.
Chris

Ok I'm tryig this again the first one didn't go through. Ellen, I am en elementary ELL teacher in NH. This year will be my sixth year teaching. Next month I will turn 60. Because I began teaching so late in life I don't make a lot of money. I have students loans in excess of $60,000. To make more money I have been working on advanced degrees. My husband workes in CT and we only see each other on weekends. Qe've been doing this for 10 years. He was supposed to retire in two years but because of the economy, he can't. Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated. Thank you Ellen. you are a very generous and wonderful person

Hi, Ellen and staff. Ellen you are a really cool, suave and down to earth person. I love your show and you really make me laugh; this keeps me from crying. I am writing, hoping and praying to be entered for THE BIG STIMULUS PACKAGE. My fiance' and I have a wedding date set for November 7,2009. However, Tony was laid off in May (2009) and I lost my job in June(2009).Bills are piling up and the guest are ready. Will you help make this dream come true? We admire how you love animals and we are continuing to feed the blue jays, cardinals, squirrels and cats in our yard. If you have work available,count me in. Thank you in advance and keep on dancing.

hi my personal goal in life I feel is I want to make pepole smile!!!!!!!!!! Don't care how bad of a day i am having I love to see people smile.& make them laugh makes my day. you know it takes more muscels to frown than to smile. It also makes people wonder what your up to.My dream in life is to have a small 2 bedroom home to move closer to my aging parents & help take care of them now They live 20 mins away but i don't like to drive in the winter so if I can jsut have a small one level home I would be happy as a lark .Dad Mom said I can bulid it on their land just downthe road.butIam on ssi I can't afford it myself btu lord willing some dayI may have it nonthing bi or fancy jsut a 2bedroom home close to parents is my goal now.thank you I volunteer at ourlocal hospital I love togo in try to put a smile on thier face because some of them don't have anyone to come see them.that makes theirday.

Hi ELLEN And Portia How Are You, I am Biggest fan of your Show Very Much? And Better Off Ted Congartions On Your Wedding Day And Baby Please Be A Girl Spoil Her with Lots Of Toys and Love Also I Like your Wife not that way Portia De Rossi She from
Nip/Tuck And ALLYMcBeal can I have Photo of you and New Wife ELLEN Degeneres I have Crush on ELLEN Degeneres, I have Feelings for you
Write back very Soon I Love Aw-Snap And Muiscal Chairs Have It Very Long Time So funny
you are Funny, Smart, Kind Heart, Kind person
Good Dancing And Good Singer Do you have Pets At home I am very Sorry very Long Story Catch your
Breath Have A Drink Of Cold Water good for you
From Aimee Mason