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Elissa’s Endeavors Against Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome

Elissa Hanneman is a wife to Chad, mom of 2 teenagers (Joel and Tia), sister, daughter, niece and friend who has battled a chronic illness—Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS)-Vascular Type—for the majority of her life. Elissa grew up facing dislocations, various injuries and the need for frequent stitches, all due to her connective tissues malfunctioning. Diagnosed at age 8, Elissa has had to live life a bit differently. At the age of 23, Elissa’s colon ruptured when she was 28 weeks pregnant, requiring the delivery of a very premature son. Elissa then fought for her life, spending weeks in a coma, recovering from devastating complications.

Updates (2)

May 19, 2020

Elissa Update: May 19th @ 9:15am

Abscess and infection are better, now trying another procedure to make things more manageable again.

It's been nice with Elissa back to her normal cheerful self the last few days. The hardest days are when she is confused, so the last few days have been a great blessing.

Elissa was just taken back into the OR for another procedure to trying and flatten out some of the skin around her open wound to make a better surface for her bag to adhere to. We are praying this will allow bags to stay on better and maybe longer. Fewer leaks and patches between scheduled bag changes would make life so much easier and maybe even allow more activity/getting out of bed and participating in things again.

This should be a short procedure and a few days at the hospital to manage the pain from this procedure and hopefully back home before too long. Pray the meds don't cause more of the confusion in the days to come.

As before this is all just to make things more manageable until the transplant. Ultimately, we are praying the transplant will come sooner than later and that would allow Elissa to have her normal life back.

Thanks again for all the support and prayers.

April 28, 2020

Elissa Update—Monday, April 27, 2020

Well, we have some really good news and some requests for prayer:

The good:

-Liss has been home for about a week! She’s been keeping busy with tons of appointments and gets her bag changed at the hospital 3x/week outpatient.

-The whole Hanneman family has stayed healthy from the covid virus, despite the hospital having several cases! Please continue praying for God’s protection over this!

The bad:

-Liss’ ostemy bag leaks quite often and is causing a lot of pain and skin breakdown, along with bleeding. Chad and Elissa are having to deal with additional bag changes and patches outside of the times at the hospital. This unfortunately is the reality until after a transplant, and is a major struggle.

Specific prayer requests:

-Please pray for Elissa’s bag to hold for longer than just a few hours. She had it replaced this morning, and it’s already leaking badly tonight.

-Please also pray for the upcoming transplant, that it would happen sooner than later, and that it would go so well. Additionally, please pray that the staff at the hospital in Nebraska would be absolutely incredible!

-After the transplant, Liss will have to be on a ventilator and NG Tube, and will have another ostemy bag for a year. This is causing so, so much anxiety and a rough road is ahead. Please lift her up to have God give her the strength and peace that only HE can.

Fundraising:

-As of today, we have started a medical fundraising account to help during the transplant time. These funds will largely be used to allow Chad to be with Elissa during a portion of the 3-6 month stay as he won’t be paid while taking time off. The link to her account is: helphopelive.org You can make a donation through this link or by check, and all donations are tax deductible. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Thank you as always for partnering with us in prayer and for following along ❤️

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Guestbook

May 2, 2020

Love you guys. In our prayers daily.

Jeff Akers

April 30, 2020

Love you my friend you and the family are always in my thoughts.

Shaavon Sagrillo

April 28, 2020

Lots of live

Natalie Schreibet