Gastroparesis (gp) is an illness that has no cure. There is not a natural progression with this illness, some people go from healthy to tube fed (tubies) within weeks, some have occasional flares that cause them embarrassment because they will be sick at a moments notice. Some bloat after they eat, they bloat so much that they look 8 months pregnant, literally. Before they eat they look undernourished and under weight. After they eat... Bloated to extreme. Most have some degree of pain, some worse, some not as bad, yet constant that will make us feel like we're going crazy. Social anxiety. Light-headedness. Brain fog. Rapid heartbeat. Vomiting, lots of vomiting, most always nauseous. Some so thin and their body will not hold any nutrition. Some heavy, their bodies absorb the calories but not the nutrients. Why? We do not know. Nobody knows. We feel alone and scared a lot of the time. We have lost other gpers that we became friends with. Sad. We do not want to keep losing friends to this horrible illness.
We want to give GP a voice. Raven Walton is a 20 year old gp patient. She is a pageant winner and dancer who teaches dance to young children. Her goal is to go on the Ellen DeGeneres Show to get national attention for gastroparesis. She has a gastric pacemaker in her abdomen that helps push her food through her digestive tract. Her mother and her little brother also have this disease. Gp does not discriminate, it affects babies to elderly, people of all races/genders/sexual orientation. Please help us get Raven on to dance with Ellen. Thank you!