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Intolerable pain forced this young woman to leave the Carmelites. Now she needs a little more help

By LifeSiteNews staffJanuary 21, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Intolerable pain forced this young woman to leave the Carmelites. Now she needs a little more help
Fritsch family | Veronica Fritsch as a Carmelite novice.

Veronica Fritsch is undergoing neurologic rehabilitation for complex regional pain syndrome, known as suicide disease, at the Spero Clinic in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Help Veronica Fritsch overcome CRPS or ‘the suicide disease’

(LifeSiteNews) – A young lady who had to leave her convent after developing complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) has made a new appeal after taking a turn for the worse.

Veronica Fritsch first made a LifeFunder appeal last year as a 26-year-old who had developed the excruciatingly painful disorder known as the “suicide disease” as a Carmelite novice two years earlier. The pain was so bad that she could not do anything for herself and had to leave the convent.

Last August, she hoped to raise the $100,000 necessary for 12-14 weeks of neurologic rehabilitation at the Spero Clinic in Fayetteville, Arkansas. However, Veronica has now increased her goal to $170,000 as she believes she will need to stay longer than that.

“I am making progress at Spero, but my estimated time of treatment has been extended to the end of March (2025),” she told LifeSiteNews via email. When LifeSiteNews wrote the first story about her, she was even sicker than she knew.

“It turns out that my CRPS had spread to my organs, and they were beginning to go into organ failure,” Veronica wrote. “This was why I was rushed into treatment and started treatment at Spero in September. Spero has been monitoring my treatment, and due to the rate at which my organs are responding, I will be needing to stay longer to get into remission.”

Veronica added that the extra $70,000 is just an estimate of how much she will need to cover her extended treatment.

“When CRPS spreads to the organs, which is not common, it is very serious, and if not caught right away and treated right away, it can lead to death,” she said.

Sadly, Veronica is not the first member of her family to need treatment at the Spero Clinic. She has nine siblings, and two of her sisters developed CRPS before she did. One preceded her to the Spero Clinic after their local community raised the necessary sum. Having exhausted their resources, the Fritsch family and their friends looked to wider society to help Veronica, and LifeSiteNews readers and others responded with great generosity, raising $120,450.00 to date. Now Veronica is making an appeal for the final $49,550 that will make such a difference to her chances of recovery.

“The doctors are thrilled with the rate and the progress I am making, but I just need more time, money, and prayers,” she wrote.

Help Veronica Fritsch overcome CRPS or ‘the suicide disease’

Faith & Religion
January 21, 2025 at 3:49 PM
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LifeSiteNews staff

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Article At A Glance

  • Veronica Fritsch is undergoing neurologic rehabilitation for complex regional pain syndrome, known as suicide disease, at the Spero Clinic in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

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