Imagine waking up every day in crippling pain with no answers, no help from doctors, and no funds left to look for resolution. I don’t have to try hard to imagine this because I’ve helplessly watched it happening to my best friend for the past 6 years. Talbot is smart: she received a full ride to USC's film school, was recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences as an Academy Gold student, and graduated from the School of Cinematic Arts with honors. Talbot is a talented visual storyteller. As a multi-medium artist, Talbot has had numerous photographs nominated and selected for awards, as well as exhibited in competitive galleries and is currently working on a new feature length screenplay. Talbot is also kind and an intentional friend to many all over the world. Unfortunately, since the year we became best friends, I have seen her suffer through relentless chronic pain. This pain started before our friendship however, she’s suffered for more than a decade. The medical system has failed her in more ways than one: misdiagnosis after misdiagnosis, disbelief, incremental debt, and yet even after EIGHT surgeries in the past THREE years, she is still living daily with terrible chronic pain. In August of 2024, after she had already undergone a complete hip reconstruction, Talbot went to the ER because her regular pain was worse than normal, and a grapefruit sized cyst was found on left ovary. By the time they performed an operation, they couldn’t save her ovary and furthermore confirmed widespread endometriosis. The next month, after developing an even larger cyst than the first on her right ovary, she was in such disabling pain that she elected to have it removed as well as to have an oophorectomy and hysterectomy performed at 27 years old in the hopes that it would finally fix her pain, despite eliminating her option to biologically parent a child and forcing her into menopause. But her pain continued and intensified, leaving her deeply depressed and baffled as to where to turn. One month later, she implored her surgeon to conduct a follow-up scan, as her pain was only getting worse and she was concerned about a post-operative complication., Her scan showed she had a right ovarian cyst, but she was told to disregard it as probably a misread radiologist report. Nine months later, while pursuing other potential causes of her pain, an MRI of her spine once again showed a right ovary with a cyst. Yes. You read that right. Despite her oophorectomy, a 2nd scan showed an ovary. She finally had a 3rd scan done, and it was confirmed that Talbot still does have an ovary unbeknownst to her. After years of battling for a diagnosis and to have her symptoms acknowledged, a critical surgical error caused by intraoperative factors that are not yet clear, Talbot’s hysterectomy resulted in her right ovary not being removed and allowing another cyst to grow. Not only that, but with the leftover ovary producing its own estrogen plus the synthetic estrogen she was put on by her surgeon under the assumption that she was now in menopause, her endometriosis is running rampant. This extreme level of estrogen in her body puts her at a highly elevated risk for blood clots, as it is not only far above the healthy hormone level, but Talbot is a carrier of the Factor V genetic mutation; a gene that predisposes her to deep vein thrombosis at 8 times the risk factor of an ordinary individual. Due to her inability to work and the number of surgeries she’s undergone, Talbot’s bills have mounted and her savings have dwindled to nothing. She is unable to afford travel and lodging for surgery, as well as to keep current on her bills while in recovery. Talbot has quickly been worked in for an August surgery in an attempt to repair her ovary. There’s a lot of travel costs and unpaid bills because of this being her 9th surgery in 3 years. Her surgical experiences have been traumatic to say the least, and she has been forced to put her life on hold and rely on the kindness of family and friends to pay bills. We are trying to raise $8,500 to help cover her travel to Atlanta, her week of accommodations post-op, and to help cover her health insurance and other bills that have been neglected due to her inability to work for at least 5 years. Below is a short documentary I made on Talbot in 2019, following the beginning of this long and arduous medical journey.
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