Fundraiser held for UNL student aims to help with medical bills for rare disease

On Saturday, the small town community of Springfield, Nebraska, is rallying around one of their own, a young woman dealing with a rare disease.

“I saw this doctor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and she said she has been doing it for 20 plus years and only seen it one other time,” said Briann Grier.

The past few years have been exceedingly difficult for Briann Grier.

The UNL student studying advertising says, during her sophomore year of college, her health began to unravel.

She dealt with depression, a collapsed lung, multiple kidney stones and Fibromyalgia, or widespread muscle pain and tenderness.

“I started to gain weight, like 30 pounds, and then I got really bad stretch marks. My cognitive skills got so bad I had to withdraw from school. It got to the point where we were like, okay, we need to figure something else out,” said Grier.

After going through many tests, doctors told Grier her symptoms were consistent with Cushing disease, a rare disorder caused by the increased production of the hormone cortisol, which helps maintain blood sugar levels and protects the body from stress and illness.

Most patients with Cushing disease have small tumors on the pituitary gland, located at the base of the brain.

Doctors recommended Grier undergo brain surgery, which she did last month on December 21st.

“They said it was only a 50/50 chance of this brain surgery actually working,” said Grier.

Surgeons cut the right and left side of her pituitary gland, taking sample tissue for further testing.

Unfortunately, the procedure did little to stop the effects.

“It didn’t work, so now we’re to the stages of, they are not sure if they are going to do radiation, they are not sure if I need to do another operation, we are kind of at a standstill right now,” said Grier.

Grier says doctors told her the only remaining option would be to remove her adrenal glands, which produce cortisol, and are located at the top of each kidney.

The procedure doesn’t come without risk… But Grier says she needs the procedure sooner than later.

The long term effects of Cushing disease are obesity, diabetes and osteoporosis, a condition in which bones become weak and brittle.

“If it’s not taken care of, it is fatal. The only issue is, when your adrenals get taken out, you can go into adrenal crises and that’s what they are mainly worried about, because adrenal crises can kill you,” said Grier.

Keith Hentzen has known Grier since high school.

On Saturday, he helped host a fundraiser to help pay for medical bills.

The small town community of Springfield came out to support one of their own.

“She’s a young woman who just wants to set the world on fire but her health is in the way. She’s got two or three courses left in college for an advertising degree from UNL, but she is struggling to get there because she has to take care of this first,” said Hentzen.

Friends and family say Grier has kept a positive attitude through it all.

She made Cushing disease themed t-shirts and bracelets to help raise money for future procedures.

There is no known cure for Cushing disease, but Grier is hopeful that removing her adrenal glands will do the trick.

“Just having somebody say, good luck, we are thinking about you, it just means a lot,” said Grier.

If you’re interested in getting involved to help out with Briann’s medical expenses, we have a link to her Go Fund Me page here: www.gofundme.com/6c3yxiw.