In Support of Deven Roebuck-Brand

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Deven is my 20 year old daughter. She has been dealing with abdominal and hip pain since she was 15, and heavy painful period since she was 12. 

In September 2024 she was very excited to be starting her freshman year at Western WA university, the school she had dreamed of attending since she was 4 years old. She had plans to go into Biology with a focus on marine life so she could help add to the preservation of her favorite animal, sharks!
For the first 6 weeks things were great. Dev was starting to get into a routine and was excited to be in a couple of classes with some friends from high school. But then the pain on her left side started to get worse. It became intense and unbearable. More than once she called me from school asking me to come get her because she didn't think she could safely drive home because the pain was so intense she was afraid she might pass out. 
In November 2024 she made the heartbreaking decision to do a withdrawal from school so she would focus on what was going on with her medically.
She was diagnosed with endometriosis in January 2025 when she underwent laparoscopic exploratory surgery, during which they found and removed several lesions. It was also discovered at that time that Dev's left ovary was in the doctor's words "densely plastered" to her bowels, as well as her uterine and abdominal wall. The ob surgeon did not feel comfortable separating the ovary from her bowels without the the help of a general surgeon to tend to the bowel. So Dev underwent a second surgery in June 2025 to take of just that. 

Dev recovered pretty well from those surgeries. She was put on a medication to basically induce a medical menopause in the hopes the is would reduce the growth of more lesions. Unfortunately that medication made her mental health tank completely, and made her pain worse. Sept. and Oct 2025 were very dark days for Dev. She was working the overnight shift at Planet fitness in Burlington. She loved what she was doing, but her life revolved around going to work all night, then coming home and sleeping the day away to escape the pain as well as cope with the depression that was being intensified by the medication. She started to have suicidal idealizations that were so overwhelming. She hurt ALL the time. Excruciating pain that nothing helped. I would take her into the ER for the pain, and she would cry that she just wanted it all to end. The suicidal thoughts were more about ending the pain, not the things that she still loved about life. The pain was just overshadowing everything else. So she went off Orlissa in Nov.2025. Things started to look better. Her pain seemed better when her estrogen wasn't being suppressed as steeply. 

During spring quarter of 2026, Dev felt well enough that she re-registered for classes. She was very excited to mostly be getting her life back on track. About two weeks into the quarter, Dev started having abdominal pain again, but it was different from her normal pain. After 3 visits to the ER in about 4 days, it was discovered that she had a gallstone blockage and needed to have her gallbladder removed. So once again she had to unfortunately withdraw from school.

Surgery went well, and recovery was going well too. Dev rearranged her work schedule to be on weekends so she could finish her recovery and hopefully get back to school in the fall. 
At the end of May Dev and her partner of 2 years, Amber, moved in together. Their apartment is just down from WWU so Dev could be nice and close to school in case she needed to rest. We were all very excited for the future. 
Unfortunately, less then 24 hours after moving in, while Dev was at work and her car was parked in front of the new apartment, a neighbor who was driving drunk hit her car, which Dev had only had about 5 weeks and made only one payment on up to that point. 
The car was drive-able but only for short distances, and was not safe to drive on the freeway. Dev ended up having to quit her job at the gym because she no longer had a reliable way to get down to work. So here they were, new car, new apartment, and suddenly repair bills, and one less income. 
All the extra stress has taken its toll on both Amber and Dev. Suddenly Amber had the only steady income. Dev was looking for work, but with the car being in need of repairs, that was difficult. This lead to Dev's pain getting worse as time went on. We kept talking to her care team, trying new meds, increasing doses, going to the ER to try and get answers. The pain has become unbearable again, worse than before. She has started needing to rest more often than not, and even having a walker with a seat with her when she goes out so that if she gets tired or weak while we are out she has a place to pause.So after doing everything we could here in Bellingham, we were referred to the MIGS team at Virginia Mason in Seattle.
After having discussions with the surgeon there, the decision has been made that the next logical step for Dev is to have a hysterectomy to try and relieve pain. We suspect that organs are fused together again. This is not a guarantee of pain relief for Dev, it might not relieve her pain. But it will eliminate her menstrual cycle and hopefully make some of the other symptoms more manageable. 

So, on Oct 1. 2026 Dev will be undergoing surgery again. They will remove her uterus, cervix, Fallopian tubes and her left ovary, which seems to be the most offensive one. The right ovary will remain so that she isn't sent into menopause. 

I am setting this up to see if some of the pressure and stress about meals and such can be taken off of both Dev and Amber. Because how Dev's appetite is in a constant state of flux now, there is no way to determine what it will be like post surgery. So I am hoping to help them stock up on easy staples, frozen meals, so gift cards to food places or stores to help them choose what sounds good in the moment as they need it or choose to use it for other household needs.

Thank you for taking the time to read what is going on for Dev. If you decide to help, that is fantastic and very very much appreciated. We are grateful for the love, support, thoughts, prayers, well wishes, good vibes, whatever positive energy that would want to put out into the world for us. 

Hopefully this will be a successful start to a new chapter for Dev and Amber. With everything in me, I am hoping that this surgery will bring less pain and more opportunity for Dev to be a vibrate, happy and healthy woman in her 20s.

Thanks for reading. Much love and happiness to you all.