[Bibtin Tex]

ISSAQUAH, Wash. -- Alyssa Olsen calls it her death sentence.

Olsen is fighting for her life and her insurance company, which has denied her requests for a transplant.
"I'm dying," she said.
Olsen is just 24 and a newlywed. She suffers from a severe immune deficiency that lead to diabetes, Crohn's disease, and an underactive thyroid. She coughs constantly and tires easily.
"So I look for elevators in every building that I'm in, and map the quickest way out of places, park as close as I can," she said.
Olsen's heart beats twice as fast as a normal rate. Her lungs operate at half their capacity.
"So I live like a 90 year old in a 24 year old's body," she said.
Since childhood, Olsen has been hospitalized more times than she can count. She worried she'd never find a husband who'd stay with her in sickness and health. But then she found Kyle.
"It breaks my heart. I feel so helpless," said Kyle Olsen.
Alyssa Olsen's immunologist claims a bone marrow transplant offers her only hope for survival, but her insurance carrier has denied coverage twice.
"My doctor has said I have two to three years if I don't get this transplant, because of the complications I'm experiencing," she said.
Without insurance coverage, the transplant would cost at least $250,000. With her job at a nonprofit group and his job as a police officer, the couple simply can't afford it.
The Olsens are appealing Regence Blue Shield for a third time but admit after two rejections, they hold little hope.
"They say people with my disease are not commonly transplanted, (there) isn't enough evidence to support that it's going to work for me," she said.
So the two turned to KOMO News for help.
KOMO News posed the question to Dr. Joseph Gifford, the senior medical director for Regence Blue Shield, who says third appeals are often accepted.
"The third level of appeal goes outside the insurance company to a third party that has no connection other than a small fee, no other connection to the insurance company," he said. "And that decision is made by experts."
Alyssa Olsen doesn't want a transplant, but fears it's her last chance at life. "I need a new immune system and this is how it has to come about," she said.

ISSAQUAH, Wash. -- Alyssa Olsen calls it her death sentence.

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