Help me save my knee...Please?
Donation protected
UPDATE 6/8: I am cleared to bare weight. I have weened down to one crutch and am starting to use a cane. I should be able to walk (fingers crossed) without assistance this week! I am still having a lot of trouble bending the knee as it needs to so I am in physical therapy 5 days a week working on that and building enough strength to support my weight. 4 months without holding your body up sure does make a lot of difference...Therapy is $57 per visit plus the gas I am using driving to and from Taos every day. I have a couple thousand$$ of bills still to pay off and no income currently (and for the last 3 months). My brace that I will need to wear from now on is $1000 (absurd, yes) so that is an upcoming charge as well. If anyone would like to share the word about my fundraising, it would be really appreciated!!! I realize everyone is in a tight spot right now and you've already helped me in many ways so at this point I'm just hoping for some help spreading the word :-) If anyone has $10 here and there that they could spare...my physical therapist would appreciate it haha. Take care!
UPDATE 3/26: The overall goal has increased by $100 due to an unexpected payment towards a continuous passive motion machine. Surgery is first thing tomorrow morning!
UPDATE 3/20: Taos Ortho reduced my fees after I paid the down payment today. I now only owe $1500 instead of $6000 after making today's payment!!! The above goal has been adjusted :-) Anyhooo....carry on:
Hey guys it's Kelli - yes the Kelli Keith you all know and love!! Yes that's right, all of you. I need money ASAP for my urgent knee surgery and have had to resort to begging for it with today's technology. No this is not a scam or spam.
I will try to be brief... On Jan 31 of this year I was racing and my ski fell in some soft snow and stayed put while my body kept on going. That means my foot tore out of the binding and caused a lot of torque damage to my right knee. That is the only lasting injury from the fall, however it's become somewhat dramatic. Initially I was told I would get better on my own by the clinic. That definitely did not happen, it continued swelling and showing nasty bruising. Therefore, I went to the ER (with a dear friend's help) and they did the full series of Xrays and found that the bones were doing good. However they needed an MRI and there were several weeks of back and forth on paperwork for the MRI to be ordered. That is the beauty of being uninsured in America! When the MRI results came back, my primary care doc informed me they were far worse than expected for cartilage/tendon damage. I was then referred to an Orthopedic Specialist (a great one!) who has now scheduled me for surgery on March 27. While they are being very kind and understanding on my financial situation and lack of insurance (my policy ended 2 weeks before and I could not afford the COBRA payments), I will be paying out of pocket for this. I DO have county medical funding however they will only cover about half of it.
Therefore the fees I am personally responsible fall as follows:
$3000 "down payment" of Surgeon fees due by 3/20 (WTF!!!)
$1500 - rest of the surgical fees which are due by 3/27.
$2000 - anesthesia
$1000 - post op physical therapy / rehab
$100 - Continuous passive motion machine
And here you can see the laid out funds I'm seeking and why/how the goal is $7600.
MODIFIED/Updated costs:
$3000 - First surgical payment - DONE, thank you all!
$1500 - Remaining surgical fees, $700 have been paid. $800 remaining
$3000 - owed to anesthesiologists
$320 - CPM machine updated actual costs
$4500 - what physical therapy costs have actually come out to so far
$460 - Brace for knee that I must use from now on for everything. Compare that to the $800 they were trying to charge!
$12,780 total actual costs. $5,180 above estimated costs.
I just sold most of what I own (except my car) to get back home to Red River while still recovering from my last surgery in November, therefore I don't have any sort of fall back to come up with money quickly. My savings had been depleted but the goal was to rebuild that while at home working...until this happened. I've already paid just under $1000 towards the diagnosis of this, the crutches, immobilizer, meds, and brace... and therefore my savings was again depleted. Sorry to ramble, but I'm sure if you are actually considering helping me, you'd like to know that I have in fact been trying very hard to not ask for money and now the time has come in which I have run out of options. A great friend of mine pointed me towards this as a last ditch effort.
You have the option to donate as little or as much as works for you and it goes directly in to a payment to the specialist. No need for a Paypal account or anything, you just use your card and I have been assured there are no fees for the givers.
Again, the most urgent part of this is the $3000 that needs to be paid in a week by 3/20. *MISSION ACCOMPLISHED*
Thanks for reading, and thanks for your consideration guys!!! I hope everyone is well!!!
UPDATE 3/26: The overall goal has increased by $100 due to an unexpected payment towards a continuous passive motion machine. Surgery is first thing tomorrow morning!
UPDATE 3/20: Taos Ortho reduced my fees after I paid the down payment today. I now only owe $1500 instead of $6000 after making today's payment!!! The above goal has been adjusted :-) Anyhooo....carry on:
Hey guys it's Kelli - yes the Kelli Keith you all know and love!! Yes that's right, all of you. I need money ASAP for my urgent knee surgery and have had to resort to begging for it with today's technology. No this is not a scam or spam.
I will try to be brief... On Jan 31 of this year I was racing and my ski fell in some soft snow and stayed put while my body kept on going. That means my foot tore out of the binding and caused a lot of torque damage to my right knee. That is the only lasting injury from the fall, however it's become somewhat dramatic. Initially I was told I would get better on my own by the clinic. That definitely did not happen, it continued swelling and showing nasty bruising. Therefore, I went to the ER (with a dear friend's help) and they did the full series of Xrays and found that the bones were doing good. However they needed an MRI and there were several weeks of back and forth on paperwork for the MRI to be ordered. That is the beauty of being uninsured in America! When the MRI results came back, my primary care doc informed me they were far worse than expected for cartilage/tendon damage. I was then referred to an Orthopedic Specialist (a great one!) who has now scheduled me for surgery on March 27. While they are being very kind and understanding on my financial situation and lack of insurance (my policy ended 2 weeks before and I could not afford the COBRA payments), I will be paying out of pocket for this. I DO have county medical funding however they will only cover about half of it.
Therefore the fees I am personally responsible fall as follows:
$3000 "down payment" of Surgeon fees due by 3/20 (WTF!!!)
$1500 - rest of the surgical fees which are due by 3/27.
$2000 - anesthesia
$1000 - post op physical therapy / rehab
$100 - Continuous passive motion machine
And here you can see the laid out funds I'm seeking and why/how the goal is $7600.
MODIFIED/Updated costs:
$3000 - First surgical payment - DONE, thank you all!
$1500 - Remaining surgical fees, $700 have been paid. $800 remaining
$3000 - owed to anesthesiologists
$320 - CPM machine updated actual costs
$4500 - what physical therapy costs have actually come out to so far
$460 - Brace for knee that I must use from now on for everything. Compare that to the $800 they were trying to charge!
$12,780 total actual costs. $5,180 above estimated costs.
I just sold most of what I own (except my car) to get back home to Red River while still recovering from my last surgery in November, therefore I don't have any sort of fall back to come up with money quickly. My savings had been depleted but the goal was to rebuild that while at home working...until this happened. I've already paid just under $1000 towards the diagnosis of this, the crutches, immobilizer, meds, and brace... and therefore my savings was again depleted. Sorry to ramble, but I'm sure if you are actually considering helping me, you'd like to know that I have in fact been trying very hard to not ask for money and now the time has come in which I have run out of options. A great friend of mine pointed me towards this as a last ditch effort.
You have the option to donate as little or as much as works for you and it goes directly in to a payment to the specialist. No need for a Paypal account or anything, you just use your card and I have been assured there are no fees for the givers.
Again, the most urgent part of this is the $3000 that needs to be paid in a week by 3/20. *MISSION ACCOMPLISHED*
Thanks for reading, and thanks for your consideration guys!!! I hope everyone is well!!!
Organizer
Kelli Keith
Organizer
Red River, NM
