Donation protected
I’m starting this page for my sister, Andrea, and her family. They have had a good run of bad luck lately and I’m hoping that some of our friends and family might be able to help. She is unable to work because of her illness and her recent surgeries and they cannot survive on Jacob's police officer's salary alone. They are struggling to pay their rent, car payments, utilities, and to cover the cost of food and gas. The girls have lunch accounts at school that have to be funded and with three girls in school already, it adds up quickly. Groceries for a family of six are pretty expensive. All the donations will help them with their rent, car payments, insurances, utilities, and expenses for the girls.
For those of you that don’t know them well, my sister Andrea and my brother-in-law, Jacob, have four adorable little girls. Katelyn is 8, Kaylee is 7, Karalynn is 6, and Khloe is 4. Jacob is a police officer and Andrea worked for a doctor’s office up until a couple of weeks ago. They have been married for 11 years this past May. My sister is very active in my nieces’ school and their PTA. They love their girls and do their best to provide them with everything they need. Then a few months ago, everything changed.
My sister has some very serious and unexpected health issues that have developed or been discovered over the last few months that have affected their family’s life drastically. My sister was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis, a disease they discovered during a DNA test to find a cause for her chronic migraines. She has a pretty rare protein in her blood that causing the spine to begin fusing together. Ultimately, she will be hunched over indefinitely as her spine is unable to straighten. Her condition causes her extreme pain if she stays in any position for more than a few minutes. Standing, sitting in a chair, even walking becomes difficult after a few minutes. She also has a herniated disc in her back that puts pressure on her nerves any time she moves. She has had seven procedures over the summer to try and alleviate some of the pain, but nothing has worked so far.
Two weeks ago, she began running a high fever. It was my niece, Karalynn’s 6th birthday so she didn’t want to leave and go to the ER and miss her family celebration. Even with a high fever she had baked her a blue cake with blue frosting and wanted to be there to see her open her presents. A friend insisted that she go and get it checked out, “just in case.” Her friend likely saved her life. In the emergency room, they discovered that she had acute appendicitis and scheduled surgery for the following day. She was admitted that night and her surgery was at 7pm on the 16th. She missed Karalynn’s birthday party, but her husband, Jacob, sent her pictures of the girls and their tiny blue faces.
After a day of extreme pain and discomfort, her surgery finally began. Once the doctor began, he immediately realized that the situation was much worse than appendicitis. My sister was diagnosed with endometriosis as a teenager and had serious infertility issues for several years before my first niece, Katelyn, was born. Although she had a hysterectomy several years ago, the scar tissue in her abdomen had continued to grow. It had covered everything in her abdominal cavity. The doctor was forced to make his incisions in different areas than he originally intended due to the gravity of the adhesions. Her incisions were much longer and included one starting at her belly button and extending downward about 2.5 inches. The adhesions had trapped a portion of her intestines in a small area and they had become twisted and blocked. He removed all the scar tissue, untwisted the intestines, and had to cut them open and scrape out everything trapped inside. He later told my sister that the condition of her intestines would have deteriorated quickly and would have begun to poison her blood. The infection would have caused extreme pain, fever, and probably death. He removed scar tissue from her abdominal wall, her ovaries, her intestines, and her bladder. After an hour and a half of what was supposed to be a 45 min to an hour procedure, he was able to begin working on her appendix. Finally, he removed her appendix safely. She awoke to extreme pain. I was there with her and the pain was so severe that she was unable to speak or move. Breathing caused so much pain that she would hold her breath until the nurse reminded her to breathe. Once they got her pain under control, she began to feel a little better. She stayed in the hospital for 5 days before being released to go home.
Now that she’s home, she has over $50,000 in medical bills, and they keep coming. She is unable to work and has to wear patches with medication to control her pain. She has trouble cooking, cleaning, doing homework with the girls, or running normal errands. Because she cannot care for the girls, drive herself to her doctor appointments, or prepare any meals, Jacob is taking time off of work to stay home and care for her and the kids. He is using all of his sick time to handle the situation, but once it’s gone, he will be on unpaid leave. They only have his income to survive now and they depended on hers to supplement his police officer’s pay. With the extensive medical bills, her inability to work, and his having to take time off of work to care for the family, they won’t be able to survive long. They are struggling to pay rent, utilities, car payments, and cover food and gas. This fundraiser will hopefully be able to help them with their monthly expenses so they can stay in their apartment, the girls can stay in the school they love, and they can keep their cars so that Jacob can get to and from the police department and Andrea can get the kids to and from school and get to all her doctor appointments. Thank you for any donations, big or small. They are all greatly appreciated.
Anyone who knows my sister and her family knows what an amazing family they are and how much they love their children. My sister is feeling extreme guilt over the amount her illnesses have cost their family. The girls are her whole world and these expenses have already taken their toll on the girls. Finding money for new school clothes was a challenge so they weren’t able to do much. I’m hoping we can help them get through this tough time.
Thank you for your support and kindness! I know they will appreciate all your generosity!
For those of you that don’t know them well, my sister Andrea and my brother-in-law, Jacob, have four adorable little girls. Katelyn is 8, Kaylee is 7, Karalynn is 6, and Khloe is 4. Jacob is a police officer and Andrea worked for a doctor’s office up until a couple of weeks ago. They have been married for 11 years this past May. My sister is very active in my nieces’ school and their PTA. They love their girls and do their best to provide them with everything they need. Then a few months ago, everything changed.
My sister has some very serious and unexpected health issues that have developed or been discovered over the last few months that have affected their family’s life drastically. My sister was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis, a disease they discovered during a DNA test to find a cause for her chronic migraines. She has a pretty rare protein in her blood that causing the spine to begin fusing together. Ultimately, she will be hunched over indefinitely as her spine is unable to straighten. Her condition causes her extreme pain if she stays in any position for more than a few minutes. Standing, sitting in a chair, even walking becomes difficult after a few minutes. She also has a herniated disc in her back that puts pressure on her nerves any time she moves. She has had seven procedures over the summer to try and alleviate some of the pain, but nothing has worked so far.
Two weeks ago, she began running a high fever. It was my niece, Karalynn’s 6th birthday so she didn’t want to leave and go to the ER and miss her family celebration. Even with a high fever she had baked her a blue cake with blue frosting and wanted to be there to see her open her presents. A friend insisted that she go and get it checked out, “just in case.” Her friend likely saved her life. In the emergency room, they discovered that she had acute appendicitis and scheduled surgery for the following day. She was admitted that night and her surgery was at 7pm on the 16th. She missed Karalynn’s birthday party, but her husband, Jacob, sent her pictures of the girls and their tiny blue faces.
After a day of extreme pain and discomfort, her surgery finally began. Once the doctor began, he immediately realized that the situation was much worse than appendicitis. My sister was diagnosed with endometriosis as a teenager and had serious infertility issues for several years before my first niece, Katelyn, was born. Although she had a hysterectomy several years ago, the scar tissue in her abdomen had continued to grow. It had covered everything in her abdominal cavity. The doctor was forced to make his incisions in different areas than he originally intended due to the gravity of the adhesions. Her incisions were much longer and included one starting at her belly button and extending downward about 2.5 inches. The adhesions had trapped a portion of her intestines in a small area and they had become twisted and blocked. He removed all the scar tissue, untwisted the intestines, and had to cut them open and scrape out everything trapped inside. He later told my sister that the condition of her intestines would have deteriorated quickly and would have begun to poison her blood. The infection would have caused extreme pain, fever, and probably death. He removed scar tissue from her abdominal wall, her ovaries, her intestines, and her bladder. After an hour and a half of what was supposed to be a 45 min to an hour procedure, he was able to begin working on her appendix. Finally, he removed her appendix safely. She awoke to extreme pain. I was there with her and the pain was so severe that she was unable to speak or move. Breathing caused so much pain that she would hold her breath until the nurse reminded her to breathe. Once they got her pain under control, she began to feel a little better. She stayed in the hospital for 5 days before being released to go home.
Now that she’s home, she has over $50,000 in medical bills, and they keep coming. She is unable to work and has to wear patches with medication to control her pain. She has trouble cooking, cleaning, doing homework with the girls, or running normal errands. Because she cannot care for the girls, drive herself to her doctor appointments, or prepare any meals, Jacob is taking time off of work to stay home and care for her and the kids. He is using all of his sick time to handle the situation, but once it’s gone, he will be on unpaid leave. They only have his income to survive now and they depended on hers to supplement his police officer’s pay. With the extensive medical bills, her inability to work, and his having to take time off of work to care for the family, they won’t be able to survive long. They are struggling to pay rent, utilities, car payments, and cover food and gas. This fundraiser will hopefully be able to help them with their monthly expenses so they can stay in their apartment, the girls can stay in the school they love, and they can keep their cars so that Jacob can get to and from the police department and Andrea can get the kids to and from school and get to all her doctor appointments. Thank you for any donations, big or small. They are all greatly appreciated.
Anyone who knows my sister and her family knows what an amazing family they are and how much they love their children. My sister is feeling extreme guilt over the amount her illnesses have cost their family. The girls are her whole world and these expenses have already taken their toll on the girls. Finding money for new school clothes was a challenge so they weren’t able to do much. I’m hoping we can help them get through this tough time.
Thank you for your support and kindness! I know they will appreciate all your generosity!
Organizer and beneficiary
Sara Rho
Organizer
Plano, TX
Andrea Chambers
Beneficiary