Help Me Bury my Aunt
Donation protected
My name is Adilia Jones and I have created this fundraiser with my father, Tony Jones, on behalf of a close aunt of mine, Danielle Jenkins. My Aunt died on December 5th, 2020, against her will or my family's will, devastating us all.
She had been suffering from cardiovascular issues and was living in a nursing home. At the nursing home, she had a seizure for the first time in her life and the nursing home, irresponsibly waited 3 hours until they decided to transport her to the Hospital.
At the hospital, a doctor provided the recommendation to not resuscitate my aunt nor to feed her nor give her fluids for the remainder of her life. The doctor gave this recommendation to the the guardian appointed to my aunt by the state of Alabama. The guardian followed these instructions, trusting in the hospital's recommendation. It is believed that the hospital's intentions were to quickly dismiss my aunt as she was disabled and under Medicare, making her unable to give the hospital additional money.
My aunt was quickly moved from the hospital. Without legal authorization, they put her in hospice. To legally put her in hospice, 2 letter of recommendations from 2 neurologists are required. However, only one neurologist provided a recommendation letter, and the same neurologist changed his opinion several times. He wavered about whether there was substantial brain activity present within my aunt or whether she was brain dead--a matter that can plainly be known. The hospital lied to the hospice to be able to put her into their facility.
Before my aunt was sent to hospice, the hospital deceived my family, making it seem as though they were supporting my aunt. The hospital labeled the order under the pretentious name of "comfort care". Comfort care is where they put the patient under morphine and other drugs, while assisting death process.
The state guardian made an es-parte decision, not supporting my family's wishes to support my aunt's life and decided to agree with the hospital's decision to assist in my aunt's death. This was highly unusual as for the past year, the guardian consistently reached out to my family and differed to us. My family was definitely caught offguard.
My father never wanted my Aunt to be under a "no resuscitate and withhold nutrients and fluids" order nor did my grandmother agree with this. However, the state of Alabama declared that neither of them had the power to overturn this as the Guardian had more rights than my aunt's own family.
Without much financial means, the situation felt extremely helpless. In July of 2019,my father's house was burned up by a neighboring home, resulting in a huge financial loss. My father currently does not live in his house to this day as it has not been finished being reconstructed. He has also lost his job due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a university student myself, my finances are extremely limited.
In desperation to save my aunt's life, my father decided to borrow money and use the little savings he had to support himself to hire a lawyer for an emergency hearing. However, the same weekend my father hired a lawyer, my aunt had died.
The only notification my family received about my aunt's death was an impersonal and callous text sent to my father, reading:
Danielle Jenkins passed away at 6:18 tonight .
My aunt had died Saturday, December 5th, 2020.
Aunt Danielle was a true fighter until the very end, she survived 17 days without food or water (i.e., intravenous nutrients) all while maintaining stable vitals. Eventually, dying by starvation.
My aunt died alone in a hospice bedroom. The last we have seen of her is the picture uploaded on this gofundme, sent by the guardian in Alabama.
Before her death, my father would call the hospice daily, asking to speak to her by a nurse putting the phone on speaker.
He would often tell her the words,
" Danielle, we love you, we are praying for you. Keep fighting a little longer and we are coming to save you. You are not alone."
My aunt's death is a true tragedy and as my family is praying, battling and trying to process situation, we ask for your support.
We do not have the financial means to provide a respectable funeral for my aunt. We would like to ship her body from Alabama to Maryland, where she would ideally be with other dear deceased family members.
The financial estimation we have is listed below.
$2400 to prepare the body
$600 to ship the body on Delta Airline
$2000 for the casket
(estimation) $5,000-8,000 for Burial and funeral services
We ask if you could please donate any amount you feel comfortable to or if you would kindly share this fundraiser. Please keep our family in your prayers.
Thank you to anyone who donates as we keep each person who is able to support in our prayers and thoughts.
"Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”
Luke 6:38
She had been suffering from cardiovascular issues and was living in a nursing home. At the nursing home, she had a seizure for the first time in her life and the nursing home, irresponsibly waited 3 hours until they decided to transport her to the Hospital.
At the hospital, a doctor provided the recommendation to not resuscitate my aunt nor to feed her nor give her fluids for the remainder of her life. The doctor gave this recommendation to the the guardian appointed to my aunt by the state of Alabama. The guardian followed these instructions, trusting in the hospital's recommendation. It is believed that the hospital's intentions were to quickly dismiss my aunt as she was disabled and under Medicare, making her unable to give the hospital additional money.
My aunt was quickly moved from the hospital. Without legal authorization, they put her in hospice. To legally put her in hospice, 2 letter of recommendations from 2 neurologists are required. However, only one neurologist provided a recommendation letter, and the same neurologist changed his opinion several times. He wavered about whether there was substantial brain activity present within my aunt or whether she was brain dead--a matter that can plainly be known. The hospital lied to the hospice to be able to put her into their facility.
Before my aunt was sent to hospice, the hospital deceived my family, making it seem as though they were supporting my aunt. The hospital labeled the order under the pretentious name of "comfort care". Comfort care is where they put the patient under morphine and other drugs, while assisting death process.
The state guardian made an es-parte decision, not supporting my family's wishes to support my aunt's life and decided to agree with the hospital's decision to assist in my aunt's death. This was highly unusual as for the past year, the guardian consistently reached out to my family and differed to us. My family was definitely caught offguard.
My father never wanted my Aunt to be under a "no resuscitate and withhold nutrients and fluids" order nor did my grandmother agree with this. However, the state of Alabama declared that neither of them had the power to overturn this as the Guardian had more rights than my aunt's own family.
Without much financial means, the situation felt extremely helpless. In July of 2019,my father's house was burned up by a neighboring home, resulting in a huge financial loss. My father currently does not live in his house to this day as it has not been finished being reconstructed. He has also lost his job due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a university student myself, my finances are extremely limited.
In desperation to save my aunt's life, my father decided to borrow money and use the little savings he had to support himself to hire a lawyer for an emergency hearing. However, the same weekend my father hired a lawyer, my aunt had died.
The only notification my family received about my aunt's death was an impersonal and callous text sent to my father, reading:
Danielle Jenkins passed away at 6:18 tonight .
My aunt had died Saturday, December 5th, 2020.
Aunt Danielle was a true fighter until the very end, she survived 17 days without food or water (i.e., intravenous nutrients) all while maintaining stable vitals. Eventually, dying by starvation.
My aunt died alone in a hospice bedroom. The last we have seen of her is the picture uploaded on this gofundme, sent by the guardian in Alabama.
Before her death, my father would call the hospice daily, asking to speak to her by a nurse putting the phone on speaker.
He would often tell her the words,
" Danielle, we love you, we are praying for you. Keep fighting a little longer and we are coming to save you. You are not alone."
My aunt's death is a true tragedy and as my family is praying, battling and trying to process situation, we ask for your support.
We do not have the financial means to provide a respectable funeral for my aunt. We would like to ship her body from Alabama to Maryland, where she would ideally be with other dear deceased family members.
The financial estimation we have is listed below.
$2400 to prepare the body
$600 to ship the body on Delta Airline
$2000 for the casket
(estimation) $5,000-8,000 for Burial and funeral services
We ask if you could please donate any amount you feel comfortable to or if you would kindly share this fundraiser. Please keep our family in your prayers.
Thank you to anyone who donates as we keep each person who is able to support in our prayers and thoughts.
"Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”
Luke 6:38
Organizer
Adilia Jones
Organizer
Kettering, MD
