Kathy's Medical Bills

UPDATE - 08/21:

You may have read my message sometime before, and I never thought in a million years I would need to post it again. If you are here reading this more than once, know that I am with you, that I love you, and that we haven't given up. If you are reading this for the first time, please spend a minute to listen to my story below. If you could even just leave your thoughts or prayers, that would make all the difference. It is a bit of a narrative, but one that I hope you'll give your time and lend your heart to.

My name is Kathy Kelly, and many of you know me as "Mrs. Kathy" from the Perry Hall Double T, "Mom", or "Jit". I am humbly posting this message to ask for help, because I feel like I have nowhere left to turn.

In March of 2014, my life changed. I fell and broke my wrist, which set off a chain of events that have left me in shambles ever since. Apart from just breaking my wrist, I also injured my back, ultimately resulting in my current condition.

I am now staring down the barrel of Peripheral Arterial Disease of the Legs, which comes soon after my diagnosis that I am a victim of degenerative disc disease, which has led to damage to my L3, L4, and L5 vertebrae in my spine and my back, causing "severe foraminal stenosis bilaterally" (taken from my doctor's report).  This is also in conjunction with heart failure I learned about in September of this year. It has been a tumultous few months.

What this means for me, is that I find myself often unable to walk, or even get out of bed. Always however, I live with incredible pain.


Luckily, there is a surgery for this and my doctor is wonderful and agreed to move forward with me. I moved forward with surgery in October of 2016, where it was found that I needed an immediate aortic valve replacement (TAVR surgery) due to my heart beginning to fail. The doctor said it was one of the worst he's ever seen. That postponed me awhile.

I had begun to lose feeling in my leg completely, and started this very GoFundMe page to allow me to have my surgery. The restauraunt where I was working, the Double T Diner (where I have been a server for over 20 years), closed its doors for at least 6 months. Between the closing of the diner, my open heart surgery, and my spinal issues, I needed to give up my house, I gave up and threw out almost everything I own and have accumulated over 60 years, and had to do what I needed to do to survive.

By a miracle, more than 100 friends, family, and strangers united together, in solidarity, to help me pay for my surgery and live for a few months. It was a cohesive act of kindness that I was unable to comprehend.

Little did I know, the fight was far from over. During the course of my surgery, the surgeon discovered I was actually worse off  than he had imagined, which resulted in him performing spinal fusion on my L3, L4, and L5 vertabrae. I am so very lucky my surgeon was able to perform this surgery successfully and that I looked positive for a full recovery. However, it pushed my recovery time an additional two months backwards; well beyond what we had the means to pay for.


I found out the next week that I was denied for any disability payments, despite having an open-heart surgery, and spinal fusion. Even after appealing that I had lost my home, my furniture, and had no means of income for months as I was recovering, my appeal was still denied.

Luckily, my son, who is my pride and joy, stuck along with me and never gave up faith, demanding that I shouldn't either. A great friend of mine was kind enough to open her home to me as I recovered, giving me a place despite my contributions being small.

I thought my saga had ended, until I found out that I now suffer from Peripheral Arterial Disease of the Legs. At the current time, I have an 87% blockage of my right leg, and a 50% blockage of my left. I am looking at the realistic possibility of losing my right foot, and potentially more, if I do not get surgery immediately.


I never imagined in a million years my life would have looked like this only one year ago.

I am motivated and inspired by my son, Anthony, who is my pride and joy. He is my whole world. This year, he graduated from La Salle University with a degree in Information Technology with Honors, and will study at Johns Hopkins at night while working full-time. Throughout this entire experience from teaching me to email, to driving to see me, he has been my best friend. But we can't do this alone. We are exhausted, beaten down, and feel we have nowhere left to run (or in my case, hobble). 

Friends, family, even strangers, I am humbled, somewhat embarassed, and very scared, but I am asking that you consider donating to our cause. Any amount you can help will be met with immense gratitude, appreciation, and a permanent endowment of my love. Though I can never repay you financially, please know your contributions are saving my life. Without them, I don't know what I would do.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post. If you ever want to chat, message me on Facebook. 

With all my love,
Kathy Kelly