Some stories are just haunting.( Check out Marianne Foglia's article of April 3rd, 2020, in the Porterville Recorder http://pressreader.com/USA/PORTERVILLE-RECORDER/20200403/281500753359766 )Right in the dead of a frigid winter, one of the residents of our small, remote, mountain town was at home recovering from a knee replacement when she fell. Weak and stricken with severe sepsis, or infection, she could not get up. For three days she lay freezing on the floor. Concerned friends were trying to reach her with no success. Worried, they enlisted the help of our local sheriff to check in on her.
          Rushed to the hospital, they found that both of her feet and several of her fingertips and finger parts were raging with infection. Tragically, they had to amputate and Ronda lost both feet and several fingertips.
          Her relatives were called and told her situation was dire, possibly terminal. But she fought in the ICU for ten days
          Never having met her before and having been haunted by the story for months, I finally encountered Ronda at a little bake sale our community was holding to help her. Expecting to see a shell-shocked victim, I was not prepared  for the gracious, poised lady who greeted me.
         Seemingly devoid of any self pity, Ronda has met her challenge with unbelievable strength and grit. She, herself, has transmuted the tenor of this story from terror to transcendence. But she needs your help. She is still a young 52 years with much living to do. But it is inconceivable that this soul was denied disability and gets no help whatsoever from the government....no Medi-cal, Medi-caid, only a low benefits, high deductible health plan. She needs new prosthetics, help with physical therapy co-payments and every manner of SOS to make her life easier.
         If anyone needs your help, Ronda Phillips does. Please try to make a difference! Ronda, herself, already has!