My lovely wife KC is suffering through end stage COPD, a malady that is doing its best to try to suck the vibrancy out of this wonderful woman. She first received this diagnosis over a decade ago, and at the time we were told the variables, symptoms and complications of COPD were just as great in number as those that suffer through this disease. At the time we listened and thought we understood, but in reality we didn't know exactly how bad it was going to get. Now, day after day, we get constant reminders of just how terrible a path this malady can take you down.

Over the last two years KC's illness has hospitalized her three different times, each with different severity. Just shortly after Christmas 2015 she ended up in the hospital for 8 days. During that time she was so close to death that she had to be intubated to save her life. She spent 6 days in a drug induced coma with a ventilator to keep her breathing. It was only through the grace of the Lord that she was able to pull through and seemed to make a comeback. Unfortunately, just over a year later, she ended up back in the hospital again, this time twice within a month period. First in March and then in April, she had to be rushed to the emergency room and ended up in the ICU. Again the Lord was looking out for her, putting her in the hands of the wonderful professionals at the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Roseville, CA. Through their care she was once again able to come home.

That homecoming however has come with some pretty steep requirements. She is currently taking 7 different medications multiple times each day. Like almost all major medications, these come with various side effects that make day to day living even harder. Two of those medications are to help with KC's anxiety and depression, which are very common in those with end stage COPD and if left unchecked just make things spiral out of control that much faster.

Added to those medications are three different machines that she has to use daily to help with her breathing and maintain the Oxygen and CO2 levels in her blood. At all times that she is awake, she is on an Oxygen concentration unit. When she sleeps that changes to a Positive Air Pressure machine (PAP) that helps her continue to take the breaths she needs when her conscious mind is not on the job. Added to that are 4 treatments a day with a nebulizer, using another 2 different kinds of medication.

As I am sure you can tell, this is a lot of things that have to be done to keep KC at a level where she can have a decent quality of life. Being who she is, these are all things that she tries her very best to maintain on her own. However as strong a woman as she is, and believe me I do not exaggerate that fact, this condition has stripped most of her physical, spiritual, emotional and mental well being. A woman who has always prided herself on her own independence has run up against a struggle she is finding nearly impossible to win.

Watching my dear wife battle all of this, the shakes and weakness, has been disheartening to say the least. Her condition, and all the requirements it entails, make it difficult, if not impossible, to do so many of the basic things that most of us take for granted. I can see the frustration and anxiety she is experiencing at needing help with things as simple as enjoying a meal, having a morning cup of coffee, or even adding meds to her nebulizer machine. Some things, like bathing, are impossible to do on her own, no matter how much she wishes to.

All of this and more is why I have decided to reach out through this site. I am a proud man and this is not an easy thing to do, asking for help. Be that as it may, help is what I need in order to provide my wife of 30 years with the kind of full time care that she needs. This is not something that I can do with our current finances, but I have hope that this can work for us.

I know lots of people are struggling just to keep food on the table, rents or mortgages paid, lights on, cars maintained, obligations fulfilled. I would love to help everyone, and hope I can pay this forward.

I have faith

I have hope for KC.

Hope for KC

"There is always hope"

That is what they say

Right now it's like a tiny bell ringing in a closed room

I can hear it, just barely, but it's there

there is always hope

That is what brings me here: Hope, a wish, a dream even

That's what brings me here

Hope, that I might spend all our time together

To not have to leave her alone 5 days a week, 8 hours a day

Leave her alone in this house with her own thoughts

Fear, I'm sure is one

Thoughts of her own mortality

Unable to do for herself even the simplest day to days

It's hard to watch and must be even more shattering for her to know this is how she might spend her last days

We don't know how many days: maybe months, maybe a few years maybe more

Failing health is that way

The professionals don't have a crystal ball only practice

The meds are numerous and come with as many side affects

The latest is for the anxiety she is suffering from

It's part of a vicious circle with COPD: get stressed, breathing gets harder

breathing gets harder and compounds the stress and back around

There is always HOPE

That's what brings me here

to this virtual place

To put some trust in strangers, friends and family

To ask for help and some HOPE for KC

Hope, I can hear that tiny bell

So, here I am doing my best to make this make sense, to do what I know is the next right thing for this wonderful wife, mother, sister, friend and grandmother of 8.

Here I am a husband, father, friend and grandfather, just wanting the best care I can provide for my beautiful wife KC. We will need help. It's a lot to ask of family and friends, to say nothing of strangers.

I hope you hear that tiny bell of hope that I hear and can see it in your hearts to help, even just a little. Share this story with your family and friends and bring that bell of hope to our family

Thank you to all my family and friends for being there for us in this time of need.

Most sincerely, KC and Riley Gilmore III