Help Kassie mom of 4 beat Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

Kassie (Kathleen Connolly) is a loving mother of 4, a devoted wife, she's an engineer (graduated from FAU), an entrepreneurial small business owner, and overall, a beloved member of our community. In March of 2023 Kassie's family was rocked with the news of a diagnosis of Non Hodkins Lymphoma that has metastasized into her lungs. Kassie and her family are kindly asking for financial help and prayers. We want to pay for 3-4 weeks of residency at the Hippocrates Wellness

Center in Palm Beach. Through her stay there, Kassie will be not only eating nutritiously but will be taught how to do so on her own. She will be amongst many cancer survivors and doctors with experience with patients similar to Kassie. This lifestyle change is necessary for Kassie to get and to remain cancer-free. Any help is greatly appreciated. Those not financially able, please share the page to help us reach this goal. Thank you so much.

Kassie's story - a summary:

Within two months' time Kassie had symptoms show up, she received the diagnosis which at first had not been confirmed by biopsy, and she was hospitalized. One of the symptoms was the retention of lymphatic fluid throughout her body. This fluid was in her hands, arms, feet and also around her heart, (pericardial effusion) She was sent for an emergency surgery to remove the fluid. Kassie didn't do so well with the anesthesia. She was supposed to be under anesthesia for an hour or so which turned into 6 days. During this time, she lost even more weight and gained a stage four pressure wound all the way to bone in her tailbone area. She spent several weeks in the hospital learning to walk again and regaining strength. The intubation had caused problems with her vocal cords, and she needed a feeding tube inserted so she could get the correct amount of nutrients as eating solid foods was a high risk of choking. Eventually the biopsy came back, confirming the nightmare of Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. Kassie went home the first week of April 2023 with her family - still not able to walk; to discuss chemotherapy options and make plans for moving forward.

After a couple of weeks, Kassie stopped breathing, collapsed, and ended up back in the hospital. One of the tumors was pressing on her supraclavicular artery and stopped blood flow from her heart. After a few days of nurses and doctors telling Kassie's family to say their goodbyes; an emergency round of RCHOP chemotherapy was administered. The chemo shrunk the tumor. The chemo shrunk all of the masses, from what the doctors could tell. Kassie began to regain strength. Again, after weeks in the hospital, Kassie went home with a plan to continue chemo on a schedule from the oncologist's office. However, on May 16, Kassie's birthday, she went into cardiac arrest. Her heart stopped. The hospital staff was able to bring her back. This is the third time she had been intubated since the ordeal began. Also, after this time, Kassie's family decided to keep her in a hospital facility until she was fully able to walk and until she gained more strength.

The doctors were not able to answer what caused the cardiac arrest. A couple doctors theorized it was one of the RCHOP drugs. The oncologists decided to put chemo off until Kassie had regained strength, was able to walk, and until the pressure wound (bed sore) was completely healed. Without any more major incidents; only some reactions to medications and antibiotics - swelling, redness, etc... Kassie was sent to a nursing / recovery center and was able to walk to her family's vehicle (June 18, 2023) to come home. However, the battle is still very much in effect. Since June, the tumors have grown again. We have not been able to restart chemotherapy. She is in contact with the doctors and has recently had her heart tested to see the strength and whether she should proceed with chemo. She has episodes of extreme shortness of breath and still has only a mild appetite.