Kietzman Family Help Fund
Donation protected
Michael and Aida met while they were both attending Mount Carmel High School in Belize in 2010. His parents were volunteering as teachers at the school; she was a native of Guatemala who crossed the border every day to attend. They were able to spend two years together at school before Michael moved back to the United States. The two carried on a long distance relationship and got engaged three years ago. Michael has had to struggle with the legal and financial hurdles of getting Aida to the states, and the couple was just able to get married this past year after a very long separation. They were both very excited to be married and thankful to finally be together. They had a baby due January 17th, and were joyfully awaiting his arrival.
On January 12th, Aida started to experience intense, heavy bleeding. They rushed to St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City, where Aida’s condition continued to deteriorate. Doctors found that a spike in her blood pressure was causing enzymes in her liver to react negatively and her kidney function to fail. They were able to intervene in time to prevent her from having seizures, but she still lost sight in one eye. They rushed to perform an emergency C-section to save the baby, but it was already too late. Michael Percival had died on the way to the hospital and was delivered dead five days before his due date.
Thankfully, Aida has pulled through and is out of danger. Some function has returned to her damaged eye, and she was released from the hospital on January 16th on a strict medicated regimen.
While Aida is recovering, there are still lingering medical and financial ramifications for the family. In addition to caring for Aida and grieving the loss of his son, Michael is in his final semester working towards getting his bachelor’s degree and has student loans to pay. The family lives in a small apartment off campus, and Michael can barely make ends meet working four minimum wage, part-time jobs. Aida works as a customer service representative for T Mobile, but will be unable to return to work for at least five or six weeks. The family has no medical insurance (they had medical insurance for the baby to cover his prenatal care and delivery, but after his death the coverage did not continue to cover his mother), but still have medical bills and funeral expenses to pay for in addition to normal living expenses and Michael’s education.
Michael has given a lot to the community at St. Gregory’s University over the past few years, even in the midst of his struggles with getting Aida over to the states. He has been a high achieving student in the classroom as part of the St. Gregory’s Honors program, and has given countless hours volunteering to help host retreats for high school students both on and off campus, volunteering with his Knights of Columbus chapter, and serving as president of the campus fraternity, Beta Phi Gamma.
Please consider what you can give to help him and his family out in their hour of need. Even if you’re a student yourself and can only spare a few dollars, it would mean a great deal to Michael and Aida.
On January 12th, Aida started to experience intense, heavy bleeding. They rushed to St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City, where Aida’s condition continued to deteriorate. Doctors found that a spike in her blood pressure was causing enzymes in her liver to react negatively and her kidney function to fail. They were able to intervene in time to prevent her from having seizures, but she still lost sight in one eye. They rushed to perform an emergency C-section to save the baby, but it was already too late. Michael Percival had died on the way to the hospital and was delivered dead five days before his due date.
Thankfully, Aida has pulled through and is out of danger. Some function has returned to her damaged eye, and she was released from the hospital on January 16th on a strict medicated regimen.
While Aida is recovering, there are still lingering medical and financial ramifications for the family. In addition to caring for Aida and grieving the loss of his son, Michael is in his final semester working towards getting his bachelor’s degree and has student loans to pay. The family lives in a small apartment off campus, and Michael can barely make ends meet working four minimum wage, part-time jobs. Aida works as a customer service representative for T Mobile, but will be unable to return to work for at least five or six weeks. The family has no medical insurance (they had medical insurance for the baby to cover his prenatal care and delivery, but after his death the coverage did not continue to cover his mother), but still have medical bills and funeral expenses to pay for in addition to normal living expenses and Michael’s education.
Michael has given a lot to the community at St. Gregory’s University over the past few years, even in the midst of his struggles with getting Aida over to the states. He has been a high achieving student in the classroom as part of the St. Gregory’s Honors program, and has given countless hours volunteering to help host retreats for high school students both on and off campus, volunteering with his Knights of Columbus chapter, and serving as president of the campus fraternity, Beta Phi Gamma.
Please consider what you can give to help him and his family out in their hour of need. Even if you’re a student yourself and can only spare a few dollars, it would mean a great deal to Michael and Aida.
Organizer
Emily Hess
Organizer
Shawnee, OK
