My name is Kimberly Durand and I am 40 years old. I work on the frontlines at a level 1 trauma center. I have several high-risk medical illnesses that have caused me to lose a lot of time at work. My work accruals are exhausted. I experience severe and debilitating stress from my job and on top of being the point person for my mom's severe medical illnesses, I took a leave of absence a couple of months ago to try to lower my stress and maintain my mental health and unfortunately that used up my accruals. I was able to handle the income I could obtain, however...

This past week I suffered a stroke that had me admitted to the hospital for several days therefore I have lost several days of work and with no accruals, I will not get any income. I can return to work for light duty/half days but I will not make enough money to pay for my rent, medical bills, doctor visits, medications, groceries, gas and other daily expenses for at least 2 to 3 months. I am reaching out to the community to see if any compassionate people might help me.

I am a hard worker but due to having Addison's disease, stress affects my daily living and I take steroids daily to stay alive. My medical conditions combined with my stressful job have taken a toll and I've had to miss work and use all of my accruals. I believe the stress of my job and my mom's severe illness caused the stroke. I will return to light duty work just 2 days after being discharged because I need the income. However, I will not make enough in my wages to cover the next 2 to 3 months of bills. I'm not asking a lot, I would just like to have the peace of mind that I can survive my bills and not stress about the repercussions of a lower income or the possibility of becoming homeless.

I will miss more work for several medical follow-ups for the stroke in the next few months. The copays of medications are going to be very hard for me to manage and I may need not be able to take some of these medications due to not being able to afford them. Copays at doctor visits can always be paid at a later date, but they still, need to be paid. It is the price of medications that I am most concerned about. I am concerned about not being able to afford groceries. I need gas money to even be able to get to work as best as I can while I recover from the stroke.

I am still very weak and concerned for my future. I want to take the appropriate and vital steps to ensure that I can recover from the stroke properly to be able to return to work ready and able to perform all of my duties effectively for my patients. The generous donations will be used for rent, medications, groceries and other daily expenses that will enable me to recover.

Will you help me?