Aid Sonny and Sherry in Their Time of Crisis

My name is Kelsey Rickstrew and I’m creating this GoFundMe page on behalf of my parents, Sonny and Sherry.

An extremely brief version of their story:

My dad was admitted to the hospital in July of 2024 due to shortness of breath, low blood pressure, and fatigue when he went in for an angiogram. Further testing revealed that his heart was in extremely poor condition and he required open-heart surgery for a valve repair and triple bypass. His surgery was completed in August, followed by multiple complications during and after surgery. This led to a 70-day hospital stay. My dad is also in stage 4 kidney failure and requires ambulance transportation to hemodialysis 3 days per week. Based on this and other circumstances, no long-term care facilities were willing to accept my dad in MS or LA.

As a result, my dad was discharged home with minimal home health care (1x per week) and my mom has had to become his full-time caregiver. He is now fully bed-bound and requires 24/7 extensive care.

My mom lost her job in September while traveling to and from the hospital to help care for and be with my dad in the ICU. Now as a full-time caregiver, she is unable to work.

This page is set up to help my parents with basic necessities, medical supplies for my dad while he is being cared for at home, as well as thousands of dollars of medical bills that have accumulated over the past 6 months. We are actively working to find other resources to assist them, but in the meantime, they could really use our help.

My parents have always worked extremely hard and made sure to give our family the best life possible. They would never want to personally burden others with their hardships, so this is my way of asking for help for them until we can get access to the right resources that they desperately need.