Hi! I am Becky Okolta. I'm Amy Battersby's younger sister. As many of you know, Amy's world was turned upside down four years ago when she discovered she had untreated Rheumatic Heart Disease. She has had multiple invasive procedures and hospitalizations in the past few years leading up to her mitral valve replacement that is scheduled for 2/12/24. Amy is a therapist who works for herself. She has created a beautiful healing center in Barrington, RI for trauma survivors to find hope and healing. She has been helping people and her community her entire career. Unfortunately, Amy is her own boss. She doesn't get sick time. She doesn't get paid time off. In fact, her being out of work for even a week dramatically impacts her treatment center, Kindred Roots. This surgery is a big one. She will need 6-8 weeks completely out of work in order to heal. She will not take the time she needs if she knows it will impact her center and her clients. When she had her first ablation in 2020, she worked from her hospital bed.

Amy and Will work their asses off for everything they have. They have achieved so much- but with Camden in college they cannot float her business and keep the family's financial obligations going with her being out. She is the last person on earth to admit she could use some help. Those of you who love her know this. Those of you who don't know her well probably don't even know she has been in heart failure for over a year. She is tough, but is so much better at giving help than at receiving it. This fundraiser is not only so that she can be given the time to heal that she supports everyone else with, but so that her treatment center can stay alive to help so many people each day. Please help her take the time she needs to heal with her new mechanical heart, so that she can continue to heal others' hearts.