Bring Mary Ellen Home to Her Dogs and Family

Help Bring Mary Ellen Home – Support In-Home Care for a Lifelong Caregiver

Hi, my name is Elisabeth Smith, and I’m reaching out with a heavy but hopeful heart to ask for help during the most difficult time of our lives.

My mom, Mary Ellen Smith—known to many simply as Ellen or Ellen Kreidler—was recently diagnosed with an extremely aggressive stage 4 cancer. Her last round of chemotherapy nearly took her life—she suffered seizures and was placed in intensive care on a ventilator. Miraculously, she survived, but now requires 24/7 care as she works to recover.

She’s currently in a care facility, but this isn’t where she wants—or deserves—to be. My mom wants to come home: to be in a safe, familiar place, surrounded by love and her two little dogs who miss her deeply.

We’re facing heartbreaking financial challenges. Because she entered the facility directly from hospice, we were uninsured for the entire first month. That month alone drained most of her life savings. While we’re hopeful insurance will soon begin to cover part-time nursing, it still leaves huge gaps in care that I can’t cover alone. I manage my own business as a full-time hairstylist and am her only daughter and caregiver.

My mom has spent her entire life taking care of others. She worked as a school employee for over 25 years, lovingly feeding and caring for children every day. After retiring, she continued her life of service by cooking, cleaning, and assisting elderly neighbors in need. She also put her own life on hold in 2004–2005 to care for her mother during her battle with colon cancer.

And perhaps most importantly—she raised me as a single mother, giving everything she had to provide love, stability, and a future for her daughter. Her strength and generosity have shaped every part of who I am.

Ellen is a kind, creative soul who lights up when she’s with her dogs, spending time with friends, or walking the beach looking for sea glass to turn into handmade art. These are the simple joys that give her strength and hope.

I’m asking for your help to bring her home:

• To cover the first month of care that insurance won’t reimburse

• To help with the costs of part-time caretakers to supplement what insurance will cover

• To provide in-home therapy so she has a chance to regain some strength and independence

• To allow her to stay with her dogs—a 13-year-old dachshund and a 4-year-old chiweenie—who are her constant companions and emotional support

She doesn’t want to spend this chapter of her life in a facility. She wants to be home, surrounded by what and who she loves. Every donation, share, or kind word helps us get closer to making that possible.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your love and support.

With deep gratitude,

Elisabeth Smith