If you have had the pleasure of knowing Catherine and her family, you know that they are some of the kindest, most genuine people you will ever meet. If you don't know, here is a little about her story.


Catherine is the sole provider and works tirelessly to care for her family of 10. She is mother to 3 daughters, Melody, Carrie, and Amanda. The only girl of 6 siblings, she bravely escaped the Khmer Rouge when she was a teen and came to America to find a better life. A charismatic, vivacious, and full spirited woman, she is always the life of the party and everyone's #1 supporter. Known for marching to the beat of her own drum, she loved everyone she met and would remember you years later. Catherine is an avid animal lover, cook, and devout Buddhist.


Melody, her eldest daughter, has worked tirelessly to care for her mother and family during this incredibly difficult time. On April 16th, 2020, Catherine and her mother went to the hospital with pneumonia and tested simultaneously for COVID-19. The tests came back positive for both women and they were admitted. Grandma, who suffers from dementia, didn’t understand her need for the hospital stay. Thankfully, she began to recover after just a few weeks. Catherine was put on a ventilator for oxygen. During the remainder of the month, she was sedated for ventilation and experienced paralysis while continuing to test positive for COVID-19. Grandma was released on April 22, and is currently home recovering.

In the beginning of May, Catherine had a CT and MRI scan to monitor brain function, only to suffer two strokes during the scans. They began to think she would not make it much longer, and made decisions if she were to go into cardiac arrest. Miraculously, that day the doctors were able to find an antibody match for Catherine and she received a blood transfusion. A few days later, Catherine finally tested negative for COVID-19 and Melody was able to see her mom for the first time in over a month.

During this time Catherine and Melody were able to be together for two hours. There were small signals that Catherine could hear Melody, such as squeezing her hand, even though she was unable to respond to any of Mel’s requests. She let Melody know she could hear her by wiggling her ankles, shrugging her shoulders, and moving her eyebrows. The next day she was sedated from discomfort as Melody visited. Later that day she was fitted with a GI tube and scheduled for a tracheotomy to aid with breathing. After the GI tube was placed, Catherine began to rapidly lose blood. Melody received a call at 1AM informing her that the doctors needed to perform an angiogram in order to localize the internal bleeding. At 4am, Catherine was stabilized. A few hours later the bleeding began again, another angiogram was performed, and once again she was able to be stabilized. The tracheotomy was subsequently moved to June.  

In June, Melody and her younger sister Carrie were able to visit Catherine together for the first time. Catherine was able to focus her eyes on whichever daughter was speaking to her during the visit. It was an emotional meeting that showed slight improvement from the previous month. A few days later, Catherine had a successful tracheotomy, although she is still currently sedated and heavily reliant on the ventilator. On June 12th, Catherine was moved to a long term care facility where no visitors are currently allowed. Most recently she had her GI tube replaced due to complications from the transfer. Catherine is still sedated and relying on the high support of the ventilator. On June 18th, she once again tested positive for COVID-19.



We are still uncertain as to whether or not Catherine will recover.

Catherine is the most loving, kind-hearted human being. She is an incredible person and mother. 

If you are able to help in any way, even just a few dollars, it would mean the world to Melody and her family as they fight to pull through this. Melody has been making these difficult decisions for her mom, working full time to take care of bills, and orchestrating tasks for family members during this time. Updates will be posted as they become available.

Thank you. Truly, from the bottom of our hearts.