Medical Expenses for Penelope "Penny" Seiss

Hello, we are doing a fundraiser for Kyle and Mary Seiss to help with the costs of their medical journey with Penny. In Mid-November, Kyle's took Penny to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for her third surgery due to a brain tumor. This surgery was to remove a developing pocket or cyst of fluid at the site of the original tumor. The Seiss family was able to spend Thanksgiving at home, but not without more than one trip to CHOP emergency room due to spiking fevers. CHOP is over a three-hour drive one way from the Seiss residence.

Penny's medical journey is certainly not over. This most recent surgery is being followed up with 30 days of radiation treatments, also at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Radiation treatments are not given on weekends, on Christmas Day, or on New Year's Day, which extends the ordeal to all of six weeks. Besides, Penny needs to be perfectly still for these three-hour treatments, so she is sedated with general anesthesia for each treatment. The dosage of anesthetic needs to be increased throughout the thirty days of treatments due to her natural resistance to the drug. As of today (12/10/2024), Penny has completed 6 of 30 radiation treatments.

Mary, Penny, and one-year-old baby Isabella ("Bella") are staying at the Ronald MacDonald house several minutes from the hospital and commuting daily to the hospital for the treatments. Kyle is at home with seven-year-old Helene and Mary's mother Karen, who is helping with the daily routine of taking Helene to and from school, and dropping Kyle off at his work, since only one of their two vehicles is available. (Mary has the other on in Philly.)

This past weekend, Kyle himself has had a fever, preventing him and Helene from joining Mary as planned, or Mary going home, since any fevers on Penny's part would delay the radiation treatments.

Penny's fifth birthday is this coming Saturday, December 14. If this past weekend is any indicator, she may need to spend her birthday close to the hospital and not feeling the greatest, as she and Mary were both feeling a bit under the weather too.

I recently spoke to Mary's father Joel who is at home in Texas with his elderly mother. Joel would be glad to spend time in Philadelphia to help as needed but the only option for him would be a hotel, since the Ronald MacDonald house is very strict about hosting other individuals. Joel commented that the hotels available seem to be fairly expensive. I imagine the upcoming holidays only exacerbate that. We will be using up to $1,000 of this fundraiser to support travel and lodging for Mary's parents, Joel and Karen Silos.

Any contribution you choose to make will be appreciated, and if you are not minded contribute financially, that's fine too. We know you are praying, and Kyle and Mary are very appreciative of all the prayer support they have felt.

Thanks for your interest.

Dwight Martin family