Donate to Honor Krystal and Support Her Son

Krystal Smith is organizing this fundraiser.

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Happy Sunday morning. In 2022, my wife was stricken with anal cancer. We were living in Arizona at the time. She was admitted into Banner Gateway/ MD Anderson in Gilbert, Arizona. She had surgery, weeks and weeks of radiation, and carried a port which supplied her chemo. We thought we were out of the woods and on a road to recovery. My job transferred me to Houston in August of last year, and by November, she had a seizure. Since she had a recent cancer struggle, the paramedic took her to MD Anderson in Houston where she was given a CT scan and imaging to understand why she had a seizure, although she had no history of seizures at all.

After rounds of tests, it was discovered that my wife developed brain cancer. The previous surgeon in Arizona deviated from the standard of care by packing her incision instead of stapling it shut. In not doing so, a cancerous cell broke off, entering her bloodstream, and lodging in her brain. Immediately, she and I had to face the reality that she needed brain surgery. The next day she had surgery. After weeks in the hospital, she was able to come home. As Christmas was approaching, she seemed to be getting better and we were hopeful.

She had an appointment to start proton therapy so as to make sure the cancer was indeed gone. Weeks later, the seizures returned and we were in and out of the hospital. She gained weight due to the steroids she was taking. Upon one of her monthly neurologist appointments, it was discovered that not only did her tumors return, but another mass was found. She was crestfallen. We were scheduled to have another surgery while waiting, her health slowly started to worsen. She went from taking powerful meds to manage the pain, which was constant, violent, and heartbreaking to watch. The only thing that helped her sleep was the medication. And on July 9th, after kissing my beautiful wife of 18 years for the night, I took a 30-minute nap. Recently, Houston had a terrible storm and all the power in the community went out. So without lights, I lit candles to check on her. She was drooling, her eyes were open, fearing, I lifted her pajama top to listen for her heartbeat.

I heard nothing, frantically, I checked for her pulse. I got no pulse so I slid her from the bed onto the floor, giving her CPR and chest compressions all while yelling to our teenage son, who was sleeping. After 20 minutes, the paramedics arrived. They tried for 20 minutes to revive her, at that moment I reached for my son and told him mom is gone. Once at the hospital, the doctors tried to revive her and at 2:00 am on July 9th, she was pronounced deceased.

I am asking for donations to help with our cremation cost.

Also any remaining funds will be to help my son with expenses as he will be heading off to college in the fall, which is next month August 2024.

My beloved wife name is Krystal Cherie Smith Butler, our sons name is Jamari, and my name is Ke'Air. May God bless you all. I will mourn my wife. Miss her smile, her laugh and her voice. She left us at the young age of 39