Hi! My name is Jessica. My family and I live local to Cape Cod and were hoping that any amount of kindness would help my family.

Earlier this week, Monday, I woke up with extreme body aches and a headache. It spiraled into a 102.1 fever. My joints were in pain, as was every organ it felt like. I vomited, and the next day my fever subsided. I thought, definitely a stomach flu.

Later, after dinner, a sudden onset of a fever came back. I called my PCP, who had no openings but, based on my criteria, wanted me to go to an Urgent Care. From there, I was driven (not by ambulance) to a nearby hospital. All of the doctors and nurses were fast and decisive.

But when the results came back after a few hours of ongoing testing, they stated that heterogeneous perfusion had developed for most of 60% of my right kidney. I asked what that meant: bacteria from the urethra to the bladder to the ureters crawls up so high to the kidney—which is bad because this is what cleans your body’s blood. I was told I was being admitted because if I hadn’t, I could be septic by morning and in the ICU.

Sepsis is a scary term. No one wants to hear that term. Especially not as a 34-year-old with three children and the newest, only 8 months old.

In my head, I said that this will be the most expensive bill I’ll have, and I’ll have to figure it out missing a week of work. But I come first because my babies and husband need me. We live paycheck to paycheck and cannot afford to have a set back, financially.

We are a hardworking family. Both of us work for our community of Sandwich, as a firefighter and school bus driver. We do have three young children and live as most do on Cape Cod. Imagining a loss of a week's pay plus my husband not being able to be an instructor at the local college for two shifts, and add on the bill that’s expected of over 30k, is scary.

It takes a lot to ask for help. I hope that someone could understand how painful this week has been. I am currently at the hospital having my 5th IV antibiotic but will not be released until my fever subsides; an hour ago, I was 102.4.

I began septic through something that could have been easy to notice and treat. But why wasn’t it easy? All we can consider is my three cesarean sections may have numbed part or all of the area that gives a sensation for your brain to say, “I need to use the toilet. It could happen to anyone. Even if you’re young.

Please help my family move past this. Thank you all for your time and consideration.

*ALL of these proceeds will be directly for household groceries and items for this week 10/27-11/2, and any additional will go towards medical bills.