Be Sun Smith is organizing this fund on behalf of Emily & Martin Karolski.

 

Emily Karolski is known in the animal rescue world as one of the most compassionate, dedicated, and knowledgable animal rescuers. She and her husband Martin take in the most difficult and needy kitties into their “Karoloski House of Lemons” - cats with Felv, FIP, and neonatal kittens, cats that most people don’t have the want, time, or experience to care for. Emily is also an FIP Warriors admin, acting as an invaluable resource to desperate cat parents looking for a cure for their fur babies, and a volunteer with Purrsabound Rescue in Michigan. Anyone who knows Emily has likely either sent her a cat that no one else wanted and/or has experienced how much she is willing to volunteer her wealth of medical knowledge and care. Furthermore, in her career, Emily is a neonatal ICU nurse, helping to save the lives of babies born in critical condition. For all that Emily and Martin give to animals and humans, they never ask for anything in return. But they now desperately need our help.

 

Over the past few months, Martin has been having unusual medical symptoms. After undergoing blood tests and x-rays this past October, masses were found throughout both of his lungs, too many to count. Martin hadn’t been having any respiratory symptoms, so this came as a complete shock. A CT scan further showed the masses to be metastasized from elsewhere, though it is currently unclear from where they are originating as the scan was normal other than what showed up in his lungs. Martin needs to undergo further imagining of his brain, including PET scans, and is also undergoing a biopsy of his lungs tomorrow, Monday Nov. 29th.

 

Emily also deals with a chronic medical condition that can cause extreme symptoms - heart rate and blood pressure issues, dizziness and fainting, an unexplained 80 lb weight loss, and previous liver issues. She had to take a medical leave of absence this past year and only returned to work this past September with basically no answers or improvement to her health. When Emily learned of Martin’s results, she delved further into the reasons for her own decline to ensure that she would be able to care for him during this time. She underwent blood work, a CT scan, and an MRI. Her results discovered a giant mass on her liver, along with cirrhosis, portal hypertension, and scalloping of her liver. Neither Emily or Martin drink, smoke, or do drugs (and they never have). They are also both very young for such extreme diagnoses.

 

To say the least, Emily and Martin are devastated and terrified of what's to come. They are also out of consistent work due to needing to care for themselves. To make matters worse, Martin’s biopsy scheduled for tomorrow was just denied by insurance, forcing Emily and Martin to pay for the procedure out of pocket. It is unimaginable that Emily has dedicated her career to saving critical babies and her insurance won’t cover a lung biopsy for her husband. Emily and Martin are only at the beginning of this scary journey and have already had to pay $9,000 between co-pays and out of pocket expenses for (2) CT scans, (2) MRIs, (2) sets of blood work, (2) oncology appointments, Martin's lung biopsy and Emily's liver biopsy. This does not include a PET scan for Martin and a PICC line, further liver biopsies, and additional testing for Emily. At this time, Emily is having to postpone a $1500 test because of cost.

 

Please consider a donation to help Emily and Martin. The stress of dealing with these serious medical conditions is insurmountable. They need to be focusing on their health and not worrying about expenses and medical bills. Anyone reading this has likely been on the receiving end of Emily and Martin’s kindness and generosity at some point in their lives. This is a time to give back to these two beautiful humans that need our help. Thank you and please keep both Emily and Martin in your thoughts and prayers. XOXO.