Heather's Second Chance at Living.

 

HERE IS HER FULL STORY:

This is a fundraiser for Heather Kilpatrick. She has a rare form of cancer: chronic myeloid leukemia. All treatments have failed. She is about to undergo a costly and risky bone marrow transplant. She cannot work. Her mom is legally disabled and cannot work. Her dad has been out of work for a year and they have nearly spent all his retirement in one year. They are hemorrhaging money trying to keep her alive and the home afloat. Here are the details:

On August 21, 2013, nearly six years ago, Heather was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. At that time she was told it was the “easy” cancer, because it was highly treatable by pill. It has been anything but.

Over the past six years, countless nights spent in the hospital, hundreds of labs and tests, doctors discovered that the oral chemo pills for this kind of cancer — which have to be very specific because the cancer is caused by a genetic mutation — were toxic to her liver.

The doctors have tried everything — going on and off the medication in certain schedules, liver biopsies, and medications to counteract the toxicity — nothing has worked.

They are now moving on to a Bone Marrow Transplant, a grueling and risky procedure that will hopefully cure her cancer, but will take 1-3 years to recover from and some side effects may last forever. Her immune system will be like that of an infant. You can read all about Heather’s journey in her blog: http://heather-hopes.blogspot.com.

In 2018 she took a turn for the worst has never fully recovered. This new GoFundMe is to help with the costs incurred with this very expensive procedure, since Heather can’t work and is waiting on disability.

Heather will stay in the hospital at least a month, and after she will have to go back out to U or M two or three times a week.

Expenses:

1.) TRANSPORTATION: While Heather is living in the hospital, her brother and mom will be staying with her every two to three days. They’ll switch out and my dad will also come to visit. That’s about a tank of gas a week. Once home, she will go to back out about 2 to 3 times a week for the first 100 days at least. That’s another tank of gas every week. Then she’ll go once or twice a week, then once every other week, etc. Then she’ll also start seeing specialists more. Transportation is going to be a struggle for awhile. For a year and a half, it will be $6,630, roughly.

2.) MEALS FOR FAMILY: A Meal Train is being run for whoever is home from hospital that night, but whoever is in the hospital will have to pay to eat. Her mom and brother will be staying with her all but two nights. They can get meal trays, and the food is good, but it costs $7 a tray. If they get three meals and one snack, that’s $28 a day. Plus there are a few days when her whole family will be there. That will be $84 for the day. With one of those a week and six days at $28, that’s $1008 for the first month at minimum.

3.) MEDICAL BILLS: Heather has a lot of outstanding co-pays on her account. She needs about $750 a month to cover them.

4.) Any excess funds will be used for personal needs like hygiene items, incidentals, and if Heather loses weight, some will be used for new clothes. This is VERY likely. We’ve been told to expect extreme weight loss.

The goal is $23,150 to cover her medical and other medically related bills for 18 mos.