This is Donna's daughter Stephanie setting this up for our Mom. Our mom is one to NEVER ask for any sort of help and she would rather give her shirt off her back for anyone in need. She always does before herself.

On July 21, 2021, I woke up to a concerning text message from my sister Danielle telling me I needed to get to her house asap. So I got my daughter and I ready and we rushed over. I got in her house and I saw my mom stuck in her wheelchair and she looked like death. She was beyond pale, couldn't speak, no feeling in her legs, confused, didn't really know what was going on. My mom always refused to have an ambulance called on her, but clearly something was wrong and I didn't care if she was angry with me or not. My sister was holding onto our mom to make sure she didn't fall out of her chair while I snuck in the kitchen to call 911.

When the ambulance arrived they couldn't believe the condition she was in and why she refused to get help for months. Regardless, they rushed her off to the ER, with my sister and I right behind. When we got there we weren't allowed back, so we asked for a nurse to come out and update us. After 30 minutes of waiting, my sister went back to see what was going on. A few minutes later my sister and a doctor came out to grab me. What I remember from that moment was that Dr. Kelley said "Your Mom's in critical condition".. We get into the room and it's like a scene off of Grey's Anatomy. There were several doctors and nurses rushing in and out. We were told that our moms legs were killing her and she had MINUTES to live. (hours if she was lucky). We had to make the decision right there to amputate her legs. Of course my sister and I said do whatever you need to, to save her life and we started signing papers. The doctor refused to let us know if she would be okay, deep down I knew the doctor was not confident by my mothers condition. She had necrotizing fasciitis and was in septic shock.

He gave us 4 steps of our moms condition:

1. She needed to go in for a bilateral above the knee amputation.

2. She had a huge blood clot in her lung straining to the heart.

3. She had blood clots in her kidneys.

4. She has endometrial hyperplasia.

Her liver was in shock and her kidney's were starting to fail. After what seemed like hours in this room, a scene I just will never forget. They rushed her back to the OR. While we waited over 2 hours for this surgery, we just cried and prayed for a miracle. The doctor finally came out and said the surgery was a success and he doesn't know how she managed to make it through. She had to have multiple blood transfusions. She was in the ICU for 6 days. 3 of those days she was sedated and had no idea what was going on. We didn't even know if she would wake up from all of this. She had another 2 big procedures scheduled. To shut her wounds after the infection leaked out and to do a catheter from the groin to flush out the blood clot. They were able to break up the blood clot & a few days later they were able to close her wounds. She will be on blood thinners the rest of her life.

After 10 days in the hospital, a social worker started talking with us about rehab. We prayed she would get into the top notch one that we picked and she did. Unfortunately, the social worker made us believe that her rehab would be covered under her insurance. That's not the case. This is why I am setting this up because my mom deserves the best care there is.

Her insurance will only cover 20 days of stay and then the rest is on my mom to pay which comes out to $5600/month. She is on a fixed income and clearly does not make nearly as much as they want. Which is why were asking for help. It would at least cover 2 months stay while my sister and I figured out the next step which is a ramp for her house and making her house wheelchair accessible for when she comes home. Also the transport fees to her appointments will be coming our of our own pockets to make sure she receives the care needed. Because we still need to deal with her endometrial hyperplasia.

She is currently at the rehab center and because she's not vaccinated she has to quarantine to 14 days. So we are not allowed to see our mom, except at her window. So we've been trying to stay in contact with the facility and nurses to figure out the next steps. We also go to her window everyday and it makes her happy to see her grandkids.

This rehab is crucial to help our mom come to terms with her new life and to live again. She was given a second chance at life and we are eternally grateful to everyone. If you can't donate and you would like to share, thank you for at least reading her story & we hope it could potentially save someone else going through a similar circumstance. Any bit will help and I know my mom would be so thankful.

• Stephanie