***UPDATE***

It's been a while so here are updates on Kaeli. On September 30th, she has an appointment at Vanderbilt in Tennessee, unless we get called sooner by a cancellation. She is going to do multiple autonomic function tests during the appointment and then will go from there based on the results.

Kaeli is still doing the best she can while at home but still hasn't felt well enough to get out of the house, besides appointments.

We appreciate all the helpful suggestions, prayers, and monetary donations. It all means more to us than you'll ever know!

(Read more below)

Hi everyone, my name is Dari Perrigo. I am trying to help raise money to support my sister Kaeli and her parents, Billy and Michele Apel, as they travel for more specialized care at Vanderbilt’s Hospital in Tennessee.

Over the last few years, Kaeli has been going through countless operations, procedures, body scans, loads of bloodwork, and other tests with no real answers. Kaeli has been suffering from a chronic illness called POTS/dysautonomia, which affects her entire autonomic nervous system and everyday life. Since finally getting her diagnosis of POTS in January, her health has been continuously declining. She was recently hospitalized in Boone for a week, where they discovered she has thyroiditis, which is an autoimmune disease. She still needs more genetic/blood tests for suspected MCAS, hEDS, and other conditions which can be very costly. Being unable to get the specific treatment/testing for her symptoms that she needed here in Missouri, her family will be traveling to Vanderbilt which has been recommended by many of her doctors over the past few months. They will be admitting her there until she gets proper treatment, answers, and her ability to get healthy again.

Kaeli’s declining health over the past months has left her unable to work, forcing her to go on FMLA. This trip will be financially troublesome for the Apels, especially since her father recently paid $1400 for unexpected truck repairs. Her parents will be staying in a hotel and will help cook/make the few remaining foods that Kaeli can still eat and not make her feel/get sick. Her growing number of food intolerances and now low weight are the main reasons for this hospital stay again. With that, hotel expenses are going to be hard on them, considering they don’t know how long she will need to be admitted. Hospital stays and procedures have been adding up fast.

We continuously hope Kaeli gets long-awaited answers and proper treatment for her health. All we want is to help her live her life again and be able to eat all of the foods she wants to eat again! Any help at all would mean more than words could ever begin to express. Thank you kindly for reading.

Another way to help:

Venmo: @Michele-Apel