Funeral and End of Life Expenses

On October 29th our world was flipped upside down. Kaelin has been sick on and off for the past few months. She was able to make it to her daughter's wedding and celebrate her 49th Birthday while battling a pretty intense case of pneumonia. Unfortunately, one week later her body decided it had enough. This caused her to go to the Hibbing ER. While she was there they performed a CT scan and discovered a mass that was the size of a tangerine on the upper right quadrant of her right lung. Due to the discovery and size of the mass, she was transferred by ambulance to St. Mary's hospital in Duluth, MN.

After performing a biopsy on the mass, the results concluded that it was Stage III Small Cell Carcinoma. This type of cancer is fast-moving and aggressive. Due to the location of the mass, it was deemed inoperable. Kaelin's only chance of fighting it is through Chemotherapy and Radiation. We are hoping that she will be a candidate for further treatments in the future, but at this time she is not.

The day she was informed she had Stage III lung cancer they started her on a compound chemo treatment. Kaelin had 3 days of Chemo and her body did not handle it well. At this stage and with the aggressiveness, they have moved so quickly with treatments to shrink the size of the tumor and just a hold of helping her survive with this. She has had no time to process the gravity of the situation or what the next 12 weeks of chemo look like or the financial toll it will have. After her first round of chemo, she remained in high spirits, even though her body was rejecting everything being pumped into it. Fortunately, she was able to become stable enough to return home where the real challenges started. She was hospitalized from October 29th- November 7th.

Returning home for Kaelin was extremely difficult. Within days she lost her hair, experienced severe muscle atrophy, and all of the accompanying side effects of her disease and the chemotherapy. She has had really good moments where her optimistic and positive attitude has continued and it's incredible to see her relentless self being so positive. But the reality of the situation is that it has been very rough for her and unfortunately it became too much for her to handle.

On Monday, November 14th Kaelin was experiencing severe pain and an inability to get a full breath in. She was transported by ambulance again to the Hibbing ER. They discovered that her lungs were infiltrated by what looked like an infection or possible bleeding. They intubated her and transferred her by ambulance again to the ICU at St. Mary's in Duluth.

At the ICU they performed another biopsy and discovered that Kaelin was having a reaction to one of the chemo medications. This is extremely rare. Further scans showed the infiltration clouding her lungs was causing her to not be able to breathe on her own. She has been placed on life support but, we are hopeful that the steroids and antibiotics can kick this and clear her lungs.

After having two rough nights in the ICU, Today, November 16th we have been granted a small win. Kaelin is responsive and her stats are remaining stable. She is requiring less oxygen with the opportunity to start weaning her off of the ventilator and give her the chance to breathe on her own. After another scan, the result showed that the chemo is working hard and effectively shrinking her tumor. As well as, the steroids are trying hard to clear up the infiltration in her lungs. These may be small wins but they are huge in getting Kaelin off life support and back home.

This type of cancer is known to spread quickly to the brain and other parts of the body. Thankfully, Kaelin is in the clear of it spreading for now, but she has a PET scan coming up at the end of the month to determine if this still remains accurate.

Due to the nature of her type of cancer, she will never go into remission and will just have to maintain and fight for her life. But with the help of medical advancements, we are hopeful that she can live with this.

Kaelin is already experiencing the financial burden of hospital stays, cancer treatments, living costs, medication, and inability to work. We are hoping by sharing her story and the reach she has had on so many lives that we will be able to raise money to help pay for all of the financial burdens she has and will have. She has a long road ahead of her.

Anyone who knows Kaelin knows that she is the most loving, giving, kind person, who would do anything for anyone. Her community has helped our family so much over the years with our sister Leeanna, and we are hoping they can come together again to help her through this.

Please help show Kaelin the support and love she has given others by taking a chance to read this and share it. In hopes of decreasing the financial toll and stress, she has to face.

Thank you so much for your time, kindness, and your support. She is a fighter.

Gratefully,

Her Daughters

Karlee and Whitney