Help Karen Hughes Finish Her Treatment

Many of you have already had the pleasure of meeting my mother, Kerry, either personally or professionally. If you have not, then let me tell you that she is one of the most determined, resilient, loving and faithful people you will ever meet, and I'm so blessed to be her son. Her love of life and love for others is limitless, and I see the profound impact she has on others.

Over the past several years, she has been battling, for the most part silently, a strange and as yet undiagnosed disorder that has slowly robbed her of her ability to eat anything without experiencing terrible reactions. In recent months and even weeks, things have deteriorated further, to the point where we are seriously concerned for her well-being as her body’s ability to properly metabolize glucose seems to be disrupted.  Without that necessary metabolic function, she will certainly lose her life. In all the years that I've lived with her, I've seen her show such incredible resilience in the face of what is truly indescribable suffering. She rarely has a single moment of comfort during the day: nothing that can ease her pain, nothing she can eat that brings her any sort of nourishment or satisfaction. The pain and challenges she deals with to get nutrition on a constant basis is beyond words, and even after having seen it firsthand, I still doubt I understand the full scope of exactly how much pain she is in. I feel confident in saying that the only thing that has actually kept her alive until now has been her faith in God, but the reality is that right now her body is continually worn down by the constant discomfort, with the last of her dignities being eroded away as she subsists mostly on flavorless green slop. 

As her son, I find this unacceptable; no one should have to live like this. On top of that, I am simply awestruck by her seemingly limitless patience in dealing with doctor after doctor, going through this process for years now, strung along from one appointment to the next, test after painful test, with no improvements made between. She has been to many major medical institutions around the country and no one is able to identify what is going on.  Still, every day my mom fights to stay positive, stay on her feet, and share the love and kindness of Jesus with everyone she meets. More often than not, people see her and have no idea that she is dealing with an illness, or that she is fighting for her life. She NEVER wants to be defined by this illness or the havoc it wreaks on her body, but truly wants to enjoy people and the beauty life has to offer. She has even continued to work through this ongoing sickness, because it brings her so much joy to help others every day.

Thankfully, she's recently started working with a new doctor who has made some significant progress in identifying and dealing with her condition, but we're still a long way away from being back to full health, and these treatments are going to be costly as most of it is not covered by insurance. There is a terrible issue with her intestine that was overlooked or misdiagnosed and this new doctor is working very hard to get that under control. This condition is much more complicated than we had originally thought, and to be honest, we are not even sure if the damage that has been done can be reversed. After her discharge from the hospital in early March, we were told there was no hope for an answer, but now we may be on a path to at the very least bring her comfort. We can not miss this opportunity to hopefully, finally find a way to allow my Mom to eat again, and resume all of the things that she loves to do. She never gives up hope, and so neither will I. 

Aside from her strong faith, the other thing you need to know about my mom is that she rarely asks for help, especially in a manner like this, so that's why I'm doing it for her here. I love and admire her in that she often puts the needs of others before her own, so now I'm trying to take care of her and return some of that love. I set a fundraising goal, but really, any extra help we can get would be truly invaluable in what is quickly becoming a life or death situation. I will say this as directly as possible; I am watching someone that I love more than anything else, more than my own life, suffer and die slowly, and I can't stand by and do nothing while that happens. I would do absolutely anything to help her, so it is my intention to raise money to support these new treatments and help her get all the care she needs.

Thank you in advance for your help and consideration; I love her and cherish her, and if you know her I am sure you do too.  I can assure you that if she gets through this, she will be unstoppable, a force to be reckoned with, spreading love everywhere she goes, more than she even does now.

Please share this with everyone you know.