Hi everyone,

I’m organizing this fundraiser on behalf of my dear friend Kate Earley—a pediatric nurse practitioner, global health advocate, and one of the most quietly determined people I’ve ever met.

Since 2021, Kate has been living with a rare and life-threatening form of hypoglycemia. Her blood sugar drops suddenly and unpredictably - without diabetes - sometimes during sleep, other times during something as simple as a short walk or a shower.

She’s tried everything: multiple hospitalizations, continuous glucose monitoring, emergency medications, and more than five diagnostic procedures including three 72-hour fasts, two mixed-meal studies and a CT of her abdomen with contrast. Despite all this, she still doesn’t have a diagnosis—and the condition is only getting worse.

Due to strict limitations in the Canadian medical system, Kate cannot currently access the advanced imaging or endocrine testing she needs. She’s now under the care of an endocrine oncologist, but even she can’t expedite the testing fast enough to keep Kate safe.

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Why She Needs Help Now

In December 2023, Kate suffered a devastating hypoglycemic seizure that lasted over eight minutes. The seizure caused a traumatic herniation of her C3 and C4 vertebrae into her spinal cord—an injury that could have left her paralyzed from the neck down. Thankfully, with emergency spinal immobilization and months of recovery in a cervical (Miami J) collar, she was able to regain mobility—but the risk remains terrifyingly real.

She has been unable to work since 2023 and now lives with her parents, receives daily PSW care, and relies on her service dog, Frankie, to alert her to oncoming crashes. She can no longer shower, cook, or walk ten minutes without risking another severe hypoglycemic event.

Her doctors have recently referred her for a surgical feeding tube (GJ tube) to allow for continuous glucose infusion—a last-resort strategy to prevent catastrophic lows. But even this intervention is three months away, and it still doesn’t answer the question of why her body is doing this. It’s a bandage, not a diagnosis.

To access advanced testing—like a PET scan, calcium stimulation test, or endoscopic ultrasound—Kate has been told she must undergo a fourth 72-hour fast. The wait time for that test alone is over a year.

She’s already put her life on hold for this illness. She shouldn’t have to keep waiting while her health declines. That’s why Mayo Clinic matters.

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How You Can Help

Funds will go directly toward:

    •    Mayo Clinic imaging and diagnostic costs

    •    Travel and accommodations

    •    Uninsured lab work

    •    Essential mobility and safety supports while Kate continues outpatient care

Kate is advocating very hard to get as many tests as possible done in Canada to avoid unnecessary costs. She’s working closely with her Ontario specialists to minimize duplication of labs and imaging, and to ensure that every dollar spent at Mayo is absolutely necessary.

We will upload invoices and receipts to this page whenever possible so you can see exactly where your care and kindness are going.

Kate’s primary goal is to return to the work she loves: caring for patients, children, and their families as a pediatric nurse practitioner.

She’s not giving up. She’s just asking for help getting through this chapter, so she can write the next one.

If you can donate, thank you. If you can share, thank you. Every bit of support moves her one step closer to answers—and to independence.

With deep gratitude,

Jessica Jones

(Friend of Kate’s / Organizer)

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