Support Rachael's Journey to Recovery

***Update below***

On the evening of December 14th, Rachael was home waiting for her partner Jonté to return from a trip. She’d been dealing with exhaustion and pain for the past several weeks, making it hard to complete simple tasks, so she asked her friend Tina to come by to sit with her.

They were about to settle in and watch a movie, when Rachael’s Apple Watch alerted her that her resting heart rate was extremely high. They called around to friends in the medical field and were told to go to the ER immediately.

After spending a chaotic 24 hours waiting for a room in the ER, an emergency surgical procedure was performed, with another procedure to follow a couple days later. They discovered an infection. Rachael was in life threatening sepsis.

For over 2 weeks, multiple teams of doctors worked to stabilize her intense pain and to lower her fever, high white blood cell count, and heart rate.

Rachael is out of the hospital, but her care continues at home. To help control the infection, she has both a drain in her abdomen and a PICC line to administer IV antibiotics. Most small tasks are not possible for Rachael at this time and she’s unable to walk without the aid of a walker. She is currently in the care of a home health nurse, her partner Jonté, and her mom Therese (who has had to make multiple trips from her home in Oklahoma and has missed weeks of work).

While Rachael is expected to make a full recovery, she has a long road ahead and will be unable to work for the foreseeable future. As you can imagine, the financial costs that this medical emergency has created are immense.

We are asking for assistance for Rachael and her family throughout this difficult time. Any donations will go towards the following:

-Emergency room costs + hospital bills for the over 2 week stay

-Continued health care at home as well as numerous doctor visits to make sure things are going in the right direction

-Physical therapy to help Rachael regain her strength and ability to walk on her own

-Support for the loss of work, both for Rachael and her mom Therese during hospital stays and recovery

-Home help (for every day tasks outside of medical needs) while in recovery after Therese returns home

Please give what you can! Any and all support is greatly appreciated and will help Rachael get back to her best self! As more information comes, check this page for updates - Thank you to everyone who has reached out so far in love and support. We appreciate you all!!

Tina Terry & Keelay Gipson

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***Update***

As many of you know, Rachael has just spent another week in the hospital in addition to the 2 weeks spent there in December.

As Rachael was recovering from her initial hospitalization, she was experiencing continued pain that was so excruciating and debilitating that she had to go to the ER. She was admitted to the hospital and remained there for the next week while doctors worked to control and determine the cause of her pain.

At this time the theory seems to be that the pain is being caused by a combination of a compressed nerve, the lingering infection, and endometriosis. While the cause is still somewhat unclear, a pain management strategy has been implemented to help to reduce the pain Rachael is experiencing.

Today, we’re pleased to share that Rachael has been transferred out of the hospital and into a rehabilitation center where she will receive intensive physical therapy and occupational therapy while simultaneously continuing to receive medical treatment.

While she would love to be home again, we’re all relieved to have an action plan in place to get her back to her best, healthy, and pain-free self!

We all want to express how absolutely AMAZING you all have been in your outpouring of love, support, and donations for Rachael through one of the toughest times of her life. To date, she’s received 195 donations and we’re almost halfway to our goal mark. Every donation, share, and kind word of support is not only helping get closer to the goal, but also truly helps boost Rachael’s spirits with every gesture.

As you can imagine, the unexpected additional hospital stay plus the indefinite amount of time in the rehabilitation center has added to the expenses and time away from work for both Rachael and her mom, Therese, who extended her trip when Rachael re-entered the hospital. So we are pushing forward to get to our goal, and every share and contribution is still so very helpful and appreciated!

Thank you all again for your continued prayers, love, and support! We are SO, so grateful!!