Help Sarah Kihls Rebuild Her Life

This is Francesca, fundraising on behalf of our dear friend Sarah Kihls, formerly and more broadly known as Miss Conduct from the early days of the Texas Roller Derby resurgence. I know Sarah from Austin, where she impressed me with her huge heart and incredible creativity from the moment I met her.

I am asking our friends and networks for their help to get Sarah back on her feet and into a safe, secure living situation where she can regain her strength and find her way forward. She must explore work that doesn't tax her body, and it will take time and resources for her to do so.

Those who know Sarah recognize her as a strong-willed and compassionate human who knows no bounds when called to action. Whether you know her from breaking ground in roller derby’s resurgence, playing washboard with Minor Mishap Marching Band, working ops with X-Games, rigging with Heavy Equipment for Burning Man, assisting you in your large-scale construction and visions, rigging some of your favorite shows, stage managing festivals and events, hustling hard in the film industry, or the many other positions she's held throughout Austin and beyond — no matter what role you’ve seen Sarah in, you’ve seen her step into it with passion, positivity, work ethic and drive.

While working on a film set, in 2021, Sarah sustained significant injuries, leaving her incapacitated for over a year. She went from being strong, independent, and capable to being unable to lift even 10Ibs. This caused severe limitations in all her day-to-day activities. The diagnosis was extruded (severely ruptured) and herniated discs, causing extensive nerve pain, poor circulation, and swelling from the cervical to the lumbar spine to the toes. Additional muscle tearing formed a cyst in her scapula. During 12 months on disability, Sarah received sub-par care resulting in a slow recovery that continues.

Her disability benefits expired over a year ago. Sarah did not receive physical therapy, despite it being prescribed and despite a neurologist informing her that PT would improve some of her current symptoms and help her regain the core and lower back strength needed to prevent re-injury and help correct some of her ongoing issues.

During these last few years of compounding challenges, Sarah has depleted her once-healthy savings to pay for medical expenses, bills, fuel, storage fees, pet care, and the cost of living. She spent nearly 15 months living in a small aluminum travel trailer initially intended to serve solely as a living arrangement for work. But after the interior temperatures soared to over 105 degrees in record summer highs, the air conditioning unit couldn’t keep up, and she was forced to seek out alternatives for the safety of herself and her pets.

Sarah has three small pets who are her family, including her magical dog, Ocho, who has been with her for more than 17 years. Since her injury, she has been living in perpetual survival mode and has been unable to rest and recover properly. Currently, Sarah is living in Oklahoma in a large vacant, multi-unit apartment building in exchange for being the steward and security guard for the property. It is an unsafe environment, due to the criminals who trespass regularly, a longtime lack of proper building maintenance, and emergency exit routes that are highly challenging to access with her precious animal companions.

Sarah is unemployed and has no provable income for housing, her savings have dwindled to almost nothing.

We all understand how being out of work for over a year due to injuries can cause catastrophic life setbacks. For someone like Sarah, whose natural instinct is to help anyone in need of assistance—animal or human—the time has come for her to ask for the help she needs to regain stability and cultivate a new career that is easier on her body.

Despite her core belief in mutual aid and communities of support, this is the first time she has ever sought help for herself. Anything helps — reading, donating, and sharing.

Please, let's get our generous, loving, and kind friend back on her feet. I know I speak for many of us when I say that she has helped me when I needed it, and to return the favor is no burden, it is an honor.

I am trying to raise at least 6 months of funds for Sarah to cover pet care, medical costs, living expenses, and a very likely move to another state. It would be great to get her set up for a year. Ideally, funds will be used to get Sarah into secure housing and alleviate the stress around living expenses, truck payments, and medical costs (doctor fees, physical therapy, meds, etc).

Unfortunately, her medical prognosis is serious—her goal is not to return to her former state of ability, but rather to manage her pain and improve her core strength enough so that she can find an acceptable quality of life and a new line of work—able to both sustain her and accommodate her physically once optimal physical improvements have been achieved.

Thank you for helping a true helper in her hour of need. She would do the same for you.