If any of you have had the chance to be a part of Yolanda’s life journey, you know that she would do anything for her children and others. She is a kind and loving soul that always puts others' needs in front of her own.

Over the course of this last week, Yolanda has had a health scare that has led to nothing but frustration. She was admitted to the hospital after needing a blood transfusion, let go the next day with orders to schedule an appointment by Monday. Tuesday, she went and saw the women’s health doctor who ultimately wants her to have surgery as soon as next week. She is hemorrhaging and bleeding internally and her issue is life-threatening!

The surgery center called Wednesday to schedule her surgery for next week, only to be told that due to her MN health insurance assistance being in a pending state (actually pending for the last 6 months), she could not schedule a potentially lifesaving surgery unless she prepaid the complete surgical bill of $18,000 first. She proceeded to contact human services (MN Sure, MA, and MN Care) and all three basically gave her the same information. They see it’s pending and pending for a while, but she doesn’t have a caseworker now and didn’t qualify for medical assistance due to her income being too high. Now mind you, she only qualifies if she makes less than $15 an hour. She makes $18. Yet, she is a single parent of two minors. People can barely survive making anything less than $24/hr and she is stuck in the middle.

Her options: reapply for medical which would void her current application (that’s 6 months pending) and begin at the bottom of the line all over again. Basically, the only option is to wait till she needs emergency surgery when her condition is already life-threatening. She is not one to ever ask for help, so I chose to help her by doing a GoFundMe. She continues to hit roadblocks and we are trying to help her get the surgery she needs. Anything you can give to get her to goal would be greatly appreciated. Her recovery will be about 2 weeks of unpaid leave. I want to to concentrate on her health and healing, not worries about dying and how she will pay for bills and support her family.

Her 48th birthday is tomorrow, let’s give her the gift of life, so she can continue raising her kids and giving to the greater good. She is soooooo deserving.