Honor Kaelah's Memory: Help Fulfill Her Wishes

Hi. My name is Lindsey Patterson. I am making this in hopes it reaches people who can help, even if that means just to share it.

My best friend of over 25 years has gone home peacefully at the young age of 33. She was such a fighter, battling many illnesses, and she never gave up. And I believe with every ounce in me her soul didn't give up, but her BODY gave up on her. Her body was tired and needed that eternal rest.

Kaelah has had a difficult life, let me tell you. But she always saw the positive, did anything she could for anyone, and her relationship with God was like no other. She lost her mom almost 4 years ago. Growing up, it was Rhonda, Kaelah, Granny, and myself. The core 4, no matter what, where, when, or how. It was us against the world. She’s had diabetes since she was a young child. About 6 years ago, she was diagnosed with stage 5 kidney disease. When she got diagnosed with it, all she did was research and educate herself. She handled it like an absolute champ considering the news. She knew God had a plan and trusted Him. She went into complete kidney failure, which caused her to start dialysis about 1.5 years ago. She was going to a dialysis center, but then her husband and she decided it would be better if she did home hemodialysis. He became her dialysis tech/home health aide and ran her life-saving treatments. With her being sick her whole life, she was never able to work. She had to get on SSI for financial stability/insurance. That itself was a BATTLE. But she jumped through every obstacle that was thrown at her and came out on top as much as she could.

On September 4th, she messaged me asking if I could take her to the ER. Anyone that knows Kaelah knows she HATES hospitals and doctors but will go when it is absolutely needed. I told her yes, I’ll be there after work. I walked in and saw her in the worst pain she’s ever been in. She couldn’t sit straight up. I was concerned about how she was going to get in the car and out with the excruciating pain. I suggested we call an ambulance. They arrived and took her. She was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis. (Anyone who also knows Kaelah, she does research... expect the worst, hope for the best through her whole life. She was NOT expecting this diagnosis and was not able to do research because they had to rush her to surgery ASAP.) It is a flesh-eating bacteria that spreads rapidly. She needed to go into surgery ASAP to get the dead skin/tissue it had already attacked. Her first surgery was 6 hours. The second surgery was 3 days later. She was intubated and on a full ventilator with sedation. They thought she was in a good spot, so they wanted to try to get her off the vent and move her to BiPAP/CPAP with sedation still. Unfortunately, there was a third surgery needed 5 days after the second, which caused her to go back to intubation and more sedation for comfort. This time it was harder for them to wean her off the intubation due to her lungs. She, in total, had 4 procedures to remove all of the dead skin/tissue that this infection caused. They talked to her husband and me about the next step being a tracheotomy because it’s the best option for her airway.

They were trialing her on the CPAP setting more and more to get her lungs to work on their own for strength. And she was doing rather well most of those trials! As of the 4th procedure, they were confident they had the wound under control and there was no more dead skin/tissue they could see. But she still had many things going on.

On Wednesday, October 2nd, she was taken off the sedation meds. She woke up and was alert after being sedated/non-responsive (conversation-wise) for 4 weeks. It was the absolute best day. We left after visiting hours were over, and I couldn’t wait to get back there after work the next day. She was still awake and alert and was able to mouth things, and I could read her lips very well. She couldn’t actually talk because she still had a trachea. But I was able to essentially have a conversation with her, and it was the absolute best feeling after not being able to communicate with my best friend (who I talk to every single day) for the past 4 weeks. Labs were stable; I mean, they were talking about discharging her to a LTAC stable. She was able to hear what they were talking about and understood.

Friday, I noticed a decline in her overall, especially from the amazing past 2 days we just had. She was more lethargic. Noticeably more yellow skin (which she didn’t have before) and eyes (her eyes were yellow the whole time she was in there, but they got significantly more yellow). Her husband noticed it too. Before we even brought it up to the doctors, they saw it too. They did some blood cultures and labs. Within 24 hours, the cultures were growing gram-negative bacilli. The doctors are now noticeably concerned, as her husband and I are too. They started antibiotics.

On Saturday, October 5th, they took more blood cultures to try and get a better idea of what this is and where it is exactly in her body. Again, within 24 hours, those cultures were now growing gram-positive cocci. Another antibiotic started. After almost a week on 2 antibiotics, her levels were not coming down. She was still fighting with everything she had, but she herself knew her body couldn’t fight this one.

Kaelah was an amazing soul. Rhonda was a single mom who struggled with her own illnesses but raised Kaelah to be kind, God-loving, and always a good person. To see the good in people always. I could go on and on about her because we have so many memories, and I will forever cherish those. Her husband and I are asking for help in laying her to rest next to her momma. With all of Kaelah’s health issues her whole life, she made it clear to her husband and myself what she wanted when her time to go was here. As much as I wish it wasn’t right now, I am beyond thankful she is no longer suffering. Her husband and I are asking for help in making those wishes come true. If there is anything she deserves, it’s her wish. She told me to promise her to sprinkle catnip on her grave so all the strays can come roll around on her. And I will hold my promise to her.