Medical Fund

When this page was originally created, it was to raise money for Kate to go on her class trip to Washington DC. We had no idea what the upcoming months would have instore for us. Kate was not able to take her class trip, the donors who gave, generously let us transfer the funds to the new need. Before October of last year, the possibilities for Kate's future seemed limitless. She was born with an independent drive to succeed as well as blessed with many natural talents. I remember when she was 3 or 4 she accused me of breaking the law by keeping her out of school! I had to explain to her there was not school for kids her age, and search for a teaching preschool to help satisfy her desire to learn. She excelled all through elementary, entered middle school in the gifted and talented program and never missed a beat at remaining top of her class. She was part of Student Council, Jr National Honor Society, two different advanced choirs, one through school and the second at state level. She was involved in her youth group, with a passion to bring others to Christ. She helped to begin a Bible study in her secular school, her courage and ambition always amazed me! We had some struggles with Kate that we did not understand, we tried to seek help, but none was found and for the most part she continued to function. Then in October of 2014 the bottom fell out, as I sit here and try to tell the story I still can not come to terms with what Kate is going through and where my Kate has gone. She stopped going to school, she stopped eating, she stopped getting out of bed, she barely woke up. As the school, our Dr and I struggled to understand she slipped further away. Eventually she was hospitalized in an acute care psychiatric hospital, her stay was 35 days, unheard of, the average stay is 5 days. She was released when insurance would no longer pay and they could not think of any other medications to try. She entered on no meds and returned home so heavily medicated I did not think she could return to school. This was nearing Christmas break so she had time to be at home and begin therapy. When school started back up we struggled getting her there still. Then came the morning I could not wake her up, in trying her body's reaction scared me, it was not a normal sleep. Not knowing what else to do I started scanning her electronics and found her suicide note to her friend. I called 911, she had been cheeking her meds until she stored up enough to try to take her life. This was followed by another hospital stay, upon her return home she tried to OD again and was back to another hospital. This hospital seemed to make a difference, when she was released I saw a glimmer of hope. She really tried, she used her skills, made it to school but not many classes, attended therapy and DBT. I did mouth checks when I gave her meds and tried to keep an eye out for self harm. I thought she was doing good. School decided she was too much of a liability, she was not attending enough classes so they wanted her to do home bound school. In this program she sat home, more isolated, more rejected, expected to do school work on her own with 2 weekly visits from a teacher. I worried, looked into any sort of program or help I could get for her and there was nothing. Being a single parent and sole provider I needed to work. I noticed she was starting to slip again, there was another suicide attempt, this time with a knife. Thankfully she woke me up after awhile, we went to ER for stitches, the crisis team did not recommend hospitalization. I do not know why I did not put up a fight, other than exhaustion and Kate begging me not to. A week later I knew she was in trouble, her therapist said take her to the ER and tell them you are afraid for her life. She did not go easily, it was one of too many times I had to get the police involved. We do have an amazing police force, I was blessed by each officer that helped us. This time at the hospital the crisis team said yes to hospitalization, but there were no beds open in the state of Michigan. When there are ne beds available, even though they recognize your child is at risk, they send them home with you. Our system is so broken. God let me know He was there, while in the waiting room one of the residential facilities I had looked into months before called, they finally had a space open up. I tried to get Kate into a residential facility months before, but at that time the money they required in advance eliminated them as an option. At this point I had surpassed all of our insurance deductables and maximum family out of pockets, so they would admit her with no money down. That does not mean I do not have to pay anything though, including travel back and forth to the facility in WI. Admitting her did not go well, but she is now in the residential program at Roger's Memorial Hospital. My prayer is that they would reach her, I would gladly give up all that I have for Kate to have a long and joy filled life. Through all of this you can imagine the medical bills that continue to grow, which leads me to where I am now, hunbly asking for help from anyone that is able. As well as being open to all who do not know what has been going on with our family, please pray for us. Thank you.