Katryna's healing fund

I have always beleived that it takes a village to raise a family. I am reaching out to my village now, my Universal world of peeps, to help me help my daughter.

Thank you for helping in whatever way you can.


Let me tell you a few things about my eldest daughter.

Katryna is an amazing lone parent to my two beautiful grandchildren. She is a great daughter who helps me and her father whenever she can. She is a loving and supportive sister to her younger sister, and the dozens of foster sisters and brothers she has. She has a big heart, and will help anybody who asks for it, and often those that don't. She is also the owner of a life altering autoimmune disease, and is days away from undergoing her third major operation.

Katryna was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in 2005. Her diagnosis was changed to Indeterminate Inflammatory Bowel disease in 2013. This means she could have Ulcerative Colitis or she could have Crohn's disease, we just don't know. She has been on many different medications, including a Chemotherapy drug which caused her to lose her hair. She spent her entire 20's in and out of hospital. In 2011 - 8 weeks after giving birth to my grandson, she was rushed into hospital in a critical condition. She was separated from her newborn son for a month. In 2013 she had the first operation to remove her large intestine. She had a further surgery in 2015 to remove her rectum. She now lives with an ileostomy which she will have for the rest f her life. Even though she has had her colon removed, she isn't cured. There is no cure for inflammatory bowel disease. She continues to suffer from chronic pain and fatigue. On very bad days she isn't able to do much of anything. On her good days she soldiers on, but at a pain level that would send most people to the emergency room. Despite all of this, Katryna rarely complains. She gets on with it. Katryna has a positive mindset that allows her to power through, but some things can't be managed like that.

Katryna would never ask for help like this, so I am doing it for her.

That operation I mentioned earlier is going to put my daughter out of action for at least 2 months. She will be unable to do the things we take for granted, such as  drive her children to school- which is a 20 mile round trip, do the housework, cooking, cleaning, laundry, look after the children, you know- all the everyday essential duties that able bodied people can just do. As it is, Katryna struggles to do these day to day tasks, but having to recover from a major operation and try to be mother, father, chauffeur, maid, cook, cleaner, and many other jobs I haven't even considered, is just too much. Katryna was notified of her surgery date two weeks before Christmas - we've had six weeks to try and organise everything. Katryna buried her head in the sand, she was keen to make sure her children had the best Christmas they could, but now reality has now hit.

I am a foster carer, with two placements living with me, and as a result I am unable to move in with my daughter to offer the full support that she needs. There is a lot that I can and will be doing, but it won't be nearly enough.

We need financial help to allow Katryna to take on some help around the house, most importantly to drive the children to and from school, and do all the other "mother jobs", so that she can focus on healing. As a lone parent on disability, with no financial assistance from the non custodian parents, Katryna is unable to get the assistance she requires without financial help.

Thank you for any hep you can provide, even if it's just sharing this post. We are eternally grateful

UPDATE

Katryna’s surgery was a success. She spent two weeks in the hospital, as there were some post op complications. She is now at home recovering, with her children.

Katryna is suffering from heightened post operative pain. Her surgeon has confirmed that she will require a minimum of 8 weeks total rest.

So far, your very generous donations have been spent on providing childcare for the children, day care for the family puppy, support for Katryna, and day to day expenses, such as petrol, parking, food etc for all of those helping. We were also able to buy a chest freezer for Katryna, so she can safely store all meals that have been donated for her family. Funds have also been used to make Katryna’s recovery room safe and comfortable.

Katryna has been out of the hospital for a week, as although she has made great progress, it is clear that she still has a very long way to go.

Please continue to share, as more funds are required for Katryna to continue to heal and recover.

Thank you.

Momma Cherri.