Hello Friends and Family,

I have started this GoFundMe account to help my good friend  Kelly Powell who is  living with kidney failure (also called end-stage renal disease, or ESRD).  This debilitating disease forced Kelly to stop working  and now she can’t afford her health care expenses including her health insurance premium, transportation costs, prescription medications, and other expenses related to her care. 

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the jobs and steady income of her support system made up of her husband and oldest daughter. To complicate matters, Kelly and her family stand to lose their home. Specifically, they have requested hardship assistance from their lender but were told that no programs for this scenario exists.

Below, please find Kelly's narrative in her own words. 

I kindky ask that you tap into your compassionate souls and donate what you can to help Kelly and her family. 

XOXO Brandi

In Kelly's own words:

So I will give you a run down of all the details ...im 2016 my legs and ankles had swollen with about 15lbs of retained fluid which was the first noticeable sign that there was something wrong. I went to the ER and found that my blood pressure was higher than stroke level and they couldn’t believe that I was walking in there as if I just had some swelling. They spent 6 hours and tried 3 different intravenous drugs to try and lower my blood pressure and nothing was working so I was admitted to the hospital and for four days they ran numerous tests and placed me on a water pill to get rid of the fluid. They finally did a kidney biopsy after the sonogram showed scarring and the results indicated that I had IgA nephropathy (Berger’s disease) and was in stage 3 CKD with 60% of my kidneys covered in scar tissue and that it likely had gone about 11 years undiagnosed. I was placed on blood pressure meds and spent the next few years trying to find the right combination of meds that worked for me. Along with the CKD I was also diagnosed with anxiety and hypertension along with the high blood pressure and I’ve had severe insomnia for over 13 years. I continued to try and work but was only able to make it anywhere from 2-6 months before things would get so bad that I would end up back in the hospital. In 2018 I was hospitalized 3 times in 2 months due to consistent projectile vomiting and was unable to hold anything down for days. They finally did an upper GI and I was diagnosed with gastroesophogial reflux disease or GERD and was placed on several additional medications and sent home. In that 6 weeks of being ill I lost about 40-45lbs and most was muscle. My husband would not let me continue working after that. In January of this year I had a Pap smear at me physicians office and it showed that I have HPV and tested positive for precancerous cells and would need to find a specialist to have further testing and discuss my surgery options. This was about the time the pandemic was causing people to get sick and others lost their jobs which affected our household as well. But for me things didn’t stop there. While I was fighting not to lose our house I received a call on May 20th and was told that my kidney function has dropped to a 12 and I was in stage five renal failure. I had to admit myself that evening and had surgery first thing the next day to have a perma cath placed for dialysis treatment. I began that day and continued treatment the next two days. I then started having treatment three days a week and again on Saturday the 30th when I was released from the hospital after a spot opened up at an outpatient clinic that I started on June 2nd and have 4 hour treatments three days a week. It will take approximately 90 days for my Medicare to be confirmed and once that is done I will have to have a second surgery to remove the temporary catheter and have a permanent one placed in my arm. I will have to remain on dialysis until after my surgery to remove any cancers in my uterus and will then continue to have dialysis for a year afterward until I can have a transplant. My health aside we are in a struggle where we are about to lose our house. I had this house built over 15 years ago in hopes that my girls could grow up in one home and attend the same schools along with their life long friends. We were fortunate enough to get my oldest graduated last year and my youngest just finished her freshman year in May. We have come to terms
that we will not be able to keep our home but we are praying that when the time comes we will at least be able to stay in the area until she graduates. My oldest daughter and her boyfriend moved in with us about 6 months ago to help cover utilities and food however my ex husband stopped paying his child support in mid December and then with the pandemic the two eldest lost their jobs a few months ago. We were thankful for the stimulus check we received and have been living off of that to cover our expenses and have been very fortunate to temporarily qualify for food stamps. We are coming to the point where we only have about a month left of income to continue to pay our utilities so I’m asking for any help that could get us through the approval of my disability and/or my family can return to work to restore some income in our home. I know this has been a strain on everyone with everything going on but the smallest donation would go a very long way in our personal crisis. Thank you and god bless.