Help Caryl Kloppenburg ring that BELL!

Hello, My name is Mendy Whittemore. I'm a retired teacher and I've had the pleasure and honor of working with my friend, Caryl Kloppenburg. Let me tell you a little about this remarkable lady. Caryl is the long-time nurse since 2007 at Terrace Community Middle School in Tampa and she has been the sweet and kind face that hundreds of children have come to love when they needed a comforting voice at a difficult time at school. Caryl is also a sponsor for IMPACT Club (aka Builder's Club) and over the years, has organized and completed numerous arbor tree plantings, river cleanups, Buddy Baseball assistance and local nursing home projects just to name a few. As if this wasn't enough, before 2021, Caryl would also work as a part-time LPN with local Temple Terrace Hospice care. I personally experienced her sweet and professional way of making others feel at ease and dignified during their final days when she took care of my mother-in-law. Whenever Caryl saw a need, she'd find a way to help others. Well now it's her turn, and she desperately needs other's to lend her a helping hand.

In the beginning of Summer 2021, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After several treatments and most of her summer, she was able to get back to work in the fall. In April of 2022, she went to her yearly wellness checkup and was simply feeling a little tired. That's when blood tests showed she had a new enemy, leukemia. Unfortunately, she spent the month of June in the hospital while chemo treatments took a toll on her body. Over the summer, Caryl was going back and forth to Moffitt for weekly treatments receiving platelet and whole blood products and routine checkups with the hope she will soon be a candidate for a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately, in August, she broke a hip and required risky emergency surgery followed up by painful weeks of physical therapy to get better and be able to walk without assistance. Over the fall of 2022, she waited and waited for her bone marrow transplant donor to be able to go through the donation procedure. This required her to take additional Chemo. treatments. Finally, in mid-December, she was admitted and on Dec. 28 she received her miracle. Now, three weeks later, she is finally discharged and ready to leave the hospital.

For the longest time, Caryl has been a caring angel to so many in need, and now it's Caryl's turn to receive help! She needs help with raising much-needed funds for monthly bills as well as a home repair fund for fixing leaky pipe damage in her bathrooms, and replacing a worn-out air conditioning duct system and air handler that has been deemed very unsafe to breath and use. We want her to return to a germ-free environment and to be free from worry and stress from her day to day needs and concentrate on just getting stronger and better. Any amount is appreciated and will go directly to helping Caryl pay repair, medical and daily expenses.