Late Sunday night, Ann was struck with a sudden, unbearable pain and went to the ER in Bennington. She was diagnosed with a perforated bowel and immediately transferred to Albany Medical, where she underwent emergency surgery early the next morning.

In the six days since, she has endured three major abdominal surgeries to remove part of her intestines and repeatedly clean her abdomen to fight a dangerous infection.

Ann has now been moved out of the ICU and into the colon/rectal unit. She is stable, but her recovery will be long and difficult. She will likely need time in a rehab facility and then a stay with me before she is able to return to her home and eventually back to work.

I have two major concerns as we look to Ann’s recovery:

• Maintaining her health insurance

• Keeping her van—her only means of transportation

When Ann has been unable to work in the past, she has been responsible for paying out of pocket to keep her healthcare coverage active. With this latest medical crisis, it’s unlikely she’ll be able to return to work anytime soon. These essential expenses, and others we may not yet realize, will quickly pile up.

If you’re able to contribute to Ann’s GoFundMe, it would mean so much. Every donation, no matter the amount, will help.

We’re all grappling with how something like this could happen. After everything Ann has already been through and survived, her battle with leukemia and the stem cell transplant six years ago, this all feels so unfair. From what we understand, a combination of factors likely led to the thinning of her intestinal walls and the multiple pinhole leaks, including prolonged steroid use, chronic GVHD, and the long-term effects of being a leukemia survivor.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for supporting Ann in any way you can, through making a donation, sharing this GoFundMe with others who are outside of my social circle and may want to help, by sending her a text or sending a card, or simply keeping her in your thoughts.

We thank you.

Karin Cloutier and Cassidy, Hailey, Trey and Zoe Lang