Please help support Kelly
Donation protected
Dear friends, family and community and the rest of the world!
I’m reaching out to you all in the hope that we can help an amazing mum get through her toughest battle yet.
My friend Kelly is a single mum, who is fiercely independent and proud! She is very reluctant to ask for any sort of help, and really needs to learn to accept it when it’s offered! When I told her I would like to find a way of helping, she was concerned…… not for herself! She was worried that if we didn’t manage to raise funds I would be disappointed!!!! That’s how selfless she is! We can all do little things to help, but she really needs more help and that’s why this fund raising page has been created.
Kelly has worked as a disability support worker (that’s how I met her), and she is also the full time carer of a teenage son who is on the “spectrum”. For the past year she has been working full time as an educator for disadvantaged youth. Just recently Kelly while Kelly has been receiving treatment for her illness, her employers told her that if she didn’t return to work after 6 weeks (un-paid sick leave), she would lose her position with them, and they would find a replacement. Kelly feels very insecure about her future, and has her boys relying on her to support them and care for them. Like every other mum….. Kelly wants to make sure she is able to do as much as she can.
Kelly’s medical story
Kelly began having severe headaches September last year and visited 3 hospitals, all of the sent her home with the diagnosis of migraine. Kelly’s mum came down to visit her from Queensland just after her 40th birthday and noticed that Kelly was struggling with every day activities. Kelly was driving very slowly, she had difficulty with changing lanes, having to turn her head right around to see traffic in the other lanes due to poor vision (which Kelly wasn’t aware of). She also had difficulty judging distances, and would keep falling over. On a short walk with her family she fell over three times and her kids joked “are you blind?!
Kelly visited her G.P. again, and he suggested she see an ophthalmologist. On her visit she discovered that she had very little peripheral vision in either eye. 2% in her left eye and 20% in her right eye, and what peripheral vision is left is blurry.
She was sent for an urgent MRI scan, and continued to work for the next 3 days awaiting the results. Her G.P. called her to say she needed to be seen immediately at Monash medical centre Emergency department. Kelly was then admitted on the 7th June. The scan showed that she had pressure on the brain which required urgent treatment. She was then sent to theatre for a Lumbar puncture to relieve the pressure on her brain. 25mls of cerebral fluid was removed. She was then sent home on the 16th June with strong pain killers, unable to talk coherently, stuttering, slurring her words and unable to walk unassisted.
The Alfred hospital then contacted Kelly post her previous request for an appointment. She attended her appointment the following Monday. The surgeon who saw her declared her situation a medical emergency and told her he wanted to admit her immediately. Kelly was not at all prepared and asked for a night at home, but the surgeon said it was too risky. She may lose her remaining sight, and at worst she may not survive. She then underwent many medical tests the following Tuesday and underwent brain surgery on Wednesday. Kelly underwent a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt, which is a medical device used to relieve pressure on the brain caused by fluid accumulation (http://www.healthline.com/health/ventriculoperitoneal-shunt).
The Surgeon diagnosed Kelly with a malformation of the skull called a Chiari Malformation, which means that she may be required to undergo further brain surgery to relieve the pressure off her spinal cord and brain.
At this moment in time, Kelly is very unwell. She is at home, but she has no family close by. Her mum lives in Queensland, and the rest of her family are in the USA. Kelly, will not be able to work for at least a year, and due to losing her sight is no longer able to drive, which is extremely difficult while raising two young teenage boys.
Kelly will need help with paying for medical appointments, rehabilitation, speech therapy, physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Home modifications, transportation and carers to assist her with normal activities of everyday living and so on. The most important thing that Kelly states that she wants to feel secure about is keeping a roof over her boy’s heads and food on the table! Again….always putting others first.
Please help! Please help this amazing lady get through her darkest times (excuse the pun)! Any contribution would help! But it would be amazing if we can reach the above target, and depending on what transpires we may need less or more!
Thank you again!!!
Regards,
Polly xx
Some educational Links
https://www.conquerchiari.org/documents/presentations/OVERVIEW%20Presentation.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50nI45Qn878&feature=youtu.be
I’m reaching out to you all in the hope that we can help an amazing mum get through her toughest battle yet.
My friend Kelly is a single mum, who is fiercely independent and proud! She is very reluctant to ask for any sort of help, and really needs to learn to accept it when it’s offered! When I told her I would like to find a way of helping, she was concerned…… not for herself! She was worried that if we didn’t manage to raise funds I would be disappointed!!!! That’s how selfless she is! We can all do little things to help, but she really needs more help and that’s why this fund raising page has been created.
Kelly has worked as a disability support worker (that’s how I met her), and she is also the full time carer of a teenage son who is on the “spectrum”. For the past year she has been working full time as an educator for disadvantaged youth. Just recently Kelly while Kelly has been receiving treatment for her illness, her employers told her that if she didn’t return to work after 6 weeks (un-paid sick leave), she would lose her position with them, and they would find a replacement. Kelly feels very insecure about her future, and has her boys relying on her to support them and care for them. Like every other mum….. Kelly wants to make sure she is able to do as much as she can.
Kelly’s medical story
Kelly began having severe headaches September last year and visited 3 hospitals, all of the sent her home with the diagnosis of migraine. Kelly’s mum came down to visit her from Queensland just after her 40th birthday and noticed that Kelly was struggling with every day activities. Kelly was driving very slowly, she had difficulty with changing lanes, having to turn her head right around to see traffic in the other lanes due to poor vision (which Kelly wasn’t aware of). She also had difficulty judging distances, and would keep falling over. On a short walk with her family she fell over three times and her kids joked “are you blind?!
Kelly visited her G.P. again, and he suggested she see an ophthalmologist. On her visit she discovered that she had very little peripheral vision in either eye. 2% in her left eye and 20% in her right eye, and what peripheral vision is left is blurry.
She was sent for an urgent MRI scan, and continued to work for the next 3 days awaiting the results. Her G.P. called her to say she needed to be seen immediately at Monash medical centre Emergency department. Kelly was then admitted on the 7th June. The scan showed that she had pressure on the brain which required urgent treatment. She was then sent to theatre for a Lumbar puncture to relieve the pressure on her brain. 25mls of cerebral fluid was removed. She was then sent home on the 16th June with strong pain killers, unable to talk coherently, stuttering, slurring her words and unable to walk unassisted.
The Alfred hospital then contacted Kelly post her previous request for an appointment. She attended her appointment the following Monday. The surgeon who saw her declared her situation a medical emergency and told her he wanted to admit her immediately. Kelly was not at all prepared and asked for a night at home, but the surgeon said it was too risky. She may lose her remaining sight, and at worst she may not survive. She then underwent many medical tests the following Tuesday and underwent brain surgery on Wednesday. Kelly underwent a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt, which is a medical device used to relieve pressure on the brain caused by fluid accumulation (http://www.healthline.com/health/ventriculoperitoneal-shunt).
The Surgeon diagnosed Kelly with a malformation of the skull called a Chiari Malformation, which means that she may be required to undergo further brain surgery to relieve the pressure off her spinal cord and brain.
At this moment in time, Kelly is very unwell. She is at home, but she has no family close by. Her mum lives in Queensland, and the rest of her family are in the USA. Kelly, will not be able to work for at least a year, and due to losing her sight is no longer able to drive, which is extremely difficult while raising two young teenage boys.
Kelly will need help with paying for medical appointments, rehabilitation, speech therapy, physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Home modifications, transportation and carers to assist her with normal activities of everyday living and so on. The most important thing that Kelly states that she wants to feel secure about is keeping a roof over her boy’s heads and food on the table! Again….always putting others first.
Please help! Please help this amazing lady get through her darkest times (excuse the pun)! Any contribution would help! But it would be amazing if we can reach the above target, and depending on what transpires we may need less or more!
Thank you again!!!
Regards,
Polly xx
Some educational Links
https://www.conquerchiari.org/documents/presentations/OVERVIEW%20Presentation.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50nI45Qn878&feature=youtu.be
Organizer
Polly Pimps
Organizer
Mornington VIC
