Requesting Support for Kelly Myers
Who is Kelly (Kat) Myers and What Happened to Him?
Kelly is an award winning visual effects artist who has worked in the film industry for over 30 years. His credits include such hits as the acclaimed Battlestar Galactica series. He currently works as an independent contractor for small studios and film makers both domestically and internationally. He is also an electronic music DJ / producer that goes by the name of DJ Lithium.
After sustaining a serious fall in his apartment bathroom, Kelly laid unconscious for several hours. When he came to, he could not move due to extreme pain. Unable to get help, alert a neighbor or friend for days, Kelly ended up dehydrated, delusional and with a fever of 104 degrees. Eventually six hours from death EMT's arrived to pick him up off the floor. By this time serious infections had begun to take hold. On March 3rd of 2020, he was checked into a Las Vegas hospital just as the Covid Pandemic hit. Because of the nationwide crisis, medical staff were unsure what had happened to Kelly. He spent the next 48 hours in the emergency room screaming in excruciating pain, unable to properly communicate. He was suffering from three different types of infections including sepsis and methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
The Hospital Nightmare
For the next 3 weeks Kelly underwent intense antibiotic regimens while in the Infectious Disease ICU. With no family able to assist, no medical insurance and increasing chaos in the hospital, a situation evolved where several misdiagnosis and chart updates resulted in Kelly being listed inadvertently as DNR (do not resuscitate). The doctors had no medical history to work from until his fever broke and he could talk. Consequently, he suffered 5 serious allergic responses due to food allergies that kept pushing him closer to death.
Two of his family members eventually were able to leave Canada and travel to the US. By this time Kelly had already spent two weeks unsure of his surroundings. Because of his medical status, he was denied any form of pain medications to deal with the trauma he had sustained to his back. Now in a state of acute kidney failure, the infections were producing a constant "shock" reaction in his ribs due to severe Costochondritis. These shocks were violent. With each reaction, often separated only by seconds and lasting days on end, a set of lesions or tumors formed around his 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th lumbar vertebrae. Subsequent MRI and CT Scans revealed that not only had the fall resulted in the damage to his spine but that a lesion had developed in Kelly's brain.
While his family did their best to help make arrangements with the State of Nevada to cover hospital costs and ongoing medical treatments, the chaos of the pandemic and the threats of border closures forced his family to return to Canada leaving Kelly on his own to manage his stay in hospital until April 14th of 2020.
Upon returning home, Kelly discovered that during his stay in hospital much of his studio equipment that he would use for work had been stolen from his apartment, including irreplaceable master recordings that spanned over 25 years. Barely able to walk, Kelly spent several months bedridden without assistance due to the lock downs. With no other means of transportation, aided only by a cane, eventually he managed to walk short distances to buy food. Suffering black outs and serious chronic pain, Kelly's condition left him unable to sit or work for any length of time during the remainder of 2020. On top of everything else, rather than taking any responsibility for damages due maintenance neglect that resulted in Kelly’s fall, Kelly was instead served with an eviction notice that will go into effect once pandemic safeguards for renters expire.
The Road to Recovery
As of late June, nearly a year and a half after waiting for medical appointments and coverage through Medicaid, Kelly was eventually diagnosed with Spinal Stenosis and Aggressive Spinal Hemangioma. Along with physiotherapy, Kelly's primary care provider prescribed him several medications including a six-month series of Interlaminar Epidural Steroid Injections to deal with the pain and reduce the inflammation of the tumors. God willing and with any luck, the treatments will allow Kelly to have a relatively normal recovery. Beta blockers, ethanol injections, radiation or surgery options may still be in his future.
While he is increasingly able to spend more time in front of a computer creating visual FX and animation for clients, the effects of the pandemic continue to disrupt contract work he would otherwise have taken on. His condition has seriously compromised his ability to care for himself and cover his expenses during the time it will take him to recover.
Kelly told us he has not received any form of unemployment assistance from the US federal government under the CARES act or American Rescue Plan. As a result, all of his financial resources have been completely exhausted leaving him in a position where he may have to sell any remaining equipment he would otherwise use to generate income to keep himself alive.
What Your Support Can Do
We understand many have been impacted terribly during this season of Covid. If you can find it in your heart to make any financial donations to help Kelly cover the needed transportation costs to doctors, physiotherapists, utility bills, food and hopefully a deposit on a new rental it will be much appreciated.Thank you and God bless!
