I am creating this fund on behalf Darlene Rains, a dear friend and coworker of mine; we worked together at TVA’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant.
 
In November of 2017, Darlene was admitted to an ER critically ill, with only 8% kidney function, had a UTI, was septic, and had E. coli.  Her body was shutting down.  After a month-long hospital stay and a 3-month rehabilitation stay, she was released to go home at the end of March 2018, still very ill, unable to walk and with pneumonia, requiring 24-hour medical care.  Because she had used all of the rehabilitation days that Medicare and her supplemental insurance covered, she incurred thousands of dollars of out-of-pocket expenses.  Due to determination, hard work, and lots of prayers, she made a remarkable recovery, eventually becoming able to take care of herself and walk with a walker.
 
THEN, this year in May, she suffered another UTI, again making her very ill and requiring around-the-clock care, further draining her finances.  In the process of doing a cat scan on her kidneys, technicians bent her knee beneath her wheelchair, resulting in her femur bone being popped out of her kneecap, which will require total knee replacement surgery.  During testing prior to surgery, it was discovered that she has AFib.  Therefore, an echocardiogram and stress test were ordered and she is now awaiting results, hoping she will be approved for surgery on November 27.  After surgery, she will continue to need 24-hour care for an undetermined length of time.

Darlene has no children or any other family members to help with her care, resulting in extremely high cost of caretaking.  Her financial resources have been depleted so any size donation will help.  Please consider contributing to this fund to help ease her concerns about her personal finances.  Darlene needs lots of encouragement and support.  Her mailing address is 1504 Clairmont Drive, SW, Decatur Al 35603.