Hello,

I am creating this fundraiser for my very best friend Katherine Deleon. Her and her sweet family are in need of help. Katherine and her husband Joe have 3 children. Hailey, Emily and Zachary. Their oldest child Hailey has become very ill and is in the hospital receiving care.

Hailey underwent oral dental surgery in November 2025 and immediate complications happened after. Hailey is autistic and she struggles with sensory issues and OCD. She had never had dental work done and the surgery and feeling after was to much for her and she began picking at the surgery sight. This caused severe infection, several hematomas and severe blood loss. Katherine took Hailey to her PCP, mercy, Riverbend and OHSU multiple times for weeks and all they did was prescribe some antibiotics and dismissed them home with no way to help her. Hailey stopped eating except for some jello here and there and lost weight rapidly. A couple days ago Hailey became unable to walk so she was rushed to mercy and then rushed to Randall children's hospital in Portland in need of an immediate blood transfusion. She received several rounds of blood and has had a feeding tube placed for nutrition as they wait for results from a biopsy to then treat the infection in Hailey's mouth. This is going to be a very long and hard recovery for her. She will need to let her mouth heal and then she will have to learn to eat by mouth again and for her this is going to be so very difficult as she struggled to eat before this even happened. Hailey is only 10 years old. She has so much more to show this world. She is resilient and strong. She is so loving and such a joy and we need her to get better so she can go back to being her happy bubbly self.

Joe is the sole provider for their family and Katherine would pick up work here and there when she could to help cover financials. Joe is taking time off to be in Portland to help with Hailey and is looking into paid time off but that takes time and they couldn't afford to take any time off as it was. This is a huge hit for them and will be devastating if they don't receive financial help.

Please consider donating to help cover bills, food and gas while they get Hailey the help she needs. This family is so deserving and would never ask for help if they didn't truly need it and I had to work hard at convincing them to let me make this. Please let's show them they aren't alone and help is out there and they will get through this. Let's take some stress off their shoulders so they can focus on their sweet girl.

Please donate if you can and please share this campaign. I've seen what the power of social media and asking for help when you need it the most can do. I know we can help them get through this hard time. Please help me help them.

Thank you

Katie Waderich