Help Kelly to heal and continue to support her boys

It is very hard to find the courage to reach out to family and friends to ask for help in difficult times. Unfortunately, my daughter Kelly has been so sick with a multitude of health problems for the past few years now. It seems she can’t get a break. She has been on and off work a lot in the past two years struggling to get better. She is an ER nurse at her local hospital and has been nursing for 22+ years. She worked mostly in Palliative care and Oncology. Sadly this profession has taken its toll on her health, both mentally and physically.

She has over 20 diagnosis including trigeminal neuralgia, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, PTSD, anemia, herniated discs, chronic fatigue, cervicogenic migraines and a few weeks ago she was just diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. All these illnesses have really taken a toll on her physical, emotional and mental health. She barely leaves the house and misses out on many family functions, social gatherings and spends days on end in pain, unable to even complete the simplest tasks at home. The most debilitating for her lately have been the migraines. She started getting them as a teenager, but 7 years ago she was in a car accident and sustained a whiplash injury. This neck injury caused her migraines to get worse. It was if it erased all of the 17 years of nerve blocks and treatments she endured. She was back at square one, in bad shape and had to start getting weekly nerve blocks all over again. It has been 22 years since she started getting nerve blocks. She regularly attends the Barrie Chronic Pain Management Clinic for treatments. She has tried so many different medications, treatments and alternative medicine to get them to improve but has had little luck. Her benefits have already run out for the year for physio, massage and chiropractor, and she can’t afford many further treatments, which is unfortunate because they help ease her symptoms.

She struggles daily in pain. She is lucky if she feels good 3 to 4 days a month. This causes her to struggle with depression and it heavily weighs on her self-confidence, because she can’t always be the daughter, Mom, wife, friend or nurse she wants to be. She has spent her whole life taking care of others. She is kind, giving, thoughtful and selfless. She helps to take care of her ninety year old Father who lives with her, and Kelly keeps busy taking her youngest son with autism to therapy, ABA, SLP, OT etc…She always shows patience and displays a smile on her face, even though I know she is hurting. She is so busy helping others that she has very little time to put herself first. I wish so much everyday I could gift her the gift of being pain free, so she can thrive and have the quality of life she so deserves.

In the past 4 months she has been off work on sick leave. She has tried to return to work on modified duty with short shifts, but was unsuccessful twice in her return to work. Kelly’s family doctor, pain specialist, chiropractor and therapist suggested she take some time off and go on long term disability for a while to try get her health back in order if she can. Her short term disability benefits of 15 weeks have run out, and before she can apply through her benefits for long term disability benefits, she has to take EI for 15 weeks. Unfortunately, this is a major problem. The maximum amount Kelly will get cannot pay the household bills. She’s carrying a house all on her own right now with London (15), Harrison (13) and Odin (4) her three boys. Raul (her husband) is not back living with them yet, and is supporting her the best he can at this time. There is no way Kelly can make it to August without help.

I am hoping that people are like me and like to pay it forward for others when they need help.

Being sick and off work is no fun for sure, and kind of embarrassing in a way. Kelly has no control over these illnesses, and does everything in her power to manage them. She struggles to try get better, and some days feels like giving up. We have a lot of family and friends out there that can hopefully find it in their heart to help her out at this terrible time in her life. This will be to cover her expenses and nothing more. Any little bit of help she can get would be greatly appreciated.

Hopefully “Paying It Forward” means something to you as much as it does to me. I help her as much as I can, but I can only do so much on my pension. I worry about her health every day, and keep praying that she heals. It’s so sad to watch your daughter suffer in pain continuously. If she can take some much needed time away from work and concentrate on healing both physically and mentally, maybe she can thrive and find happiness again.

Keep Smiling