One year ago, Kelsey ran a half marathon. Today, she can't walk across a room without oxygen.

Kelsey has never smoked a cigarette in her life. Today, she has Stage 4 lung cancer.

She is 39 years old.

Kelsey was born with a rare genetic variant that predisposes her to lung damage and lung cancer. Four of her six siblings also carry the same variant. For Kelsey, that genetic risk has now become a devastating reality, despite a lifetime of being active, healthy, and never smoking.

Kelsey is a mother of five: Hannah (15), Elizabeth (13), Oliver (11), Chloe (8), and Grant (6). She's a former Division I collegiate swimmer and triathlete, and has built a successful real estate business alongside her husband Jacob. She's the kind of person who lights up every room she walks into, gives everything she has to the people she loves, and always shows up when someone needs her.

In 2024, Kelsey was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer. After chemotherapy, surgery, and immunotherapy, there was a brief season of hope when her scans showed no evidence of active disease.

Then, this past January, the cancer came back in both lungs.

Now, there is one extraordinary option that will give Kelsey more time with her family: the DREAM Program at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, a first-of-its-kind double-lung transplant program for patients whose cancer is confined to the lungs. She has passed all of her tests and is expected to go into surgery this Tuesday!

We're raising money to help get this family of seven to Chicago and support them through the year that will give Kelsey a chance at more time with the people she loves most.

Kelsey’s Story

Since the cancer returned in January, Kelsey and her care team have fought for every possible option to slow it down. She has been through another round of aggressive treatment, but the cancer has continued to progress. She is now Stage 4, has only 41% lung capacity, and depends on oxygen full-time.

Through all of this, Kelsey has continued fighting for more time with Jacob and their five kids.

That fight led our family to Northwestern Medicine in Chicago and the DREAM Program. The program offers double-lung transplantation to a highly selected group of patients whose cancer remains confined to the lungs. After an extensive evaluation, Kelsey passed all of her tests and is expected to go into surgery this coming week.

It is an incredible answer to prayer and it also means the Flake family’s life is about to change dramatically.

Kelsey and Jacob will need to relocate to Chicago for the transplant and recovery. Their children will join them, and the family is required to spend a year there so Kelsey can remain close to Northwestern for treatment, monitoring, and rehabilitation.

Both Kelsey and Jacob are self-employed in real estate, so their ability to work and earn income will be significantly reduced during this time. At the same time, they will take on the enormous cost of temporarily relocating a family of seven: housing in Chicago, food, transportation, travel back and forth to Utah, homeschooling and caring for five children, and the countless unexpected expenses that come with spending a year away from home.

This GoFundMe is intended to help carry that burden so Kelsey and Jacob can focus their energy where it belongs: on Kelsey’s transplant, her recovery, and keeping their family together.

A separate 501(c)(3) medical fundraiser has also been established to help cover transplant-related medical expenses, medications, and medically necessary travel. If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution toward those expenses, please contact our family directly.

Kelsey has spent her adult life showing up for other people: her children, her clients, her church community, her friends, and her family. Right now, she is the one who needs people to show up for her.

If you are able to give, share this fundraiser, or simply pray for Kelsey and her family, we are deeply grateful.

Every dollar raised here will go directly to supporting Kelsey, Jacob, Hannah, Elizabeth, Oliver, Chloe, and Grant through the year ahead.

Thank you for helping give Kelsey the chance for more time with the people she loves most.

— Kelsey’s Family