Support Kelsey Mitchell and her Family

Hey everyone, Nikki here... For over 3 months now, my little sister Kelsey has been struggling with major health issues and unable to return to work or a normal life style. It has also made it difficult to be the wife, mom, sister, auntie, and daughter she was created to be.

It all began with high blood pressure in an induction and early delivery of her son, my sweet baby nephew, Zion. After having Zion, she was discharged and came back within 24 hours to be hospitalized for postpartum pre-eclampsia. She had a wide variety of symptoms that were overlapping between her postpartum pre-eclampsia and what we now believe to be a cerebrospinal fluid leak from her epidural site that never healed. Due to this, the leak was missed by her postpartum care team.

Her symptoms are orthostatic, meaning she has to be laying flat or she will be symptomatic. They range from stabbing headaches and tingling of the skull, shooting pain and burning of the arms, hands, legs and feet, nausea, vertigo, dizziness, tinitus, rapid heart rate, flushing, blurry vision, face pain and tingling, painful and stiff neck, and burning back pain between her shoulder blades and epidural site. She has also been facing confusion, forgetfulness, and stuttering.

It took several months to find a neurosurgeon to properly diagnose and attempt to treat Kelsey. Unfortunately, the blood patches and imaging done locally have failed.

After many ER trips, specialty appointments, failed treatments, and hours of research on her condition, she reached out to the CSF Dynamics Clinic and Headache Clinic at Mayo for help. We've been waiting 3 weeks for an answer on whether or not they would take her on as a patient. A chronic CSF leak is rare, affecting less than .005% of people in a year... due to this, there are only a select few doctors in the US with the knowledge, ability, and resources to treat her so you might be able to see how important this case review was. We are praising God for His mercies that are new every morning - as of December 12, the neuro team at Mayo Clinic is taking her on as a patient. They are planning to schedule several appointments for their advanced imaging techniques and the first round of treatments starting on January 8.

I am setting up this GoFundMe in hopes to help Kelsey, Sean, and Zion with their rent, bills, medical expenses, travel and lodging, and groceries while they are at Mayo Clinic and beyond during Kelsey's recovery. From the time they get there for initial appointments, through treatment, and into recovery could take several weeks.There is no way to know for sure how long of a process this will be. Kelsey's paid leave was exhausted 11 weeks ago and her short term disability claim was denied because her insurance is attributing it to a complication of pregnancy. We know it will get pricey quickly, so this GoFundMe is meant to help alleviate the financial burden put on their little family.

With God's help and guidance, we have faith that Mayo will be able to restore Kelsey's health. We are all eager to get her back to joy filled, pain free living. We want to express our deepest gratitude to all of you for your ongoing prayers and support. It means so much to us to have so many people in her corner. ♡