Hi friends, my name is Michelle Malone. I just turned 26 years old on March 27th, and instead of celebrating my birthday with my loving family, I am celebrating it in the hospital this year, unfortunately.

The night before my birthday, I was working a corporate event at Asilomar Conference Grounds. As my team and I were gearing up to leave, I became very short of breath while carrying some catering equipment up a short hill. This shortness of breath was soon accompanied by relentless coughing, and I was failing to catch my breath. Soon thereafter, I came down with body aches, chills all over, and I became very hot. At this point, I was on my way to the hospital where I then found out I also had a fever of almost 102°.

After hours of crying, waiting, and worrying, the verdict was in — pneumonia. IN BOTH LUNGS. I’ve currently been on 7L of oxygen since being admitted, and I won’t be leaving here any time soon. In light of all this, my charge nurse mentioned looking into seeing a respiratory therapist/specialist considering my history of smoking. However, my insurance will not cover such services.

I am reaching out to all of you to help relieve me of this worry and fear. I just started this new job, so I don’t have any PTO or sick time accrued just yet because I am still working through the beginning of my probationary period. Any contributions of yours DEFINITELY contribute to bettering my health and my peace of mind. Thank you to my close friends and family that have been checking on me and keeping my spirits high. I love and appreciate all of you.