Supporting end-of-life costs of Leslie Keene

My name is Peter Keene and I’ve created this GoFundMe to help with end-of-life costs after my mother, Leslie Keene, passed away on April 2, 2025. She passed due to a plethora of complicated health issues which caused her body to give up.

My mom went through hell when it came to her health, but she was first and foremost the most loving, kind, empathetic, sympathetic, and giving person I’ve ever known. She has been caring for people before she was even a full adult. She had kids young, three marriages, and some fierce friendships that lasted decades. She was the glue and the mediator in lots of family drama. She was the one I could always talk to about hard times and advice, or just talk casually about entertainment. In most recent times she talked to my younger brother every morning when he’d leave work. And for me personally, the most valuable thing she did for me, FaceTime nearly daily to talk to her granddaughter, Cali. Something that seems so normal on the outside was so much more. Facetime with my mom (Nanny), was about giving my daughter an outlet to process her daily life. It wasn’t just “Hi, how are you?”, it was engaging in conversation, asking questions about learning moments and discussing things with her, teaching her how to handle things, bringing positive reinforcement and pride when she would do something praiseworthy, cheer her on to dance, or even congratulate her on trying something new. What my mom did for my daughter was give her a foundation of being a good person from a perspective she couldn’t get from her parents. I can’t express how valuable that is to me. She gave that kind of love and care to everyone else as well. My mother was very special kind of person.

Now my mom succeeded in being rich with love and friendship, but she wasn’t a change the world kind of rich. She had been on a fixed income for over a decade, and with the spare money she occasionally had, she offered to treat us to a dinner, and when her granddaughter was born, she bought all the diapers. So, in turn, she didn’t leave this world with much. We’re hoping to make this GoFundMe for those who have the means and want to help financially. She was cremated, and we’re planning on using any funds gathered to cover end-of-life costs, leftover bills, sharing the remains with the family, and if possible, travel to spread her ashes as per her wishes. If there is anything left over after that, I believe Nanny would like it to go specifically to help Cali, her granddaughter cover the cost of preschool and extracurricular activities.

This GoFundMe will be up until a little after the memorial. The memorial is set for Saturday July 19th at 2:00pm at 6 Willow Trl, Wheeling, IL 60090. If anyone has any questions, feel free to contact me through GoFundMe or on social media @petekeeneart

Thank You!

P.S. - I understand some are curious about her life and some deeper details, so for those who don’t know, I’d like to share a summary of her life and health leading up to her passing.

Starting over a decade ago she battled with a quintuple heart bypass, and after recovering from that, a hysterectomy with complications leading to a Giant Hernia, which lead to needing to lose 100lbs to get surgery to fix it. Around that time, she also had financial and marital problems. I took her and my little brother Trevor to live with me for a couple of years, and in that time, she did manage to lose the weight and get the surgery and repair her marriage for the time. Things were okay for another few years until the marriage ended in a separation and Trevor decided to move out. For the first time since a teenager, she was single and not responsible for anyone else. I’m sure it was liberating and scary, and she took the opportunity to move to the country where she always wanted to. She looked to move near her best friend Tony, about 3 hours from me, but 30 minutes away from Tony. Being disabled due to her health, she was on a fixed income and government assistance, but managed to find a senior community apartment that fit her budget and needs. Things seemed okay until one day her neck just gave up. Her neck sort of got better for a little while and then slowly got worse again. Her eyes also started to get lazy due to having to hold her head up and only look in one direction. It turns out she had Neurological Torticollis; a twisting of the spine due to muscles squeezing and turning it the wrong way. There is no cure, and the few treatments people were able to try could not fix it. This was the thing that set everything else in a decline. Her neck, jaw, chest, and torso all became malformed to some extent, causing her to stop being able to drive, needing a cane to walk more stable, and more. Over the rest of her life her diet had to change due to difficulty swallowing some foods and ability to eat and drink normally due to her head and neck mobility. Needless to say, the pain was bad before the Torticollis and became so much worse after. Her health only declined more over time. Complications with her kidneys, the Giant Hernia repair failing, and recurring cellulitis. Her body went through hell, and she wanted to give up multiple times. In the end her body was in decline to the point she knew doctors couldn’t do anymore and the restrictions they were on kept her from having the ability to always have her medications available. She chose in the last couple months to go on hospice care as to bypass doctors and just try to be as comfortable as possible. She didn’t think she’d go so soon, but she knew it wouldn’t get better. She passed after a quick decline over the course of 3 days surrounded by family and friends.