Swiftie Needs Help With Bills After 3 Surgeries


My name is DeLila Nicole Tirey and I have been a Swiftie since 2006. I am a mother, a homeowner, a hard worker, and I am about to lose everything I have following 3 months of life threatening illness, hospitalization, and surgeries.


I’ve seen this fandom pull together over the years to help Swifties in need. I never in a million years thought I would be one of them. It’s humbling and very hard for me to do this.

Thankfully, Christa from Swiftie Lounge 13 reached out to me after several mutuals contacted her and told them what I was going through. She immediately wanted to help.

This outreach is a last stitch effort to save everything I’ve worked so hard for and to pay medical bills following a sudden onset of E.Coli, sepsis, hospitalizations, multiple surgeries, and kidney stones.

A Little Bit About Me:






I’m 39 years old, I have a 13 year old son, a home, 2 vehicles, life, a job I work hard at as a catering manager and much to be thankful for. I have a husband who works but I am the main breadwinner in the family.

Up until March I was healthy and happy living my best life. Now I am weeks away from losing everything following this illness that has caused a domino effect of health complications, loss of work and depression as I am faced with the reality that my life is unraveling and I’m losing what I’ve worked so hard for, for both my son and I.

I have exhausted all personal time off at work and all vacation time due to hospitalization and surgeries. I am currently still not released to go back to work. I am looking into short term disability but it will not cover even half of my bills much less medical bills. My husband took a lot of time off to be with me which has caused a huge dent in our budget.

The Illness that’s Stealing My Life:

In March I started to get very sick. I had no idea what was wrong. I had some good days but mostly bad. I was given antibiotics and sent home. I started to feel better but by the end of April I got much worse. 

I was diagnosed with E.Coli and soon after I got sepsis, which is life threatening. The hospital said had I not gone in (I had finally passed out at home from the pain) I would have died.


On May 27th I was hospitalized. I unknowingly have kidney stones. One of the stones was causing an obstruction in my ureter and my kidney had to constantly be drained with placement of a nephrostomy tube. I was also diagnosed with E.Coli and sepsis. The infection was horrible. I ended up with fluid on my lungs and all has been so scary.

Weeks of nausea, excruciating pain, vomiting, weakness, fevers reaching 104 caused organ damage that might be permanent with other serious complications on the horizon.

I’ve had two surgeries so far. One was several procedures. A cystoscopy, a ureteroscopy, laser treatment, stent placed, and tube in kidney was removed.

This sudden onset of this illness has been debilitating and cause for concern that I might even have cancer which I can’t even afford the screening for at this point. 

My Life Right Now:

Currently, my state of health is so poor there are days when I feel like I am actually dying. The thought of leaving my son behind sends me into a dark spiral of anxiety and sadness. Despite everything I try to stay positive for him and for my health.


Right now I have kidney stones and need to be screened for cancer. I was able to borrow $90 for the post-op X-ray and Dr. visit which I had on Tuesday, June 25th. A stent was removed and we discussed other stones in my kidneys. These will require more surgeries. I was also told that components of the stone removed is 80% Carbonate Apatite (Dahllite) which is uncommon and 20% is Calcium Oxalate, which is common. This causes major concern and I now have to follow up with a nephrologist as they think I have a kidney disease/disorder.

What is at Risk with My Health:

Permanent organ damage and many things I am still learning from sepsis, more surgeries, repeated kidney stones, possible cancer, and possible kidney disease.

What is at Risk with My Livelihood:

I am weeks away from losing my home, vehicles, and basically everything. I still have my job but I can’t work since I am always in excruciating pain, nauseous, and weak. I am not cleared to work. I am hoping to get back to work soon, perhaps with some restrictions. My regular daily way of living is becoming a blur.



How Much I Need:

I am expecting a minimum of $5,000 in medical bills. (That is a very low ball figure as this may go on for months).

But more importantly and pressing, I need to catch up on my mortgage. ($1,465/month) and have enough to pay a couple of months until I can get better, $4,800.

My vehicles are behind (one is $419/month, and the other is $381/month. I need to catch up on those and have enough for a couple of months on them as well, $2,400.

I have regular expenses, utilities, food... I am hoping to get some type of short term disability that can cover those, but as of now they are running at $1,000/month.

To bring my bills current I need $4,500.

To bring my bills current + have two months of bills so I can get well I need: $10,000.

To bring my bills current + have enough for 2 months of bills so I can get well + pay the medical bills I need:$15,000. This is what I am asking for.

Any amount will help and is so appreciated. I am praying that this outreach can help us. I don’t know what I will do if I lose my home and my car.

Thank you so much for reading this. And special thanks to Christa from Swiftie Lounge 13 for helping me write this and wanting to help me with this outreach.

Some of my bills and medical bills I currently have