**If you choose to donate, please be sure to click "give once" to ensure your donation is not reoccurring.**

Hi everyone,

My name is Shannon, and I’m creating this fundraiser for my wife, Katie. We’ve been married for 18 years, and because of her myotonic dystrophy, we made the decision not to have children, so we are truly each other’s whole world. She’s my partner, my best friend, and the person I share every part of life with.

If you know Katie, you know she brings joy, humor, and fierce loyalty to everything she loves, especially her football teams. She’s a die-hard San Francisco 49ers fan, and after we moved to Tennessee four years ago, she cheers just as hard for the University of Tennessee Volunteers on Saturdays.

Recently, everything changed.

Katie was newly diagnosed with diabetes, and when she received a steroid injection for a routine cortisone treatment, it unexpectedly triggered diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Within hours, she fell into a 73-hour diabetic coma.

She woke up, thankfully, but recovery has been incredibly difficult. Coming off the ventilator was a huge step, but her myotonic dystrophy leaves her respiratory muscles extremely weak. She can barely cough, making it nearly impossible to clear the thick mucus in her lungs. One blockage has already caused her left lung to collapse.

We are fighting every day to rebuild her strength and protect her lungs.

One of the hardest moments came when Katie, barely able to speak, and only able to whisper, looked at me and said, “Can’t we… just go home?”

I had to answer with the most painful words I’ve ever spoken: “No… because right now, at home, I don’t know if I can keep you alive.”

That is the reality we’re facing.

This crisis has brought overwhelming financial strain along with the emotional weight. Hospital stays, respiratory treatments, medications, and me needing to be with her instead of working have all added up quickly.

If you are able to donate or even share this fundraiser, it would mean the world to us. Every bit of help lets us focus on what matters most: Katie’s healing, safety, and the hope of bringing her home when it’s truly safe.

Thank you for your kindness, your prayers, and your support during the hardest chapter of our lives.

Shannon and Katie