Hi everyone. My name is Kelley Whitfield and I am a single mother of a 15 year old girl and a 5-month baby girl in desperate need of help. Please take time to read my story.

On 7/11/23, at 31 weeks pregnant, I was given an IV push of iron that was ordered to be infused over 1 hour. The nurse pushed the iron into my veins in just under 5 minutes and told me I could leave. 30 minutes later, I went into anaphylactic shock in my car. After arriving to the hospital via ambulance, I was experiencing severe abdominal pain. The ER staff refused to check my baby, stating they didn’t have the equipment needed to monitor her. After waiting hours and with the pain worsening, my family begged for someone to check my cervix. Finally, a labor and delivery physician came to assess me. I was then admitted into the hospital for preterm labor. This would be only the beginning of a 10 day stay.

It was 8 weeks before my due date, my condition and the condition of my baby declined to such a degree that waiting was no longer an option. Although extremely premature and underweight, my baby was delivered. I thank God for her life, however, this is where my nightmare began. My baby girl spent 2 months in the NICU. Her course was complicated by NEC and an E.Coli bloodstream infection. She subsequently received several blood transfusions, platelet transfusions, multiple courses of antibiotics, and over 30 X-rays to check to see if she would need surgery.

Everything that could have gone wrong during my recovery process did. I was severely preeclamptic (a fatal condition) and almost lost my life due to the negligence of physicians. My hospital course was complicated by a paralyzed bowel, GI bleed, and paralysis on the left side of my body as a result of an unskilled epidural procedure by a resident physician. Furthermore, the nurses had to call the rapid response team on two separate occasions because of my condition.

As of recently, I learned that I now require urgent brain surgery from that epidural. What should have been a “routine procedure” has changed my life. The surgery will require a 3 month recovery period. Unfortunately, the state of IL is offering little to no assistance. One could imagine how much I owe in medial expenses for these unexpected events. I have worked my entire life, and became a nurse to help others. Now that I require help, there is none. I don’t qualify for home health care because I haven’t been disabled long enough, and child care is only offering $20 a day for someone to help with my baby who has ongoing medical needs. The system has failed me. Never did I imagine almost becoming apart of the statistic of the climbing rates of maternal deaths in black women. I thank God for my life.

As mentioned before, I am a single mother. I work my hardest to make ends meet, but at this time I am unable to work, and truly just need some assistance from my community. I would prefer to put my surgery off until after the holidays so I can spend time with my children, but it’s seeming like I might have to miss that precious time.

If you can find it in your heart to give, my children and I would be forever grateful.

Thank you for your time.

Kelley