Carol Collins' end-of-life and medical costs

Hi, my name is Breanne.

I am also writing this on behalf of my sisters, Melisa Foster and Betty McMillen.

As many of you know, our mom unexpectedly passed away earlier this week on January 16th. As she was in the hospital recovering from complications related to a minor heart attack she had right before Christmas, she suffered a major heart attack. She had to be Life Flighted to Adventist Health in Portland for more specialized care but was unable to recover and passed later that morning.

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With the punch to the gut that comes with losing a loved one, there is usually the follow-up punch from covering end-of-life costs.

Our mom's circumstances in life did not allow for there to be any savings or money allocated to help with these potential costs. She did not have life insurance and with very unfortunate timing, her health insurance wasn't going to be in effect until February 1st. This is where we are asking for your help.

While we are trying to determine what her outstanding medical bills will be, we have a good idea of our mom's impending end-of-life costs. As it stands her end-of-life costs come to around $3,000. With the unknown dollar amount on her medical bills, we may need to increase or decrease our goal in the future. For right now, we are being conservative in our estimate and crossing our fingers for hospital charity donations we are applying for.

Any excess funds will be given to her husband Billy to help him get on his feet in these first few months. Further excess will then be donated to Provoking Hope, the non-profit organization that Carol worked for.