Help Get Her Biggest Supporter the Care She Needs
On behalf of my bestfriend, Army service member Heather Keith, I am starting a GOFUNDME fundraiser for her. She has been an instrumental NCO in our battalion and always selflessly helping others and sacrificing her time for her job above and beyond. I am asking you all to please donate to help her family out in this time of need. Please read her story below.
Background:
Heather Keith’s mother, Cherryl Richards, has been living with her and her children throughout her entire military career. The assistance of Ms. Richards had made things easier for Heather and her family when it came to being a single mother and on active duty in the US Army. She had provided care for Heather’s kids when she was deployed to Iraq, during a PCS tour to Korea, during the attendance to various military schools and field training exercises and the never-ending early mornings and late nights that she spent at work. And most recently during a personnel recovery mission, Heather participated in Vietnam searching for deceased Service Members. No matter the circumstance, Ms. Richards was always there to support her child and grandchildren during these times.
On 27 October 2018, Heather came home to find her mother unconscious on the bedroom floor. She was rushed to Comanche Memorial Hospital, and it was soon discovered that Heather's mother suffered an Ischemic Stroke. Later on the evening of the 27th, the doctors approached Heather and started asking her questions about her desire to put her mother on life support if her organs began to shut down. Thankfully, it hasn’t come down to that. The severe trauma Ms. Richards experienced during the stroke had left the majority of the left side of her brain dead due to the lack of oxygen and blood flow. Ms. Richards had lost the ability to walk, talk, the use of her right arm, and the ability to eat on her own.
Ms. Richards has been going through occupational/speech therapy and has shown some progression to this date. She is learning how to count from 1 to 10, slowly being able to eat on her own without a feeding tube and can say “yea” and “no.” Recent setbacks have included dangerously high potassium levels that were causing her kidneys to fail (which the doctors got under control) and now daily struggles in preventing/controlling the seizures which have been occurring. Ms. Richards’s time at Comanche Memorial Hospital is coming to an end as she is preparing to move to a rehab facility for further therapy and recovery efforts.
Current Situation
Heather has recently successfully added her mother as a legal dependent under the military DEERS and recently completed the enrollment process into Tricare for her mother. Unfortunately for Heather, all the medical costs up to the 20th of November will be out of pocket because her mother had no previous health insurance coverage. As a single mother, this has caused unimaginable stress on Heather and placed an unfathomable financial burden that is reaching over six figures to date. Furthermore, Heather will incur additional costs for her mother’s remaining treatment, rehab, and future home modifications. Due to Ms. Richards being Heather's mother, the level of Tricare coverage (which is dependent based) that she is eligible for only covers here for MTF (Military Treatment Facility) coverage, Tricare Direct, and TRICARE will not pay for any treatment in off-post facilities. Unfortunately here at Ft Sill, there is only a health clinic that cannot support the needs of Ms. Richards and her rehabilitation efforts. Heather is working hard to get her mother Social Security benefits due to her new disability, and that will hopefully allow her to enroll her mother in Medicaid to potential help offset these expense’s and any future hospital bills. Heather is putting her best foot forward, we know this won’t cover all the expenses and bills. We are starting this fundraiser for her to help offset any costs/debts. 
