Kate Needs Your Help!
Donation protected
Hello friends – Kate is in need of your help.
On Sunday, January 27, 2019, Kate was standing on the side of the ski run at Mt. Bachelor waiting for a friend on her snowboard, when she was hit from behind. Kate went airborne and landed on her back and head, (with a helmet on). Within a 48-hour time period thereafter, she was having to hold onto furniture in order to walk across a room and it became apparent that things weren’t right. She was seen by two different emergency physicians and had a CT Scan, and was diagnosed with a Concussion (Traumatic Brain Injury) and Vestibular Dysfunction (when your ear canal does not speak to your vision correctly). She’s gone from having better than 20/20 vision, to the injury permanently affecting her vision and requiring glasses moving forward.
She continued to work the day following the incident, where the combination of screens, lights, cognitive processing and social interactions that aggregated over the week sent her into a tail-spin over the days that followed. Kate was asked by the medical professionals to stop working.
If you know Kate like I l know Kate, she is a hard worker and would never want to leave her clients hanging. So, she continued to work making sure her accounts were taken care before she finally had to cease all work and go into full time medical care for her recovery. She was told the time off should be, “2-3 weeks.” Little did she know this situation would turn into a living nightmare.
Since the end of February 2019, Kate has been working non-stop with every Neurology specialist in Bend, OR, and many other specialists who could potentially help to resolve her brain and vestibular issues. Her weeks have been filled with these appointments, and at home therapy exercises. These appointments include, Neuro-Optometry and Vision Therapy, Functional Neurology, Electro-Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, Chiropractic, Atlas Orthogonal, Crainosacral, Cranial Nerve Manipulation, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Sound Therapy, Physical Therapy, and the list goes on…
When she was removed from work by her doctors, she was placed on Short-Term Disability, until things went horribly wrong about a month later, as her company switched Insurance providers and advised that no other paperwork was necessary. Unfortunately, paperwork was needed and was delayed by her Physician ultimately causing her case to be CLOSED! Kate has not received any pay since March and while scrambling to get the case reopened, the stress set her backwards in all of her therapeutic progress and she was so close to feeling that she may be able to return to work soon. As all of you who know Kate, she is someone who constantly strives to exceed goals – this one has remained unachievable until now.
She filed for an ADA extension in June to help protect her job, as now her work status turned into a greater unknown (only the first 90 days out of work were protected). This extension grant was delayed week after week, month after month, with no word or response. On August 14th, she was told by her company that they could no longer wait without a return date in sight, and let her know they were filling her position.
Kate continues to struggle to this day to get her reading ability past 10-12 pages, and her screen time past 10 minutes, without encountering devastating levels of nausea, headaches and dizziness, that require ceasing any type of reading and either sleeping or relaxing to calm her visual system for usually up to 1-2 hours to recover… and then try again.
Throughout these past 7 months, Kate has paid for all of her medical expenses out of pocket, as health insurance has barely covered anything, as most of the treatments for working with brain injuries are considered non-traditional. With the time that has lapsed, and the complete loss of income during the past 5 months and now the loss of her job of almost 5 years, this has left Kate in a dire place financially. Her 6-month security blanket of funds have now been wiped out!
Kate is looking for any help with being able to pay for food and basic living expenses for her and her dog, Ranger. She is doing everything she can to liquidate funds and decrease expenses from her end, however, she is still not released to do any type of work to date. She thankfully has rebuilt the majority of her physical strength through doing rehab on a stationary bike and taking longer walks with her dog. This has allowed her to enjoy some outdoor activities with friends and on her own, which is the one thing that helps her to reduce the stress of this whole mess and feel better physically.
She will be grateful for any assistance you can provide. Even a few dollars can go such a long way right now.
If you prefer to VenMo, her VenMo is: Kate LaCroix @Kate-Ranger
OR
If you prefer to use CashApp, her CashApp is: cash.me/KateLaCroix
On Sunday, January 27, 2019, Kate was standing on the side of the ski run at Mt. Bachelor waiting for a friend on her snowboard, when she was hit from behind. Kate went airborne and landed on her back and head, (with a helmet on). Within a 48-hour time period thereafter, she was having to hold onto furniture in order to walk across a room and it became apparent that things weren’t right. She was seen by two different emergency physicians and had a CT Scan, and was diagnosed with a Concussion (Traumatic Brain Injury) and Vestibular Dysfunction (when your ear canal does not speak to your vision correctly). She’s gone from having better than 20/20 vision, to the injury permanently affecting her vision and requiring glasses moving forward.
She continued to work the day following the incident, where the combination of screens, lights, cognitive processing and social interactions that aggregated over the week sent her into a tail-spin over the days that followed. Kate was asked by the medical professionals to stop working.
If you know Kate like I l know Kate, she is a hard worker and would never want to leave her clients hanging. So, she continued to work making sure her accounts were taken care before she finally had to cease all work and go into full time medical care for her recovery. She was told the time off should be, “2-3 weeks.” Little did she know this situation would turn into a living nightmare.
Since the end of February 2019, Kate has been working non-stop with every Neurology specialist in Bend, OR, and many other specialists who could potentially help to resolve her brain and vestibular issues. Her weeks have been filled with these appointments, and at home therapy exercises. These appointments include, Neuro-Optometry and Vision Therapy, Functional Neurology, Electro-Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, Chiropractic, Atlas Orthogonal, Crainosacral, Cranial Nerve Manipulation, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Sound Therapy, Physical Therapy, and the list goes on…
When she was removed from work by her doctors, she was placed on Short-Term Disability, until things went horribly wrong about a month later, as her company switched Insurance providers and advised that no other paperwork was necessary. Unfortunately, paperwork was needed and was delayed by her Physician ultimately causing her case to be CLOSED! Kate has not received any pay since March and while scrambling to get the case reopened, the stress set her backwards in all of her therapeutic progress and she was so close to feeling that she may be able to return to work soon. As all of you who know Kate, she is someone who constantly strives to exceed goals – this one has remained unachievable until now.
She filed for an ADA extension in June to help protect her job, as now her work status turned into a greater unknown (only the first 90 days out of work were protected). This extension grant was delayed week after week, month after month, with no word or response. On August 14th, she was told by her company that they could no longer wait without a return date in sight, and let her know they were filling her position.
Kate continues to struggle to this day to get her reading ability past 10-12 pages, and her screen time past 10 minutes, without encountering devastating levels of nausea, headaches and dizziness, that require ceasing any type of reading and either sleeping or relaxing to calm her visual system for usually up to 1-2 hours to recover… and then try again.
Throughout these past 7 months, Kate has paid for all of her medical expenses out of pocket, as health insurance has barely covered anything, as most of the treatments for working with brain injuries are considered non-traditional. With the time that has lapsed, and the complete loss of income during the past 5 months and now the loss of her job of almost 5 years, this has left Kate in a dire place financially. Her 6-month security blanket of funds have now been wiped out!
Kate is looking for any help with being able to pay for food and basic living expenses for her and her dog, Ranger. She is doing everything she can to liquidate funds and decrease expenses from her end, however, she is still not released to do any type of work to date. She thankfully has rebuilt the majority of her physical strength through doing rehab on a stationary bike and taking longer walks with her dog. This has allowed her to enjoy some outdoor activities with friends and on her own, which is the one thing that helps her to reduce the stress of this whole mess and feel better physically.
She will be grateful for any assistance you can provide. Even a few dollars can go such a long way right now.
If you prefer to VenMo, her VenMo is: Kate LaCroix @Kate-Ranger
OR
If you prefer to use CashApp, her CashApp is: cash.me/KateLaCroix
Organizer and beneficiary
Erin Botcher
Organizer
Roseville, CA
Katherine LaCroix
Beneficiary
