Kayle's Medical Fund
Donation protected
In September 2007, seven-year-old Kayle had to cut short her sleepover at our house due to acute pain in her abdomen. Doctors diagnosed her with genetic pancreatitis, a disease that is fairly rare in children. It took two long years and lots of medical care from a terrific team of doctors at Johns Hopkins before her symptoms were brought under control. She was able to have a normal life, if you consider a daily dose of medication with every meal, including pain meds strong enough to make me wince. Kayle’s parents were glad to have their daughter back, even if it meant a long slow climb from under a mountain of debt accrued partly from all the work they missed taking her back and forth to hospitals and specialists over an hour away.
The climb was not easy. Their entire family has survived lots of ups and downs, like the year her dad found himself out of work or Kayle’s battle with anxiety and depression made worse dealing with the day-to-day reality of being a teenager with a chronic illness. Through hard work and the help of friends, I am proud to say they never lost faith that the day would come when they’d be able to finally put an end to the hard times.
We started this fundraiser over a year ago, when once again, Kayle was hospitalized and her parents, unable to work full-time and support Kayle at the hospital in Baltimore began falling behind on rent and other bills. They were able to get through that period and Kayle was able to complete her sophomore year of high school.
Now, just as Kayle is starting the spring of her junior year and beginning to hope that she would get out of school on time and be able to go to college, she has been hospitalized again. This time, the doctor's are just looking to stablize her. Within the year, she will need a surgery to reconstruct her pancreas and intestines. The hope had been that with medication they would have gotten her out of high school before this happened, but it is not to be.
The surgery will take more than 15 hours and mean a very long hospital stay, including many days in ICU. But first they have to get her stabilized and her enzyme and other blood work back under control. Once again, her parents are facing a mountain of debt due to medical bills and lack of work.
Kayle and her parents are the first to help others who need it and it is hard for them to ask for help, especially since they’ve faced hard times before, but now it's their turn to accept help in their time of need.
Would you take a moment and offer support for this beautiful and smart young lady and her family?
The climb was not easy. Their entire family has survived lots of ups and downs, like the year her dad found himself out of work or Kayle’s battle with anxiety and depression made worse dealing with the day-to-day reality of being a teenager with a chronic illness. Through hard work and the help of friends, I am proud to say they never lost faith that the day would come when they’d be able to finally put an end to the hard times.
We started this fundraiser over a year ago, when once again, Kayle was hospitalized and her parents, unable to work full-time and support Kayle at the hospital in Baltimore began falling behind on rent and other bills. They were able to get through that period and Kayle was able to complete her sophomore year of high school.
Now, just as Kayle is starting the spring of her junior year and beginning to hope that she would get out of school on time and be able to go to college, she has been hospitalized again. This time, the doctor's are just looking to stablize her. Within the year, she will need a surgery to reconstruct her pancreas and intestines. The hope had been that with medication they would have gotten her out of high school before this happened, but it is not to be.
The surgery will take more than 15 hours and mean a very long hospital stay, including many days in ICU. But first they have to get her stabilized and her enzyme and other blood work back under control. Once again, her parents are facing a mountain of debt due to medical bills and lack of work.
Kayle and her parents are the first to help others who need it and it is hard for them to ask for help, especially since they’ve faced hard times before, but now it's their turn to accept help in their time of need.
Would you take a moment and offer support for this beautiful and smart young lady and her family?
Organizer and beneficiary
Janine Rauscher
Organizer
Gaithersburg, MD
Donna Jett
Beneficiary
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