Help Save My Mom's Leg!

Help Save My Mom's Leg

About My Mom’s Condition

My mom, Krysty Keith, is the strongest, most resilient person I have ever met and inspires me every day. She has been through countless experimental surgeries since she was a baby. She has lived with intense, chronic pain her whole life.

Krysty was born with a rare disease called Maffucci Syndrome. This causes bone deformities and cartilage tumors throughout the body. She spent her childhood having multiple surgeries, enduring high amounts of physical pain and overcoming diversity.

Currently, one of her cartilage tumors has become malignant (cancerous), which can happen with her disease. This tumor is very large and located right under the ball of the femur close to the hip socket. She has been consulting with doctors over that last few years on how to deal with it, leaving her afraid that amputation was in the near future. Recently, the bone started breaking at the tumor site making it an urgent situation to act on.

We have been very fortunate to find a team of highly skilled surgeons in New York that not only think they can remove the tumor and save her leg, but repair some of the damage done from the previous experimental surgeries. Her leg is not straight enough to handle removing the tumor without a full leg reconstruction. This complex procedure will require multiple surgeries over many months in NY working with surgeons and physical therapists. Her first surgery will be a 12-hour surgery on July 18th, 2024.

Update 10/1/24: The tumor removal was successful with clean margins! The leg is currently being lengthening and we expect her foot to touch the ground by November! The leg reconstruction brought a lot of improvement to the alignment of Krysty's leg, however, now her knee and ankle do line up correctly and she is completely unable to bend her knee or walk on her foot. Krysty is in immense pain waiting for more unexpected surgeries.

Krysty will have the second surgery to fuse her ankle and re-angle her foot on Oct 11th!

The ankle fusion went well but did not fully remedy the issue. When she goes back in for surgery #3 in January, they will do a full knee replacement and work to further straighten the angle of her foot and ankle.

After Krysty has returned home for 18 months, she will need to come back to New York for 1-2 months for hardware removal.

The Need and Request

We need financial support, more now than ever, to get her through the now extended stay of 10 months in NY. Please help us in any way that you can and share with others that might find joy in supporting a worthy cause.

If you prefer to send funds through a different platform please contact us for that information.

While Krysty has medicare, it does not cover 100% of her medical costs.

She will also have added expenses such as:

• Rent and utilities for a handicap accessible space for her and her family in NY (which is costly)

• Transportation costs, parking, toll fees an car transport.

• Increased food costs for a high nutrient dense diet to help prevent bone infection and support healing (10% of people get bone infections from such procedures)

• Medical supplies not covered by insurance (there are many)

• Massage therapy costs to prevent her soft tissue from seizing up during the lengthening process

• Care giving costs

• Travel expenses to get her home

We estimated the initial cost to be approx $140,000-$160,000. Krysty has had support through a family fiend and credit cards to get this far. We estimate now that we need approx $75,000 to get her to the finish line!

If we are fortunate to raise above the asked amount, the remaining will be used to come back to NY for hardware removal and to further help Krysty regain her health after a year being mostly bedridden.

Krysty has given so much to her community, she really needs to rest, heal, and receive now. It's the only way she can continue to show up as my Mom, a friend to all of those in her life, and a healer for those willing to receive her light. We greatly appreciate your love and support in such an intense time.

For those that want to read further..

How My Mom is Doing in this Process

Many of you know my mom through the healing she provides the community through the Heart of Now (a nonprofit in Oregon). In that role, she shows up in her best light, ready to help others move through their suffering with loving grace.

Currently, my mom is reliving the hardest parts of her own childhood as she prepares for the most complicated surgery she has ever gone through. Though she is very skilled at somatically moving through her pain, this will be one of the hardest challenges she has ever faced. When we headed out for New York, she was experiencing anxiety in ways she has never experienced before and could not get a full breath nor sleep.

Krysty knows beyond any doubt that she is with the right doctors for this procedure and focuses on the joyous possibility of having her two feet on the bare soil of the earth when this is all over. Something she has rarely experienced in her life due to the need to wear shoe lifts.

Despite all of the fear and pain to come, she has managed to smile and laugh every day. Her sense of humor remains to be a stress reliever for us all as she not only focuses on uplifting herself but us as well. She stays optimistic and looks for the positives in everything. She uses every hardship as an opportunity to learn and grow.

Krysty transmutes her suffering into wisdom, and shares that with others to help them find a life of joy within the pain of being human. She has dedicated herself to a life of being in service to the healing and growth of others. She gives and gives from a place of unconditional love, even when she is in need of receiving the love that she gives. She has an endless well of inspiration and creativity, even when her body can't keep up with her spirit.

My mom will be documenting this experience and sharing it with whomever wants to follow along. During her life, she has learned the power of pain to transmute suffering and expedite healing.

She is going to attempt to embrace the pain and not use pain medication as she did with her hip surgery 20 years ago. During that surgery, she healed in 25% of the estimated time by being present with the pain to stimulate healing. She is bravely driven to see the possibilities with this surgery.

If you want to follow along on her journey, she has created a public page on Facebook called "Krysty's Journey".

Found here:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560511329803

As My Mom

Krysty is the most amazing mother I could've ever asked for. She has the most incredible heart and has taught me how to love the world unconditionally. Her understanding of people and the world is so unique because of the life she has lived. She passed that knowledge and wisdom down to me at such a young age. Now we teach workshops together! I am so grateful for her.

Thank you, Mama, for providing a safe container of unconditional love, understanding, and acceptance for me to be exactly who I am in each moment. Thank you for being my home and sanctuary, welcoming me into your arms whenever I need to be held in your warm embrace. Thank you for your endless support when I want to spread my wings and fly out in the world again. Reassuring me that you're always here if I need you, and that you're so excited for me to experience all that life has to offer. Thank you for how deep you drop into presence with me, I feel truly seen, heard, and understood by you. Thank you for being so patient with me in my healing and growth, always reminding me that I'm perfectly on time and exactly where I need to be. You inspire me every day with the depth of your wisdom, strength, bravery, resilience, and love. Having you as my Mother is such an incredible gift, I can't express my gratitude enough. I am so blessed.

What Others are Saying About My Amazing Mother Krysty

“For many of you, you are just now hearing about Krysty's Journey but it started before she was 2 years old. That "can do" spirit that is so evident in everything she does has been why after years of doctors, multiple surgeries and lots of pain Krysty has survived and overcome so much. She was a fighter after her 1st surgery at 21 months, moving from room to room pushing and pulling herself with her hands while in a body cast! I could share many examples of my strong, determined daughter but if you are following this next journey, you have most likely experienced the light she shares with so many. Now more than ever she requires your support, love positive thoughts. My love and support is never ending!”

Lynda (Momy)

“I’ve known Krysty for 29 years, we share an amazing daughter together, and she is my best friend. She is one of the most optimistic people I have met, and so full of inspiration. Her passion and dedication for making the world a better place through helping people heal themselves and each other is truly something to behold. It’s so unfortunate that she has had to struggle with her physicality in the way that she has throughout her entire life. I’ve watched her navigate those struggles over the years with her tremendous ability to overcome and stay optimistic. Her incredible resiliency, while also having the ability to be there for other people and help them through their struggles, is what makes her a bad ass!!”

Jeremy

"Krysty is my cousin, and we were raised together. Even when she was little, she was so strong and brave. The pain and suffering that she went through with her physical challenges was unimaginable.

Despite all of her pain and suffering, she has always been there for others and has offered unconditional support to those around her.

Now, she is embarking on a journey that will be so hard and enduring that most would have given up a long time ago.

Krysty needs our help now. Please donate and support her cause. I know she will give back and push it forward."

Kori

“My name is Joshua Giacomazzi. I've been friends with Krysty for 24 years. I met Krysty through a close friend struggling with addiction. Since she was such a special friend, Krysty and I immediately bonded for life.

Krysty has always been there for me, and countless others, helping people learn to live better and love more. She has given me hope in my darkest times.

I was thinking the other day about what really makes her special. Because she has had such a hard and painful life, but is SO determined to live to the fullest, she doesn't compromise for these things because she doesn't have that luxury.

How much more can we learn from a human like her..."

Love, Joshua

"Krysty was my childhood best friend. I have so many memories of us having sleepovers, swimming in my backyard pool on hot summer days, dancing in her driveway to Michael Jackson for the whole world to see, and endlessly watching our favorite movies in her living room (to this day, I still find myself in Krysty's living room when I watch "Footloose").

Through all of our wonderful times, I will always remember Krysty struggling with her leg complications. But more than that, I remember how well Krysty took those struggles in stride. She was, and always has been, one of the most beautiful, strong, brave and inspiring people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Krysty and I reconnected on Facebook several years ago, and I am constantly in awe seeing through her posts the incredible impact she continues to make on lives today.

Krysty has always handled adversity with such grace. She is an inspiration to me, as I know she is for so many. My love and support are pouring out for Krysty during this extremely challenging time she is presently facing, and I know she will come out on the other side being even more wonderful, beautiful, strong, brave and inspiring (if that's possible)!"

All my love,

Amber

Little Krysty