Kelli's Fight for Feet

On March 6, 2015 Kelli's life was changed forever.

Kelli, a youth sponsor for her church, was a passenger on a church van that was headed to a youth function with three adults and four youth on board. The church van was involved in a head-on collision with another vehicle on a two-lane state highway with a speed limit of 75 miles per hour. The church van flipped and slid off the road, down a ravine, and into a tree coming to rest on its top. Four van occupants were able to be freed from the vehicle while Kelli and two other van occupants were trapped for approximately 30 minutes before the Jaws-of-Life equipment would arrive and allow emergency personnel to cut each person free. During this time Kelli lost approximately 50% of her blood and suffered from hypothermia.

Two fatalities resulted from the crash. Five occupants were flown by helicopter ambulances to hospitals 60 miles away, three of them sustaining critical injuries, including Kelli. The remaining occupants were transported to local hospitals with other injuries.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Kelli spent her first night fighting for her life, and she has spent each day since fighting to keep her feet. Kelli suffered drastic injuries and has endured excruciating and ongoing pain. She is facing a third degree burn on her right arm, her L3 vertebra was shattered into four pieces, a fractured tail bone, her right femur was completely broken, two fractured knee caps, a fractured left tibia, a fractured right fibula, two crushed ankles, several fractured toes on both feet, and she was left with no soft tissue (skin, fat, and muscle) on 75% of the bottom of her left foot, 40% of the top of her right foot and ankle, and 30% of the shin of her right leg. Each of these areas was left as an open wound down to the bone.

Short of the miracle we have prayed for, Kelli's left leg will be, or already has been, amputated below the knee due to the inability of modern medicine to reconstruct a human heel.

In her fight to save her right foot, Kelli will be hospitalized for a very long time and will require several more surgeries and months of recovery and physical therapy. She and her husband Thom have been relying on their faith and support from friends and family to make it through the weeks since the accident.

This is a terribly difficult time for them and you can probably imagine the host of medical bills that will be adding up in no time. Not to mention the personal needs that they have and the uncertainty of how long the process will prevent them from being able to have their normal house hold incomes.

All proceeds from this campaign will go to fund Kelli's journey to have "her" feet back and begin to walk again. This includes hospital stays, prosthetics, physical therapy, and other medical equipment that she may need to modify her home and every day living routine. The money will also assist Kelli and Thom in keeping their home and house hold goods while they endure this crisis for the remainder of the year and years to come.

Any amount will help Kelli's fight for her feet. Please consider this campaign as an opportunity to help Kelli stand firm and tall physically and financially.

Many blessings to all who make the choice to contribute.

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