Aid Kelli Wilson's Journey to Wellness

This is my big sister, Kelli Wilson. She is the best human being I know. Kelli has been battling a private health battle for quite a while. During the 4 years she has been battling her illness, she has selflessly supported everyone in our family and any friend or person in need with love, kindness, strength, and perseverance. Kelli has dedicated her whole professional career to helping those battling addiction get the treatment they need and attain the life they deserve. Now it is our turn to help her even though she is the last person who would ever ask for any help for herself.

After 4 long years of a "mysterious" illness that caused regular internal bleeding, constant nausea, and unrelenting pain that also caused her red blood cell count to be regularly low enough to get countless transfusions and the weakness related, we now know what needs to be healed. Kelli was told by a litany of doctors that they had no answers and that this was how she would endure her life, sick, in pain, weak and lacking any real strength or stamina to enjoy life. A chance change in a provider brought new eyes to Kelli's case and within a few days and some extensive body scans, they found a small mass hidden in Kelli's abdomen near her stomach and duodenum. This was on Friday, June 14 of this year. She was immediately sent to a surgeon and scheduled for surgery Monday, June 17. While apprehensive, she was relieved to finally have an answer and was eager for the surgery and healing to commence.

The surgery went as planned, she was told the mass looked benign but they had cleared all margins to be safe and would send it off to pathology. Tuesday she was in some pain but relieved to be on her journey of healing. By Wednesday night her pain had increased exponentially and she began to run a fever and a scan revealed a leak in her abdomen that was making her septic. Thursday she was operated on for the 2nd time, to repair the leak and clean the infection from her abdomen. While trying to bring her out of anesthesia, Kelli's blood pressure bottomed out and she was too sick and weak to breathe and pump her heart on her own. She was placed on life support, given three heart medications to increase her blood pressure and 4 antibiotics to fight the sepsis that was shutting down her body. They were able to repair the leak but Kelli was on life support 4 long days while her body fought the damage from the infection.

After Kelli was brought off life support her heart began having irregular rhythms in conjunction with the unreliable blood pressure. She was still running exceptionally high fevers and they were icing her whole body down throughout the next few days and still she fought. Her abdomen began to collect unusually large amounts of fluid, Kelli was so swollen that at one point it was just over 80 lbs of extra water weight. Her heart could not keep up with the fluid plus she had developed large blood clots in both of her arms. They first installed a pic line to get the medication bypassed out of her arms and directly into her arteries. Then they needed to go in to install drains to help the fluid from her abdomen leave her body. At this point she was still so ill that they had to put her back on life support to give her body rest. My sister is the strongest person I know, she fought every day for that first month until she was well enough to be transferred out of critical care and begin the long healing process.

One of the most difficult things that we learned during this time is that the mass in her abdomen was malignant. Once she is healed enough from the Complex Open Abdominal Wound that was a result of the multiple surgeries, she will have to meet with her oncology team to begin her cancer journey. Kelli is a very private person. It was difficult for me to convince her to allow this fundraiser. However, if this situation wasn't difficult enough, there have been some adjacent complications that require Kelli to need all the help that she has so tirelessly and generously offered to all of us over the years.

As Kelli has been dealing with this health battle for a long time, she does not have any paid leave left with her employer. Since she was put on an unpaid medical leave of absence, her employer raised her medical insurance rate from the mid $400s to over $1800 per month. They began this while she was on life support and we were unaware. While she had budgeted for the time expected off work and the normal insurance coverage, she did not anticipate that her healing journey was going to take this turn. If she loses her insurance while she is in the hospital, it will be devastating. Kelli's insurance covers herself and her teenage daughter, Kayleigh. Outside of the insurance premium, there are other medical expenses and normal cost of living bills that are beginning to loom. As of now, she has been in the hospital almost 2 1/2 months and there is not a discharge plan. She is working hard to heal, with other smaller complications that she has endured, and working hard in physical therapy and occupational therapy.

I know my sister is a warrior, she will succeed in this battle. I am asking for help in ensuring that she can continue her care and take care of her daughter during this journey. Thank you for loving Kelli like our family does. She is the best friend, sister, aunt, and sister-in-law anyone could ever have.