Help Kerri Harvey with Life Changing Journey

My name is Abby Erickson, I am asking for help for my mom, Kerri Harvey, and her devastating life-changing medical bills. Here is her devastating life-changing journey.

Kerri’s journey all started back in March 2023 as her left foot was turning completely white and the pain was extremely intense. She went to the ER; they did an ultrasound for blood clots and found no pulse in either of her feet. The ER doctor encouraged her to go see her PCP.

March through Aug 16, 2023, Kerri went to her PCP every week and the ER 2 to 3 more times as she was in severe pain in both of her legs by this time and lost her ability to walk and sleep due to the severity of the pain she was in. Her PCP told her it was auto immune disease, lupus, and gave Kerri pain medicine and steroids until she could see a rheumatologist specialist, but the appointment never happened as they kept on pushing her back weeks from her first appointment.

On Wednesday,16, 2023, Kerri’s life turned into a whirlwind as her PCP sent her to the Huron, SD hospital for another ultrasound and that’s when they rushed her to Sioux Falls hospital. As soon as Kerri and her husband arrived at the Avera Heart Hospital of South Dakota they rushed her to surgery as this is when they found out she had no blood flow from the knees down in both of her legs. The doctors had to insert two stents in each of her legs but the surgeon couldn’t get the blood flow down to her feet as they had no pulse.

On Thursday, August 17, 2023, the surgeon took her back into surgery again to push the stents down to the ankles to see if they could get any blood flow in either foot. Unfortunately, still no pulse in either foot.

On Friday, August 18, 2023, the surgeon took Kerri into surgery again. This time the surgeon got a pulse in both feet but 2 hours later Kerri lost the pulse in the right foot but still had it in the left foot

Early Saturday morning the blood flow switched as we had a pulse in the right foot but lost it in the left foot. At this time the doctor wanted to amputate both legs while my mom was still out of it and couldn’t speak for herself The family spoke up to express we wanted to wait to give the legs time to accept the stints and to give time for prayers to see if the blood flow will return to both feet. With the grace of God, on Sunday morning we got a pulse in both feet. On August 26, 2023, my mom got released and went home to start Home Health and PT.

As the days went on it was a waiting game for my mom as she was ordered no weight bearing on both feet and she had to learn to use a wheelchair.

On September 13th and 15th, my mom saw both her surgeon and a foot doctor in Sioux Falls. They both agreed my mom would lose her left foot as it had gangrene and her right foot would need a brace since she had a drop foot. On September 29th they scheduled my mom’s surgery for amputation with expatiation to save some of the left foot.

On October 9th and 10th she had surgery and lost her left toes and they put more stents in both of her legs, at this point the blood flow looked good. She was released from Avera Heart Hospital of South Dakota with orders for hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Unfortunately, my mom’s insurance was denied.

In November the surgeon took the stitches and staples out of her left foot. The surgeon talked about my mom needing skin grafting as she still has a wound vac on but everything was healing well they did a nerve test on her right leg at that time and found she had a lot of damage in her nerves and muscles. Their goal was to get everything healed, at least walking again but they are not sure at this point if she will ever be able to drive again

In early December 2023, Kerri ended up getting a hole where they took the toes on her left foot and it got infected. Kerri had to have another surgery to have it cleaned and closed up. We hoped this was the last surgery, but we got bad news AGAIN………….

Kerri had another appointment in Sioux Falls with her surgeon, while they were checking her blood flow they found that she had lost blood flow in both legs.

On December 21, 2023, they did another surgery to open up her stents in both legs and found more blood clots.

This is not the end of Kerri’s, my mom’s journey. Kerri and her husband have gone through their life savings driving back and forth to Sioux Falls and Huron, South Dakota as her surgeon and foot doctor practice in Sioux Falls. My mom had a full-time job before all of this started happening. Now, she isn’t able to work and she doesn’t know when she can go back to work or if it would be possible. Until the professionals figure out what is causing these blood clots, my mom will be traveling back and forth in the future for her doctor appointments. There will be more overnights and more surgeries. Everything has added up quickly and their insurance doesn’t pay for everything. I am asking for help to pay for their food, gas, medical supplies, and medical bills. I am hoping to relieve some stress for my mom as I know she worries and doesn’t understand why the professionals can’t figure out what is causing this. She is in severe pain and both of her legs and feet are swollen on a daily.

I want to thank everyone who read my mom's journey and will pray for her strength to overcome this devastating life-changing experience she is going through. Also, I want to thank everyone who can donate to my mom's journey. God Bless

Here is a breakdown of what we will be using the money for:

Gas to Travel to and from Sioux Falls, 2 to 3 times a week

Lodging Expenses for her husband to stay overnight with her

Food

Loss of wages

Medical supplies

Medical bills

Supplies to make my mom’s house accessible for handicapped

people who are not comfortable donating here you can also

Venmo me @Abby-Erickson-15