Help Kim Dillavou See Again
Donation protected
Imagine you’re looking for something, and suddenly it disappears from before your eyes. You find yourself tripping and stumbling while trying to cross the floor.
Words on a page, text on a screen and literally everything around you becomes a nondescript sea of sameness.
Ordinary curbs have transformed into dangerous obstacles, and simply going outside causes instant blindness and searing pain from the brightness of the glaring sun.
Within a matter of weeks, your world is reduced to shadows and vague forms, and you find yourself relying upon friends and family for help with the even the simplest of daily tasks.
This is what happened to our beautiful friend, Kim Dillavou.
Kim is one of the most selfless, kind, and strong women you’ll ever meet.
She spent 19 years as a critical care nurse, caring for the sickest of the sick in the ICU, and comforting frightened families with her expert skill and compassionate spirit.
After retiring from nursing and driven by her passion to help people live their healthiest lives, Kim dove into nutrition and personal training. She transformed her own health and fitness, and became a trainer, coach, and inspiration to so many people around her.
She’s helped hundreds of people on their personal missions toward health, even though her own journey has been a rollercoaster ride of medical conditions and setbacks that would cause many people to give up and quit.
But not Kim.
We have been friends with Kim for over 6 years, and in that time, we’ve seen her fight her way through multiple injuries, illnesses, and 3 major abdominal surgeries, including a 2017 emergency partial bowel removal in Canada that almost took her life, and a 2019 total abdominal repair that required muscle grafting. She’s also endured pneumonia and kidney infections, being rear-ended in a car accident, and has 3 herniated disks in her low back that cause her constant pain that feels like she’s being “kicked by a horse and electrocuted at the same time.”
For Kim, movement is literally medicine.
On the outside, Kim looks strong, and the picture of health. The truth is, she’s forced herself to try to block out her own personal pain, through daily exercise and focus on helping her clients, family, friends, and beloved fur babies.
Most people don’t see it, but Kim’s lucky to be able to be up and moving around 4-5 hours out of the day, before needing to get back in bed again to relieve the pain.
On top of it all, now Kim’s fighting to restore her sight.
It turns out that the corticosteroid medicine that she’s been given to help manage her pain caused very rapid onset complex cataracts, leaving Kim only able to see shadows in her right eye, and spotty vision that is quickly failing in her left eye, all in less than 4 months’ time.
She’s been unable to work or drive, and even the simplest daily tasks are a struggle.
Kim always puts the needs of everyone else above her own. She’s always been the caretaker, so it’s hard for her to be in the position of needing and accepting help.
So, we are organizing this GoFundMe campaign to help Kim pay her mountain of out-of-pocket medical bills.
Kim is recovering from both of her cataract surgeries, and we are thankful that the early results of the procedures look fantastic! We're hopeful that her light sensitivity, headaches and depth perception continue to improve as she heals.
Thank you for supporting Kim. Your help is appreciated more than you will ever know.
Deb Sellers and Janet Pragit
Words on a page, text on a screen and literally everything around you becomes a nondescript sea of sameness.
Ordinary curbs have transformed into dangerous obstacles, and simply going outside causes instant blindness and searing pain from the brightness of the glaring sun.
Within a matter of weeks, your world is reduced to shadows and vague forms, and you find yourself relying upon friends and family for help with the even the simplest of daily tasks.
This is what happened to our beautiful friend, Kim Dillavou.
Kim is one of the most selfless, kind, and strong women you’ll ever meet.
She spent 19 years as a critical care nurse, caring for the sickest of the sick in the ICU, and comforting frightened families with her expert skill and compassionate spirit.
After retiring from nursing and driven by her passion to help people live their healthiest lives, Kim dove into nutrition and personal training. She transformed her own health and fitness, and became a trainer, coach, and inspiration to so many people around her.
She’s helped hundreds of people on their personal missions toward health, even though her own journey has been a rollercoaster ride of medical conditions and setbacks that would cause many people to give up and quit.
But not Kim.
We have been friends with Kim for over 6 years, and in that time, we’ve seen her fight her way through multiple injuries, illnesses, and 3 major abdominal surgeries, including a 2017 emergency partial bowel removal in Canada that almost took her life, and a 2019 total abdominal repair that required muscle grafting. She’s also endured pneumonia and kidney infections, being rear-ended in a car accident, and has 3 herniated disks in her low back that cause her constant pain that feels like she’s being “kicked by a horse and electrocuted at the same time.”
For Kim, movement is literally medicine.
On the outside, Kim looks strong, and the picture of health. The truth is, she’s forced herself to try to block out her own personal pain, through daily exercise and focus on helping her clients, family, friends, and beloved fur babies.
Most people don’t see it, but Kim’s lucky to be able to be up and moving around 4-5 hours out of the day, before needing to get back in bed again to relieve the pain.
On top of it all, now Kim’s fighting to restore her sight.
It turns out that the corticosteroid medicine that she’s been given to help manage her pain caused very rapid onset complex cataracts, leaving Kim only able to see shadows in her right eye, and spotty vision that is quickly failing in her left eye, all in less than 4 months’ time.
She’s been unable to work or drive, and even the simplest daily tasks are a struggle.
Kim always puts the needs of everyone else above her own. She’s always been the caretaker, so it’s hard for her to be in the position of needing and accepting help.
So, we are organizing this GoFundMe campaign to help Kim pay her mountain of out-of-pocket medical bills.
Kim is recovering from both of her cataract surgeries, and we are thankful that the early results of the procedures look fantastic! We're hopeful that her light sensitivity, headaches and depth perception continue to improve as she heals.
Thank you for supporting Kim. Your help is appreciated more than you will ever know.
Deb Sellers and Janet Pragit
Organizer and beneficiary
Deb Sellers
Organizer
Chandler, AZ
Kim Dillavou
Beneficiary