Help Melissa so she can return to helping others

We are setting up this Go Fund Me for medical and recovery expenses for our friend and fellow lululemon Ambassador Melissa DeChellis. We have watched Melissa face countless setbacks with her health, and we could only imagine the emotional, physical, and financial burden this was causing her. It is hard to watch someone you know who is unbelievably strong face such unfair circumstances and continue to do so with unimaginable bravery. After prompting several times, we received permission to set this up. Melissa has helped so many people, and now it is our time to provide some assistance during this difficult time.

Why does Melissa need our help?

On January 1. 2023, Melissa collapsed in her bathroom from a right heart strain from multiple pulmonary emboli (blood clots) scattered throughout her lungs. She fell headfirst into her tile bathroom wall. Her loving husband Mike found her unconscious with agonal breathing, and he helped to revive her. Medics quickly scooped her onto a stretcher and rushed her to the nearest emergency room at North Shore Medical Center. Scans and tests showed blood clots scattered throughout her lungs that were causing pulmonary hypertension or too much strain on her heart, causing her heart to work too hard to pump blood into her lungs so she could breathe. She was quickly put on blood thinners and high-flow oxygen and admitted to North Shore Medical Center for a week before being sent to Northeast Rehabilitation Hospital for acute rehab. Rehab has been challenging so far and was complicated by paralytic ileus when medications that helped to relax her accessory muscles to ease breathing pain and difficulty shut down her small bowel. Melissa will recover, but recovery will be difficult and expensive.

Why does Melissa need our support?

Melissa was laid off from two jobs due to a lack of funding for her positions this past May and has been unemployed. This month-long hospital stay and subsequent recovery will cost well over her medical plan's out-of-pocket max. Melissa will need numerous follow-up visits with her team of specialists, cardiac rehabilitation, physical and speech therapy (she sustained a concussion due to her fall), therapy, and recovery specialist appointments to help her overall long-term recovery. She needs money for gas, parking, and food while on these lengthy visits. During this recovery, she will have to travel back to Orlando for prosthetic care that she will have to fund due to a funding shortage from the nonprofit she was working with to make her custom everyday walking and water prosthetics. She will all need help with training costs to help her return to her high-functioning, active baseline. She will need assistance with food and meal planning, rides to appointments, and assistance around the condo while she recovers. If you can, please donate; no contribution is ever too small.

Who is Melissa?

Before this recent episode in August, Melissa was in the best shape of her life and competed with Team USA Paracanoe and Kayak Team at World Championships and the Pan American Games after just starting the sport this past March. When she returned home, she was hit with a myriad of medical setbacks mostly related to her hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and the possible long-term effects of a severe case of Covid this past April. In late August, she had a significant revision surgery to her right residual limb to remove broken hardware and infected surgical debris from a previous revision surgery. She threw a large pulmonary embolism on the OR table. Melissa is a warrior and bounced back from that recovery to begin training again. Shortly after recovering, she was pummeled by two medically induced rhabdomyolysis episodes from hypermobile Ehler's Danlos Syndrome complications. Her most recent hospital stay was the week after Christmas and after being discharged on New Year's Eve to be knocked down again with the recent pulmonary emboli.

For those of you who do not know Melissa DeChellis, she is a leader, beacon, and advocate for the disability community. She has overcome more obstacles than most will ever encounter in a lifetime and has done it with grace, gratitude, and grit. Melissa sustained an elective BKA following years of limb salvage surgeries from a softball sliding injury. She is the Founder and President of Adaptively Abled, a 501©3 that provides support, social activities, education, advocacy, fitness, and wellness for individuals with physical disabilities. She is the Founder and Director of Adaptively Abled Fitness, Boston's first comprehensive functional fitness and wellness program for individuals with physical disabilities. She was the Community Resource Director for The Liner Wand and a Clinical Research Coordinator at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. She is a Certified Peer Visitor, Lead Advocate, and Support Group Leader through The Amputee Coalition, a certified Adaptive & Inclusive Personal Trainer, a volunteer CrossFit Coach at The Phoenix, and an adaptive athlete training in Para Sprint Kayak with Team USA for the 2022 Paris Paralympics. Melissa was honored to become lululemon's first plus-sized amputee Ambassador in July 2022. Melissa is passionate about and has dedicated her career to providing better support and resources for the limb loss/difference community and the greater adaptive community. Melissa has helped so many people during their recovery journeys, and it is time that we step up and help her in her time of need.

What else can I do to help?

Gift cards for gas, groceries, Grub Hub, etc., would also be extremely helpful. If you are local, contact Melissa to coordinate rides, meal drop-offs, and visits once she returns home. If we all reach out to show our support, I know it would help lift her spirits. Let’s all come together and help Melissa get back on her feet to continue her mission of improving the lives of others with disabilities.