Kara Imeraj

With an extremely heavy heart, I’m creating this GoFundMe to help my niece Kara’s mom and dad, Lisa Imeraj and Joe Imeraj, fund her final days spent in the hospital on life support as well as her cremation and funeral expenses.

From the time Kara was born with a rare condition called hydranencephaly, those closest to her knew that she would not have a long life, but that didn’t stop anyone from loving her every moment she was with us. With Kara’s condition, she needed full time care, and with an incredible amount of love, patience, and strength, that’s what Lisa, Joe, and Danielle, along with many others, gave to her. Kara passed away on the evening of January 6th, being held by her mom and dad, peacefully, after two traumatic cardiac events that her body could not recover from. The impossible decision made by Lisa and Joe to compassionately extubate her was one made with her quality of life at the top of their minds.

Kara and her twin sister were born at 29 weeks, and two days later, Kara received her diagnosis. Their team of doctors were not hopeful, and did not expect her to make it to her first birthday. Initially, Lisa and Joe lived in fear and sadness, but with two other daughters, twin Jillian and big sister Riley, they made a decision to live in the moment and do whatever they could to help Kara. She eventually started to improve and, after many doctors appointments and therapy sessions for Kara in her early years, Lisa and Joe learned how to care for her with fewer trips to hospitals.

Kara and her family were fortunate to go on a Make-a-Wish trip, and they were also highly involved in HopeKids. She loved snuggling with her sisters and, though she could not communicate with words, would often coo when she was happy. You could see it in her eyes when she was having a good day, and her family loved to report that Kara was all smiles that day.

Along with losing an important part of their family, Lisa also was able to have a full time job caring for Kara, and is now left without income until she can find the next step in her career path. Anybody who knows this family is sure of one thing – they show up as soon as they’re needed, and right now, they could use any help that people are willing to give. Thank you so much for your consideration and giving.