Kelly's "I could use a little help, here!" Fund

Hi, we are Erin and Casey, Kelly's oldest and youngest sisters. She is the Jan to our Marsha and Cindy, only 10 times more loved. It's literally one thing after another with this girl so we shouldnt have been so shocked, but this one hit a little different. What she thought was muffled hearing from pressure or fluid build up from a trip she had taken earlier in the year, turned out to be something more serious. As it turns out, hearing loss on only one side is pretty concerning. After several appointments and tests they finally diagnosed her with a Vestibular Schwannoma, which is a rare benign brain tumor that affects one in 10,000/10 in a million. This tumor wrapped itself in the hearing and balance nerves causing hearing loss, dizziness, headaches, nausea, tinnitus (constant ringing in the ear), and balance problems. The best option was surgery. Due to the symptoms, we were beyond monitoring it and the side effects of radiation were too risky. Although she has lost all of her hearing in her left ear, the doctors are very optimistic that with the help of a cochlear implant she may recover some of that loss, but we won't know until months down the road.

Dr. Carlson and Dr. VanGompel from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester are her surgeons and they are pretty confident with this being a successful surgery, but a long one. They estimate it being about an 8 hour surgery and a 3-6 month recovery rate. The brain needs time to figure out how to work with one ear and rework your balance, kind of like reprogramming your body, which will take some time. The nerves will all be cut during surgery so they can get to the tumor, but it's still the best option. Some of the risks for surgery are facial paralysis (the facial nerves run right along side the balance and hearing nerve), spinal fluid leak, and meningitis. She will have a graft where they will remove fat from her abdomen to pad the skull (we all offered up our fat, but she said no). They presented the option of a cochlear implant to help restore some hearing and curb any ringing in her ear (hopefully), with a 50% chance of it being successful. This is a fairly new design where the cochlear is fully implanted with no external hardware. It won't be visible. She was very fortunate to be offered this. This design was just developed and the Mayo is the first in the nation to be using this new, innovative technology to treat hearing loss.

Kelly will be out of work for 3 months and will have no income coming in. This gofund me will help her with medical expenses she will incur, traveling expenses for back and forth appointments to the Mayo, help with her monthly bills, and any other unexpected expenses that may come up. She will have family help during recovery with daily needs, meals for her and the boys, and any care she will need. We would like this to be as stress free for her as we can, so she can solely focus on recovery and getting used to a new normal. Everything will go solely to her and her expenses. As you can imagine, it's hard enough to have to go through anything medical, and then add onto it the financial piece. She is the most loyal, caring, and kindest person and would be the first to help anyone out. It's very hard asking for donations, we all work so hard just to take care of ourselves so if you feel moved to give and can it would be so appreciated. If you can't, we will take prayers and postive energy for a safe surgery and a speedy recovery with minimum to no complications or side effects. Thank you all so much!!