Kim Carter
Donation protected
I write today to appeal for your help. My dear friend, Kim Carter, suffered a major stroke on August 1st. Although Kim continues to improve each day, her brain has been significantly injured – she has significant short-term memory problems, is highly disoriented, emotional and only has snippets of the last two years of her life. Her health insurance is no longer covering the extensive, 24/7 care she still needs, so very soon she will be out of savings and will need to begin dipping into her retirement funds. The costs of her ongoing care is crippling – recovery from a stroke can take up to 12-18 months. The monthly out-of-pocket costs for the foreseeable future are $8,000 for room, board and physical therapy.
Now, here is my story about why Kim is so special to me and so deserving of our support: Two years ago I had the privilege of meeting an amazing woman named Kim Carter. When I met Kim she was energetic, funny and full of life –or, strong and “feisty” as Dan likes to call her. She was in search for the love of her life and I thought, I am a good matchmaker, I will introduce her to someone special – that someone special was our friend, Dan Mitchell. I didn’t really know where it was going to go, but I talked to both of them and introduced them via email. Several months later, much to my surprise, Dan reached out with a big thank you. They were in love and still are. Dan, Kim, Rich and I have spent the last two years sharing our friendship and many laughs. These are two people who waited their whole lives to find each other. On July 31st, to celebrate 2 years of their relationship, they invited us to a Cubs game – Kim saying in her typical feisty voice, “I don’t do overtime”. But, that night she did and the Cubs won. It was a great celebration! The following Tuesday morning, we got a text from Dan, stating – “Oh my God, my dear Kim is in the ICU, she had a brain hemorrhage on Monday evening”. We didn’t know what to do! Rich and I ran to the hospital to find Dan completely strong, but devastated, and our feisty Kim all hooked up to machines and a ventilator. Now it has been over two months and, while she has had great care, she still has a long road ahead of her.
Kim is a single woman, with many friends and a great partner here in the city of Chicago, but does not family close by to support her financially. Since insurance will not cover the full cost of the extensive care needed, we – her family of friends – want to help. Please consider making a donation for this amazing woman who has always given so much of herself – Kim valued the role she played at Saint Clement where she was the Director of Operations. She was very proud of her responsibility for their “Clement Commits” program, where they contribute 10% of their collections back to the community. She is a member of St. Nicholas Parish in Evanston and also gave back to the community of her personal resources, supporting organizations such as PAWS and “Out of Darkness”. We want to make sure she continues to recover and gain her memory back so she can return to her best friend and soul mate, Dan, and her beautiful puppy Marla.
All donations collected through GoFundMe will directly support the out-of-pockets costs associated with Kim’s long-term care.
Please help spread the word.
Organizer and beneficiary
Teresa Garate
Organizer
Chicago, IL
Dan Mitchell
Beneficiary