Mary Margaret needs our help!

Hi, my name is Keara and I am fundraising for my neighbor Mary Margaret who has been a wonderful friend to my family for years. Mary was born with physical defects and into a challenging life and yet she has persevered. She has very little family support, and now she needs our help!

Mary was born with an under formed left eye that left her functionally blind in that eye and which has led to many costly surgeries over the years, most recently as two years ago. Her first surgery was at age six months. In her teens, she had the lenses of both eyes removed. In her 20s, she developed a kidney infection that caused septicemia. Her lungs collapsed and she was in a coma for a week and hospitalized for three months. Last rites were performed. But she made it! Mary does not wallow in self-pity. She cared for her mother at their farm until her mother passed away. Mary worked hard her entire life. She put herself through college and graduate school, obtaining a Master of Public Health despite suffering from an unnamed illness that dragged on for 20 years. Her symptoms of unusual fatigue and cognitive impairment were thought to be from fibromyalgia, CFS, Lyme disease or mental illness. Even the Mayo Clinic got it wrong. What was really going on was that Mary had been born with an under formed aorta, and blood meant for her body and brain was leaking from her valve. She functioned for years on about 1/3 of her blood flow.

The aortic problem was finally diagnosed in 2008 when Mary collapsed and was rushed to Northwestern Hospital where she had emergency life-saving open heart surgery to replace her aortic valve. This was the 4th time in her life that Mary had last rites performed.

There was alcoholism and dysfunction in her early home life. Emotional trauma from family betrayal has taken a toll. But despite all these struggles, Mary has been a wonderful friend to my mother and an amazing caretaker to her disabled dog, Rufus the boxer. Rufus was diagnosed with Degenerative Myelopathy (like Lou Gehrig’s disease) a year ago, and his hind legs have been crippled for many months. Mary provides amazing care to Rufus so that his final days are as happy as his whole life has been. He is a fun-loving dog who loves the beach, even in his on-loan wheelchair! He still chases bubbles from bubble wands and wants to go after the rabbits.

Mary was laid off from her job about a year ago, shortly before the program she worked in closed. She was an after-school tutor coordinator for a literacy program for immigrant and refugee families, and worked tirelessly to provide care and joy to her students and their families.

Now, Mary is struggling and needs our help. Her medical bills have caused her to go into debt, and she could lose everything including her apartment. She has done so much for others, and I hope we can help her get back on her feet, as she is most deserving.