Stella Kutz

Stella’s Story

Meet Stella—a kind and loving young woman who is about to turn 23 and would like to help heal people through music therapy when she “grows up”. She is a graduate of St. Louis Park High School in Minnesota and a recent graduate of University of Minnesota, Duluth, with a B.A. in Music and minor in Psychology. She was just getting going on a gap year to build funds for graduate school and enjoy life in an apartment with an old bestie, get a driver’s license to get herself around in mom’s old car, and start applying for graduate programs. She was greatly enjoying her new full-time job at KidZone in Hopkins, working in the kitchen and the classrooms, and hoping to visit classrooms with her guitar or ukulele. She had taken on giving piano lessons to two children and was hoping to take on a few more students when she could drive independently. Stella’s dad passed away after a long battle with health issues, and a final diagnosis of cancer of the spinal fluid, and she had been visiting him daily at Methodist Hospital until he passed on September 28.

Stella walked into Urgent Care on October 31, 2022, feeling like she could barely walk the hall to check in. She had contracted a virus a month earlier, and just wasn’t recovering from it. Bloodwork revealed she was in danger with all levels extremely low—and she was sent to the emergency room at Methodist Hospital—where she received a blood transfusion and was admitted for testing. A great deal of testing later, she was given a diagnosis of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and we were on our way to Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis, where they deal with this treatable diagnosis for people up to age 30.

Stella and her family are all adapting to life with this diagnosis. Diane (mom) and Dave (stepdad) are traveling to Children’s daily and will be doing so until early December when Stella is hopefully released from the intensive inpatient care she is undergoing. Following that, we have outpatient treatments at intervals of 3 days per week for 8 hours daily until November 2025. Hopefully 10 months or so from now she’ll be able to do some of the grad program searching and maybe be in some classes—possibly online—to get back on her chosen path.

Mom and Dave will need to take time away from work to get Stella to her needed therapies for the next couple of years, and Stella has been curtailed in her ability to save money to return to the schooling she needs to live her dream. We are grateful for the love, prayers, and support we are receiving from friends and family. We hope you might consider helping by way of this funding site.