Support Karen Ontiveros-O'Campo's Hospice Care

My name is Mickey Willenbring, and I humbly ask you to listen to the story of one of the toughest, most kind, loyal, and fierce women I know.

Auntie Karen Ontiveros-O'Campo, my dad's last living sister, is known throughout the family for her easy chatty ways, and her fierce pride in her family and the 49'ers. Mother, sister, grandmother, auntie, grand auntie, Karen is the glue for her tightly knit circle of family and friends. For over six months, with a collapsed lung, advanced arthritis, and iron grit, she managed to continue advocating for two of her disabled adult children on a daily basis. When she had a stroke, she didn't let it stop her from greeting each of her neighbors every day, nor did it slow down her frequent phone calls to our family.

Then, on the cusp of one disaster, a week before having to vacate her apartment without a solid place to move to, the other boot fell. My Auntie collapsed, and despite her trying to put a brave face on it, the paramedics took her to San Mateo Medical Center. There they discovered that not only had she fractured her hip, but the reason she had fainted in the first place was that her lung had collapsed due to a large mass in her left tracheal branch.

Shocked by the news, our family gathered together in the waiting room of the San Mateo Medical Center ICU. The bad news just kept piling up. An MRI revealed a 5cm mass in Auntie's brain, and it appeared that the mass in her trachea had spread to the lymph nodes. Auntie had to be intubated, and we were only allowed to see her two at a time.

San Mateo Medical Center did everything within their power to help, and they showed so much kindness to us. Despite their best efforts, they just didn't have the equipment to handle Auntie Karen's needs. The biopsy results had come back, with the news that it was stage 4 lung cancer in active spread.

She was transferred to Stanford's oncology ICU for assessment and treatment, if possible. The team there determined that the brain tumor was the most important to address first, and skilled surgeons successfully removed the mass in her brain. She was transferred to neurology ICU, and to everybody's relief, she woke up speaking.

That's when, once again, our hearts fell to the ground. The oncologists shared with us all that the lung cancer had metastasized, or spread, to both lungs and there were no real treatment options. As icing on the cake, they were unable to treat her fractured pelvis, because her body just couldn't take another surgery. Auntie Karen, in her true spirited and powerful fashion, asked to be brought home for hospice among her family and friends.

The challenges seem to keep stacking, even as we gather around our beloved family member. The first night of Karen coming home to her eldest son's house, her life support equipment started tripping the breakers every hour. My cousin's wife called me at 11pm, panicked and unsure of what to do. I talked her through basic troubleshooting and we realized her house had only a 60 amp main, and the sub panel which ran the house is an ancient Zinsco. They also needed some other things for Auntie Karen's care, and I made a remote order through Home Depot for them. When they got there, a kind workman who happened to be in the aisle saw my cousin trying to figure out what they needed for repairs, distraught that breakers for that box aren't even sold anymore. The workman told my cousin that he had just removed one of those from a job site, and my cousin followed him there to take the discarded breakers home.

Despite every effort, Auntie's equipment still needs more juice than the electrical service can provide. I am currently traveling back and forth from my ranch in Oregon to California to assist in the care and advocacy that Auntie covered, as well as the care and hospice of Auntie Karen herself. We need to replace the electrical service at my cousin's house so that it can sustain this precious life, a whole human being full of the memories and wisdom of our family. Karen is the living breathing Heart of this part of the Ontiveros family, and her next breathe depends on our ability to keep the lights on. I need to rent a high capacity generator while the service is repaired, and we need to replace the electrical components.

Our Heart needs your help. Every dollar and every share can help us to help her.

Thank you all, from each of us.