Support Kelly’s Pain-Free Future

Kelly Watson is one of my very best, dear friends. Despite suffering from Endometriosis and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome which affect every aspect of her life, every day, she is optimistic about her future and has big plans for how she's going to change the world once she's better. I've never met anyone more ambitious, especially considering the obstacles she faces.

She is now on the precipice of her 12th surgery to treat her condition. Her doctor wants to implant a Dorsal Root Ganglion Stimulator to help manage her daily pain. Insurance has denied to cover this surgery.

I am writing this on her behalf to request that you consider donating to cover the costs of surgery. Please watch this video to hear about it in her own words:

Over the past several years, I have bore witness to Kelly’s world getting smaller and smaller. Confined to her house and required to limit her activity so as to avoid pain flares, Kelly has lost the ability to work, oftentimes the ability to drive, and the independence a 36-year-old woman should reasonably expect to have.

When she’s in a pain flare, it’s not just pain that’s elevated. Her symptoms include chills, tremors and the inability to regulate her body temperature. Vomiting, nausea, sweating and extreme abdominal swelling are just some of the symptoms she has to deal with on an almost daily basis, usually without warning.

What’s astonishing to me is that, throughout this entire journey, Kelly hasn’t lost her optimism that one day she will be well. It’s just a matter of access to the right care. She says “When I’m better,” never “if.” She genuinely has faith that she will one day be able to function as she once did.

Not only that, but she has dedicated her future work to helping those who suffer as she has. Any additional funds received from this campaign will go directly to her as she recovers from this surgery and rehabs her body after decades of illness. Secondly, funds will help her begin to build her career in medical advocacy. This includes but is not limited to possibly going back to school, launching her media platforms dedicated to women’s health and safety and several writing projects she has planned.

She’s miraculously overcome insurmountable odds to get this far, recovering after multiple surgeries, getting herself off of narcotic painkillers, maintaining some amount of hope that all of this will one day be behind her, all the while losing parts of her independence, adjusting her expectations for what her life will look like, watching fair-weathered friends drift away, never knowing if she’ll wake up sicker than the day before.

This surgery is the best-known hope for giving Kelly a chance to live her life again, and I can think of nobody more deserving. Thank you for your help!