Kourtney grateful for local support

Dear Editor: Amazingly, Kourtney is still with us. In fact, because palliative care is considered short-term, Kourtney no longer qualifies. While the move will be difficult, this opens up other possibilities for Kourtney.

Kourtney’s liver has stabilized, but she is still at the end stage of organ rejection. Along with the medical staff, we were sure she was only days away from death in June, and again in September. We are told by her doctor, despite the miracles to date, to not expect her to live past the next five months. The good news is that it looks like she can spend one last Christmas holiday with us, and God willing, celebrate her 20th birthday in January.

What does the near-future hold for Kourtney?

She can move into her own place and join the home palliative program designed to allow people to die at home. She’ll have a nurse and a support worker come in daily. She will have the emotional support of her boyfriend whom she lived with prior to May, who has been laid off and has moved to Penticton to be with her.

He’s been at her side and helping her in the hospice every day. He is also looking for work to help with low-income housing expenses when an appropriate place is found. His former work was a labourer building houseboats, cabins, and had begun plumber training.

Long-term, affordable rentals are hard to find so if anyone knows of a safe, affordable two-bedroom place that will allow her little dog, and knowing that this will be where she lives the rest of her short life, then please let me know. This need has become urgent.

What does this mean financially for Kourtney? We don’t know exactly. Hospice costs 95 per cent of her disability pension. We don’t know all the costs for the home palliative program, but she still needs help with other costs like food, personal care, as well as some medical expenses that aren’t covered. One of the things that has sustained Kourtney is having several Booster Juice drinks a day. On many days it’s the only thing she can ingest.

This has been expensive and while the local Booster Juice business has been kind and generous, money has run out to support anything extra like that.

So again, I appeal to everyone to help as you can. Mom frugally controls the donation money and does the shopping for Kourtney. Your care makes these last months for Kourtney bearable and more worry-free.

Online donations can be made to her at www.gofundme.com/loveforkourtney.

If anyone needs more information, please contact me at vicki2810@gmail.com.

Kourtney very much appreciates your well wishes but finds it difficult to have visitors. Thank you so much for your prayers, kind thoughts, and generosity.

Victoria Ashman

OK Falls