Oct 2007, Kelley was diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis (TM), a neurological disorder caused by inflammation of the myelin sheath. Her infection was caused by a parasite (Schistosomiasis) she obtained on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia, in 2004. It took three years for the parasite to manifest. Kelley has severe nerve pain and is paralyzed at T-10 level.

It’s been too difficult for Kelley to travel to Montana for the past five summers; she’s now year round in Folsom CA, near the American River; where she had begun her 3 decade career of whitewater rafting and guiding on River’s year round and going south of the equator running Rivers…”It’s impossible to believe…but all true; we’re the Lucky-ones and would never trade my River Life experiences, for Not one thing”…even though I may be facing the rest of my life in a chair, it’s the pain and spasms I’m worried about – it scares me.

Kelley was 16yr when she started guiding Rivers’ and it did not take long for her to learn River flow South of the equator during winter in North America. It’s impossible to believe, kk having any other kind of job. “It is so beautiful, incredible, colors, sounds, being (living) outdoors (play/work/career) year round. Living simply, working with friends, meeting different cultures and meeting people from around the world living simply” … a way of life Kelley always strived for.

Now she has gained more movement and sensation over the last 11 yrs. The first 6 mons – she worked hard on her own… pushups, sit-ups, pull-ups, back-ups and stretching. Plus reading books on her chances of recovery being a TM patient…just how damaged could the Myelin sheath be: 1/3% recovers pretty much all the way – walking and feeling with some nerve damage; 1/3% will get back partial feeling and movement; 1/3% will not recover at all. In 2008 – 2009, Sean Cheng, really nice Chinese man whom Kel heard from another TM patient Margaret, who recovered with Seans help started helping Kelley at home with rehab. And taking her outside – riding her tricycle on the American River bike trail. Sean bicycled: an old mountain bike Kel had; she attached it to the back of the trike and Sean was able to push KK, while her pedals went around, as the trike moved forwards moving her legs for her… and she’d imagine them (see them) in her head, her mind, moving and even trying to push and incorporate muscles needed in each leg – as they go around and around pushing and pulling with the feet..this is called nueroplastisity – trying to retrain the brain to open new path ways from brain to toes. In July 2009, fell out of her wheelchair after descending her front lawn, like I’ve always done for the ump-teenth time. Rolling in her wheelchair, steering it, taking it at an angle, not as steep. The driveway is too fast, with concrete short and sweet; the soft green grass was always the way to go whenever they took off for the bike-trike-train. they’d come out the front door, go right to the grass and drift down it. Well this time at the bottom Kelley was unlucky..Kurt (her boyfriend at the time) took the real estate sign out of the hole, pulling out the 4″x 4″ pole, but not refilling the hole; unbeknownst to KK her front cast found the hole – breaking both distal femurs; KK was out of rehab the one year July 2009-2010. She was treated at University of California, Davis Medical Center. In 2010-2013 winter, she went to Project Walk in Carlsbad, CA. Please go to the following link to see a short video that describes Kelley’s story, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw0_ifmJ7qU.

Summer 2022, Kelley is homebound, spending most her time in bed, with a portable heater blowing on her back and electric blanket on her legs to help with the pain and spasms.

Kelley has chosen to fundraise with the HelpHOPELive Catastrophic Injury Fund in part because HelpHOPELive provides both tax-deductibility and fiscal accountability to her contributors. Contributors can be sure that funds contributed will be used only to pay or reimburse medically-related expenses

For more information, please contact HelpHOPELive at 800-642-8399.

Thanks for your support!