Hi everyone! It's been a while since the last update. Kelly, Greg, Clayton, and Carson have been adjusting to being all home again through the fall and winter. There's no doubt that this was made easier by the generous donations of friends and family as well as compassionate strangers.

What follows is a breakdown of where they are right now and what they are expecting going forward:

“Kelly has made tremendous progress. She is able to move around the house fairly well. Though she still requires someone to be with her 24 hours a day. She is still experiencing cognitive impairment that is most notable in her speech patterns, short and long memory, and word retrieval. Her right arm still has very little movement. She goes to physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. Insurance is starting to question whether they will continue to pay for her therapy. We may need for her to go to a special rehabilitation center that insurance will not cover or we may have to continue therapies on our dime. In addition, we have to modify our house so it has easier access. This included remodeling, the bathrooms, garage modifications for accessibility, as well as front and back door accessibility modifications. Thanks to the money already raised were able to work out a reduced settlement on the Medivac bill of $40K. As well as the ambulance, plastic surgeon, and various other bills but that ate through a good portion of our funds to date. We will probably also require in home therapies and attendant to help with Kelly as well.”

As of right now, there is still a bit of the donation money left to get them through the short term, but in February, Kelly’s short term disability ceases and her long term disability coverage kicks in. Because of the reduction in benefits and the loss of medical benefits, it will be an overall reduction in household income of $1800 per month.

In-home therapy will cost up to $60/hour. Just having someone attend to her while Greg and the boys are at work and school will be around $25/hour. These needs will likely be permanent. To remodel their bathrooms will cost about $20,000.

The response to the initial fundraising campaigns was enthusiastic and overwhelming. They were enough to alleviate most of the financial burdens until recently. Unfortunately, the financial needs are not only ongoing, they will shortly be increasing. Once again we are putting out the call for people to consider helping again.

There are two ways to donate on the GoFundMe site. The most common is the one-time donation. This is the standard method. The other is to check the box to make it a monthly donation. A few people are participating in this method.

Alternatively, if you’d like to avoid the fees that the fundraising site takes out of your donation, or if you are not comfortable using your credit card online, please contact Greg or me for alternate means of donating.

Once again, your support is very much appreciated by the fam

@fcps.edu

This blog is not the venue for you to post a request for funds.
Trolls live here and play 24/7

"Oh hey, I know. I'll go to Fairfax Underground and expect goodwill from those people after a a post that will probably look like a scam."

-FCPS1

I have a lot of questions.

But I'll let some of the other trolls go first and see what comes up.

How did she become injuried?

For some reason, OP has copied an old GoFundMe update: https://www.gofundme.com/mvc.php?route=donate/showMoreUpdates/&url=wf7tca5n&offset=

I PAID YOU ITS CALLED MY TAX DOLLARS

I pay taxes as is. I'd rather donate to those that have a net positive on society, not those that use FCPS as a glorified daycare.

I long for the days the invalids were just tossed in the loony bin

Why use the trolls Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @fcps.edu
>
> This blog is not the venue for you to post a
> request for funds.
> Trolls live here and play 24/7

The copy posting of the text of the GoFundMe update for Kelly Hennessa was in itself a troll. That update's five months old.

There have actually been two GoFundMe fundraisers for the Hennessa-Powell family. The first raised $37,000, and the second, which is ongoing, has raised $46,175 so far.

1. Offer a free room for rent in return for care services to someone who can stay home with the invalid full time while you are at work.
2. Learn how to do the therapies stuff yourself, after you get home and on weekends. Have the therapy professional(s) only come in for updating you and checking progress 1 time a week or when the exercises need to be changed. Have the live-in care person learn the therapies of the month along with you so she can help with this when you are out.
3. Look around for another house that is constructed already to handle an invalid situation and sell the one you have when you find it.

so we paying her?