LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — A 31-year old mother of two has been given days to live and her family is asking for help.
Described as being able to make anyone laugh, Kathryn Louise Smith Buck has terminal cancer and is currently receiving hospice care.
At 69 lbs, Kathryn is no longer able to move, and her family is doing everything they can while spending their last few moments with her. Her long-time best friend turned sister-in-law, Mindy Buck, said they are asking for financial help as they prepare for life without her.
“Our biggest concern is she has no life insurance right now. My brother works his butt off but his job does not provide health care,” Mindy said.
Kathryn is currently battling stage four cervical cancer and was first diagnosed in October of 2019. Due to her uterus collapsing and acute kidney failure, she’s experienced multiple hospital stays. After undergoing chemotherapy and radiation for a year, Kathryn went into remission. Mindy said they were hopeful, but that only lasted a year.
Mindy said Kathryn was re-diagnosed in Feb. 2022. By this time, her uterus completely collapsed and she had surgery to have a nephrostomy put in place of her bladder, and a colostomy due to a fistula on her large intestine. Mindy said the past year has been a fight to make Kathryn’s quality of life as comfortable as possible while they still can, but preparing for a funeral has been hard. Especially financially.
“So she only has Medicaid and she has no life insurance to pay for her funeral. So we know she’s on hospice care right now and she doesn’t have much longer,” Mindy said.
Mindy said because of this, a gofundme has been created to help with funeral expenses.
“I mean funerals unfortunately are very expensive,” Mindy said. “I set the goal at $10,000 because I figured whatever we can’t raise, the rest of us can kind of just all come together and try to make it happen the best that we can.”
Mindy said it’s heartbreaking knowing Kathryn’s time is almost up, but she doesn’t want her to suffer any longer.
She said she’s mostly concerned for her brother and Kathryn’s two boys and ask if anyone finds it in their heart to give, anything is appreciated. They’re trying to raise awareness so we can pay for her funeral.
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