Thank you for joining us at our 2023 Harvest Fest. Thanks to your generosity we were able to raise $9,714.00 for Lorraine.

This year all proceeds will be going to Lorraine Felpo. Lorraine was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive bacterial abscess on her spine which has kept her in the hospital, unable to work. please read her story below.

“Late December, a week before Christmas, I woke up with severe back pain and after about a week of rest, the pain worsened. I started loosing feeling and mobility in my legs and ended up getting rushed to the hospital. After a misdiagnosis and a brief discharge, I was back in the ER the next day. After multiple CT scans and an MRI, they found a very rare and aggressive bacterial abscess on my spine. I had to have multiple emergency surgeries to decompress the spinal cord. They added plates and screws, and removed infected tissue and bone from my lumbar, cervical and thoracic spinal regions. The surgeries were a success, however the infection already caused a lot of trauma to my nerves, leaving me quadriplegic.

In January, I remained in critical care where they continued to ensure the infection was at bay and the antibiotics remained effective. My family came in everyday to feed me and to keep me motivated.

I started rehab in February to build strength and regain mobility in my hands and arms. Even harder was the work to strengthen my legs in order to relearn how to to walk again.

Thankfully, I have regained the mobility and strength in my upper body, and I’m continuing to fight and push myself to be able to walk again.

I have now been in a skilled nursing facility for over 3 months. My employer healthcare coverage has been exhausted and is no longer covering my stay. Medicare kicked in but I have now also exhausted that full coverage allotment and am responsible for about 20% each day.

Unfortunately, the doctors cannot say how long this recovery will take, since everyone is different, but they all acknowledge this will be a long road ahead and not to get discouraged. It’s unclear how long I will need to remain here, or what my needs will be when I finally get discharged to go home but I am staying positive and realize it is very important for me to try and get better.”