I am Kelly Velasquez (Kennedy.) Honestly, I don’t know where to even start. First of all, I just want to say thank you to anyone at all who has prayed for me, encouraged me, or simply been kind to me over the years! You have helped me push through so much over the years. I’ll try to make it concise but I’m a novel writer so bear with me!
Right after I finished college, I started into a business I had high hopes for when I started with terrible headaches that were debilitating. I chalked it up to migraines but they continued and then my hearing started decreasing and I noticed my eyes would go black and my peripheral vision was becoming non-existent. I was sent from one doctor to the next until a specialist in Chapel Hill diagnosed me with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension. I underwent many spinal taps and a few procedures to try to get it under control. Through all of this, I had to shut my newly opened business because of not even being able to lift my head off of the bed or feed myself. I had so many wonderful friends and family members who helped and even fed me and carried me.
I worked so hard and lost a bunch of weight which helped with the symptoms and then Covid hit and when we were homebound, my depression and anxiety went through the roof (as did many other’s) and the only relief I found was devoting my life to cooking and experimenting in the kitchen. I put on every bit and more of the weight I had lost. My IIH symptoms came back with a vengeance. They told me I had two choices. I could lose weight rather rapidly or have a brain surgery to relieve the pressure. I was scared of brain surgery so I decided to have a gastric bypass procedure. I did a 6 month exercise and nutrition program before including a 6 week liquid diet and then had the surgery. I went from 380 lbs to 180 lbs. I felt WONDERFUL! My IIH symptoms were non existent, I had energy I had never experienced, I got to go off all of my medicines, didn’t have to use my CPAP machine, and even met my husband and got pregnant for the first time which the doctors had told me I would never be able to do with all of my health issues. I was over the moon. I was working as a nanny through all of this (the job of my dreams) and was overjoyed. Then, we miscarried. It broke my soul. I didn’t think I was going to make it through. I gave up on everything- my job, my exercise program, my diet, even my desire to live.
Through time, I was forced to keep going and was offered a position at a Family Practice working the front desk. It soothed my soul in a way I didn’t expect. I found my purpose and a wonderful work family. As soon as I started work, we found out we had another little blessing on the way. I was blown away but also terrified. We prayed and prayed for this little baby to live. The pregnancy was anything but beautiful! I had hyperemesis gravidarum which in short, is just throwing up all day long. I ended up in the hospital many times for dehydration and never ending sickness but thankfully, my little man kept growing! At 39 weeks exactly, we were given the most wonderful gift- a sweet red headed baby boy who has turned into a sour patch of a toddler that I wouldn’t trade for the world! Post partum depression and anxiety hit like a tractor trailer and I was so confused and devastated. Here I was, living the best life I had ever dreamed of and I didn’t even want to get out of bed again. Why was this happening? I HAD to humble myself and ended up crying to my precious medical provider about not even wanting to live and hating myself because of this misunderstanding of my own brain. She referred me to a specialist who prescribed some medication to help regulate the raging hormones in my body and more than anything, helped explain to me what was going on inside of me and convinced me I was not on an island all by myself. My husband stepped up in a huge way and took on so much responsibility with our baby boy while I was in this process.
Then, our biggest surprise yet!! My doctor told me there was a SLIGHT chance of pregnancy due to a POSSIBILITY of medication interaction with my new medications. Slight?! That wasn’t going to happen to me. Well, God had other plans. I called my psychiatrist and told her I didn’t think my medicines were working right because there was something wrong. I just felt off. She asked me if I had taken an at home pregnancy test. I laughed. She was serious…. SURPRISE! Soon, we found out we had a little girl on the way. My babies were going to be 14 months apart 😳 That was definitely not in my plans but I had to trust it was all for a reason. I had always wanted a big family so I guess this was the beginning! At 28 weeks, I started getting sick and dreadfully assumed I had developed hyperemesis graviderum again. By 30 weeks, I couldn’t keep anything down and had SEVERE pain that I couldn’t even describe. I went to the hospital and they sent me back home with pain and nausea meds but it didn’t even begin to touch my symptoms. We turned around before we even made it back to Thomasville. Finally they admitted me and did every test they could safely with me being pregnant but couldn’t find anything. At this point, I was in so much pain I don’t remember what was happening and had to be told all of this after the fact by my family and medical professionals. All I remember was sitting in the coldest shower I could get in the hospital bathroom letting the freezing water shock my body out of the pain trying to numb myself crying out to the doctors to take my baby and keep her safe but to please let me die and being covered in blood that I couldn’t figure out. That was my third night in the hospital and my first day at 31 weeks pregnant. That same night, a retired doctor walked in my room who wasn’t even supposed to be there but had been called in because they couldn’t find anyone to cover the shift after the doctor on call had gotten sick. He took one look at my situation, called the GI team to be ready for exploratory surgery and told my mom they were taking my baby out and going to figure out immediately what was wrong with me. Within 20 minutes, my sweet Nathalie had been born and I was undergoing surgery that would lead to months, and probably even longer, of recovery. They found that due to my gastric bypass surgery, my intestines had twisted and my uterus had grown on them cutting off any blood supply causing them to “die.” They cut out what they could find and left me open as my body had swollen to its literal breaking point. The next day, they had to go back in and find more dead intestines because they hadn’t gotten it all. Two days later, they did the same thing and in total, removed 6 feet of intestines and finally was able to sew me back together. I have a scar that runs from beneath my breast down to my C Section scar. My husband lovingly refers to me as Frankenstein. They told my family to start praying because it was up to my body whether it wanted to heal itself or not. I was on a ventilator and my family never left my side praying I would wake up and start healing. I woke up alright, fighting and scratching 😂 Mom praised God even while I was trying to take my own tube out of my throat! My mom named me “Kelly” which means warrior but never knew what a warrior I would one day have to be. This whole time, my husband was working during the day, coming straight to the hospital in Winston to go love on our tiny baby in the NICU, coming to see me, and then going home to put our sweet boy to bed. On the nights he stayed with me, my brother and dad was on baby Leo duty and developed the sweetest relationship with my boy. On the weekends, Natha’s mom would come and help with Leo so Natha could get caught up on a little sleep that he desperately needed. My aunt and “ honorary Aunt” came and helped out at the house and with Leo. My other aunt and cousin didn’t leave my side at the hospital because I was experiencing ICU delirium and thought the nurses were trying to kidnap and stalk me and stealing my mom and my medications. I thought they were taking videos of me and posting them to social media and letting a psych patient pretend to be my nurse. I didn’t sleep for three days. It was awful for me, for my family, and for the nurses! I still feel terribly guilty for everything I put everybody through! The only thing I got right is that when I woke up, I immediately remembered all of my precious kids I had cared for and nannied over the years and prayed I wouldn’t die because I didn’t want to be the reason they hurt and couldn’t understand why.
During this time, one of the only nurses I trusted realized I had CDiff. By the time they moved me to a step down unit, my test came back positive. I had no idea what that would entail. If anyone has experienced it, God bless you every day of your life. It’s something I am not sure I’ll ever be able to get through. Also through this, PT started coming in and helping me learn to walk again and use spoons, forks, and straws. A food therapist (the sweetest lady in the whole hospital!) did tests to see if I could swallow, took me off of my feeding tube, and helped me begin to eat again. I had lost 40 pounds by this point. Finally, 4 weeks later, I had built enough strength and they thought I was good enough to go home. My brother and my husband carried me up the stairs into my home. A line of my loved ones came by the front window to wish me well and remind me of all the people praying for me and loving on me. I still wasn’t allowed to see my daughter because of the CDiff infection and it was killing my soul but a healing balm was holding my son for the first time in 4 weeks. I wasn’t even supposed to hold him but I had to. My heart cried like it had never cried before. It took a while for him to trust me again and for my body to recover enough to be able to hold him for any length of time, much less pick him up, but once we got to that point, he’s been stuck to me like glue ever since and can’t let me out of his sight. I’ve soaked up every minute of it.
I’ve had to go back to the hospital and been admitted twice more for dehydration, low blood levels, and blood clots. I’ve been stuck more times that I can count and now fear needles and blades where as I used to could care less. But I’ve been blessed with incredible medical professionals I can’t even begin to describe. The second hospital stay of mine, I FINALLY got to hold my girl 💓😭 She had made it from her lowest weight at a little over 3 lbs all the way up to 7 at that point and as I got released on a Sunday, they told me to come back the next day, Monday morning, to bring my girl home! Walking through the door with my husband to my awaiting son with my baby girl in Natha’s arms is all I could ever ask for.
On this topic, my best friend Emilie, set up a go fund me page to help with all of the expenses. I can not say THANK YOU ENOUGH for every single one of you that donated!!! I was able to get all the supplies to bring Nathalie home. (You’d be surprised what a preemie needs to come home. At least I was. And we are able to donate it all back to the NICU for other parents who were surprised as I was to have a preemie since my little girl has reached 11 pounds now and doesn’t need it anymore. Praise God!) IT HAS ALSO PAID FOR A NEW BED THAT ALLOWED ME TO COME HOME SINCE I NEEDED ONE THAT WOULD SIT UP BECAUSE I COULDN’T SIT MYSELF UP TO GET IN AND OUT OF BED. IT HAS PAID FOR A POTTY CHAIR, A SHOWER CHAIR, A WALKER, TWO ROUNDS OF CDiff MEDICATION, AND MULTIPLE MEDICATION‘S FOR MY BLOOD CLOTS. IF ANYBODY HAS HAD TO TAKE ANY OF THESE, YOU KNOW HOW EXPENSIVE THEY CAN BE. AGAIN, I CANNOT SAY THANK YOU ENOUGH.
That being said, we are now at the point where the expenses keep rolling in but the money is not. I’m sure most of you know how that goes. That’s why I was humbled and beyond grateful when Yasmin offered this opportunity to us. I have specialist appointments every week, Natalie still has appointments every couple weeks, they have recently started me on infusions and a lot of blood testing as my levels are still not normal. And I am at risk of losing my insurance. I have used up all of my FMLA time so I know that I will be without insurance for at least three weeks. And I got a letter in the mail stating I’m at risk of losing my insurance for all of 2025 as well. on top of that, I am beyond scared that when I do go back to work, I will not be able to continue as I still have to go to the bathroom or I’m sick every 30 minutes to an hour every day. Thanks to my test and removal and CDF. I’m still weak and exhausted and sleep every time my baby sleep and most days, I have times where I can’t even get out of bed thank you thankfully my mom has been here and my aunt to help with my children as my husband still has to work. (Sidenote, I just want to say, thank you to my husband‘s bosses as they have been incredibly lenient with him and understanding- letting him leave at odd hours, letting him takeoff as soon as he needs to and never complaining. They have been understanding when he hasn’t slept for days on end and showed up to work weary, and not in a clear mind. They have prayed diligently for my family and coworkers have offered to host us for lunch and came over to help as we moved and redid everything in the house to make it disability accessible. They’ve truly been out of this world kind to me and my family.) all that being said, I am supposed to be returning to work December 12 and I’m terrified that after I give it a couple weeks of trial time, I won’t be able to continue. My mind is so weak, I still have memory loss and I want to be able to give my job. The absolute best of me, but the best of me is worse than the worst of me before I had my child if that makes sense. Overall, it’s been a lot to say the least. A lot of worry, a lot of stress, a lot of trauma, a lot of negative things. But even more than that, it’s been a lot of blessings, a lot of kindness, a lot of encouragement,, a lot of being grateful, a lot of understanding God‘s hand and miracles like I never have before. It’s been a lot of good people and kind hearts, and being humbled at the things that I do and cannot now, but having to depend on this incredible army of loved ones around me that I took advantage of before. Sometimes in the valleys of life, you realize just how blessed you actually are.
My family is forever grateful. <3 Kelly
