Unfortunately Astarah was hospitalized earlier this week. She almost died, and is recovering from surgery to combat a severe infection.

After three years of dealing with a chronic, critical illness - the financial resources of her parents and family have run out. At this time, this fundraiser is her only income.

We are making plans to support her recovery from this recent setback, until she is stable enough to travel to Michigan. We are exploring all options, which will likely need to include hiring a caregiver in the short-term.

We cannot thank you enough for your generous support to get her this far. Your prayers and outreach have meant so much - and right now, financial support is still urgently needed. Now more than ever before.

As many of you know, Astarah Kelly has been struggling with chronic, debilitating health challenges for almost three years. It’s been an incredibly difficult journey, and due to her current circumstances, including having no secure housing on Maui, we are planning another move - this time back to Michigan.

Dear ones - for more than two years, my beloved friend Astarah Kelly has faced enormous - and at times, life threatening - health challenges. As we start the new year, her goal is for stability and healing. Yet her physical health is still precarious, stability has been elusive, and financial and emotional stress continue to lead to flare ups.

Recent test results show dangerously severe anemia. Her weight hovers at 80 pounds. And she just learned that she needs to move again. We’ve been doing a lot of praying.

This online fundraiser has been a true lifeline - and Astarah Kelly still urgently needs our support. She hasn’t had a steady income for the past two years, which has taken all her energy and resources to focus on staying alive and recovering.

Your financial support will help save her life by covering the costs of her critically needed treatments - and her pending move.

It’s impossible to convey my immense gratitude for all the support provided so far. Please, please help keep this going. Our financial goal of $10,000 this month is a big lift, but one that's reachable with the power of prayer and the power of your gift. Please help - donate here today.

With profound gratitude,

Allison

This Thursday, November 14th, the Maui community will be coming together for a benefit fundraiser to support Astarah's healing journey. Please consider making a donation here if you are unable to attend - every contribution is a life-affirming gift! 

Pauwela Beverage Co. in Haiku - Thursday, Nov 14th from 4:30-6:30pm

Mahalo and blessings!

[Update from Allison - Oct 29]: I recently returned from visiting Astarah in Maui, where I shared some bestie love and birthday celebrations and helped with caregiving. I’m so grateful I had the chance to help create happy memories that weren’t just focused on staying alive.

The past three months have been really rough, and brought Astarah close to death more than once. She’s spent the past two months fighting off secondary infections, including a bout of sepsis that led to her recent hospitalization; and trying to manage her pain levels.  These side-by-side photos taken one year ago, and just this month, show just how hard the past year has been on her body. Your financial support is urgently needed - your gift of ANY size will be so helpful!  

URGENT appeal from Allison [08-01-24] It’s been two months since our last update, and more than six months into one of the most challenging periods of Astarah’s health, marked by declining and debilitating physical symptoms, along with moments of hope.

When I look back over the updates posted here, I can see how the ups and downs of Astarah’s health are directly related to her finances. As you may know, she’s been unable to earn income for almost two years.

Your donations have brought her this far - and for that, I am forever grateful. But the funds have been spent, and her financial situation is still as precarious as her health.

Astarah’s weight is back down to a dangerous 84 pounds. Her GI system is still acutely compromised and inflamed, and her body is unable to absorb nutrition from most of what she consumes. Every day she tries to focus on healing, but her depleted physical state and crushing financial stress overwhelm her system, which contribute to flare ups that keep her from making progress.

Still - there are moments of hope and gratitude:

- Adding a new steroid-based protocol that shows promise to relieve some of the extreme GI inflammation.

- Moving into the home that her daughter shares with extended family. This has lowered (but not eliminated) her rent; and she can spend time with her daughter and grandbaby.

Astarah still has expenses for basic needs (including rent) and the custom nutritional shakes - designed specifically for Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis - which are very expensive, and her primary source of nutrition.

She is so not ready to give up on this life! But it’s hard to see that path toward thriving without the desperately needed financial support. We’re praying for a surge of donations to get her beyond “surviving” and onto a path of thriving!

Which is why I’m appealing to you now. And prayerfully ask for your generous lifesaving donations - as soon as possible.

With an ever-grateful heart,

Allison

[May 23, 2024]  Hi - I’m Allison McElroy, and my bestie Astarah Kelly urgently needs your help. We’ve been best friends since first grade, and she’s been doing amazing things in the world ever since. But the past two years have been an intense journey - and she needs our help to keep going. Please see her message below, and donate as you’re able. To survive and thrive, she needs your support now more than ever.

From Astarah:

I’ve been a very healthy, conscious person, who has been focused on natural health and healing for the last 30+ years. So two years ago, when I knew something was amiss, the advanced cancer diagnosis was a shocking surprise.

With help from talented practitioners and using natural methods, I am now cancer free. I’ve also found the root cause - chemical poisoning - and after a year, I have detoxed them out.

I’m now left with life-threatening symptoms of severe Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. I have been mostly housebound for the past four months as I’m challenged by severe pain, little energy, and extreme weight loss (I currently weigh 87 pounds). It’s very difficult to care for myself.

I don’t feel it’s my time, and am holding onto the intention of fulfilling my life mission and coming back better than ever to help others in their healing journey. Right now, I really need your help. I haven’t been able to work in almost 2 years, my savings are long gone, and my credit cards are maxed out. And I need to move.

I urgently need financial support for continued treatments and living expenses. Thank you for listening and for your support. I am truly grateful!

Update from Allison - and a video message from Astarah Kelly (4/23/24)

We're so glad to share a video from Astarah - the first one that she’s done for fundraiser. There’s an important reason - to connect with all of you, to thank you for all the support you’ve provided so far - and to ask for your continued support.  https://youtu.be/wS-gqDocDDA

Since the last update , she’s had a big setback from the progress she’d made. Earlier this month, the money ran out, and so did the specialized nutritional shakes and supplements. As a result, Astarah has lost most of the weight she had gained, and is back down to a precarious 86 pounds.

We are counting on the generosity and support of others to help see her through. Along with her living expenses, the urgently needed care - which is not covered by insurance - includes: one month of nutritional shakes ($2,500), specialized supplements ($2,000), and continued lab work ($1,500), doctor appointments ($1,500), and paid caregiver support ($2,000). In addition, she recently found a physical therapist who specializes in addressing some of the structural issues brought on by acute Crohns and colitis. Initial sessions proved helpful, but more funds are needed to cover additional appointments ($1,300).

It’s impossible to convey my immense gratitude for all the support you’ve provided so far. Please, please help keep this going so Astarah can resume these promising healing protocols.

Much love to you all - Allison

UPDATE from Allison (3/20/24): While there is some good news to share (more on that below), the past month definitely started from a dire, precarious place. Due to the severity of her symptoms, Astarah was unable to absorb enough nutrition, regardless of what she ate, and her weight plummeted to 84 pounds. She barely had energy to walk across the room, and was completely housebound. Her body was literally starving, and close to death.

Your support came at just the right time. With your help, Astarah has been able to get started with customized protocols designed specifically for the severe symptoms of chronic Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, including specially formulated nutritional supports and supplements. While she still has severe symptoms, she’s seeing signs of improvement - and the good news: she has gained 6 pounds!

At this point, it’s critical for Astarah to remain consistent with these protocols to get her symptoms to subside, and to continue to gain essential weight.

Your financial support is still urgently needed to pay for an additional order of nutritional shakes and supplements, another round of comprehensive labs, as well as living expenses. Our goal is $5,000 for the month of April

Urgently needed purchases: Nutritional shakes for one month: $2,500; Labs: $1,500; Supplements: $1,000

With endless gratitude xox

Aloha Dear Friends~

I want to thank all of you who have been supporting me on this difficult journey. Your help is invaluable, and is making a difference! Not just the finances, but also, the ways you have shown support and care, really means so much to me. And a BIG shout out to Allison! I can honestly say that I would not be here today if it weren't for her. She has been my rock through all of this. Endless gratitude to you, my bestie!

My journey has had ups and downs - and has been very difficult lately. I believe the ‘disease’ is meant to cure me - and I’ve had some amazing progress to celebrate. I’m now cancer free! However, the extreme weight loss from severe symptoms of Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis are life threatening and need to be turned around immediately.

This journey has also been a very lonely one. With scattered friends, little family and no significant other, I have literally been alone most of the time, doing my best to care for myself through this illness. The toll of loneliness has been almost as hard as the physical symptoms.

I am soul exhausted, yet I know I can do this if I have the financial and emotional support to do so. I am more determined than ever to fully regain my health and my life and be the best version of me possible. I have found some promising treatments to address Crohn’s/Colitis, but cannot afford them without your support. Please help any way you can, and share widely. I want to live and thrive! I am very grateful. Much love to you all!

~Astarah Kelly

UPDATE from Allison: It’s been several weeks since we last posted an update. The past two years of Astarah’s journey with critical illness has been so hard, and like with many chronic conditions, has come with both progress and setbacks. There are reasons to celebrate - and there are critical challenges still ahead (see below). Your support is still urgently needed. Please give if you can!

Astarah’s severe weight loss, chronic pain, weakened state and compromised GI system means she has no energy reserves to do anything other than try to get better. If she’s not able to turn around her severe weight loss, she will not survive. And perhaps the biggest challenge is her sense of loneliness and isolation.

I’ve uploaded a recent photo of Astarah taken during a visit with her daughter and granddaughter, and want to share some of the joys and challenges she’s still facing.

Celebrate: Her smile - and the joy from being with her beautiful granddaughter.

Challenge: Look beyond her smile to see the toll these past 2 years have taken on her body. Her weight has dropped to a dangerous level of 87 lbs and she’s still struggling to not lose even more weight.

Celebrate: Recent tests show that cancer is no longer detected! And she has a specific plan for urgently needed additional treatments.

Challenge: The chronic underlying conditions of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, which at this stage, are still quite severe and life threatening, given her depleted state. Astarah’s weight loss - and her compromised ability to take up nutrition and stop losing weight, means her health is still very precarious.

Celebrate: The support and generosity of everyone who has helped her so far!

Challenge: The need to urgently turn this around, and the financial support to pay for the treatments, continual lab work monitoring, and expensive nutritional support - all of which are out-of-pocket expenses. Please help Astarah pay for these life-saving treatments.

Initial intake expenses: $3,500

Labs and supplements: $2,000

Nutritional support: $2,000

With endless gratitude for your support,

Allison

Greetings from Maui! I am so very grateful to all of you who are supporting me through my healing process! Your help has made all the difference. I am able to continue on because of you. 💜

It has been quite a journey! The road back from such a devastating illness had been long indeed! Up and down, up and down again, and it continues…but thankfully more up than down these days.

The move back to Maui has been much more difficult than I had anticipated. It has taken a lot out of me and has set back my progress, both in health and finances, which are closely tied together. Ultimately, it was the right choice, as I am so grateful to be with my daughter and granddaughter. This is definitely very helpful in my healing process, such pure divine love.

I am more determined than ever to fully heal and come back stronger than ever! To be there for my daughter, watch my granddaughter grow and to continue a life-long career of helping others.

However, I am not quite yet able to resume my professional work. Until I reach that point, I need the funds to continue my healing protocols and to pay the bills. I have a promising healing plan. I am making forward progress. My intention is to be in a noticeably better place with my health and start VoiceBio sessions in March, and to return to my professional healing work by April. Until then, I need your continued support. Please help if you can - thank you so much!

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