Medical Fund for Kate Mund Set Up
When Kate Mund visited her doctor in September experiencing flu-like symptoms, she had no idea that the consultation would be the start of an ordeal that would continue through the fall and include partial paralysis, neck surgery, and a still-uncertain diagnosis.
The lifelong East Hamptoner, a resident now of Amagansett’s Lazy Point, had been in good health, but then began to experience weakness and a lack of dexterity in her hands and legs.
A visit to a neurologist revealed a herniated disk in her neck, but after surgery and rehabilitation, the symptoms did not fully abate.
A self-employed seamstress and single mom, Ms. Mund has been unable to work or fully function on her own and must use a wheelchair. Her sister, Lauren Mund, moved back to her hometown, closing her acupuncture clinic in Delaware, to provide her with constant care.
Just before Christmas, Ms. Mund was admitted to Stony Brook University Hospital for a round of tests. Doctors ruled out a number of things, she said, but the question of what was happening still remained.
The low point came on Christmas Eve, when a doctor diagnosed Ms. Mund with a form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (known also as A.L.S. or Lou Gehrig’s disease), giving her a dire prognosis.
But that diagnosis is somewhat speculative, and Ms. Mund suspects her illness might be the result of a severe tick-borne disease. A visit later this month to an infectious-disease specialist is planned.
She has returned home and is feeling stronger, but daily life, and meeting mounting expenses, is hard. “My hope is to wake up from this nightmare and be able to return to life as it was before September 2014,” she wrote in a recent email.
Efforts are under way to raise money for Ms. Mund and her sister to cover medical and living costs; a page called the Kate Mund Medical Fund has been set up at GoFundMe.com, and a fund-raiser is planned.
Donations can be made at the GoFundMe site online, or sent directly to Ms. Mund at P.O. Box 1798, Amagansett 11930.