23-year-old in need of back surgery seeks community's support

You can help a young woman in our community get back surgery by buying some homemade Mexican food and attending a silent auction this weekend. 

23-year-old Kayla Penner's surgery is scheduled for October 26th in Brenham, Germany, and she is heading there this Sunday. 

Her family is trying to raise just under $50,000 to cover the costs of everything including her flight, her husband's flight as he is going along to support her, hotel fees, and of course the surgery itself. 

She was in a single-vehicle accident when she was 17 years old on a gravel road.  

Her mom, Amy Klassen, says she felt fine after the accident and carried on with life as normal. 

“She's a hard worker, so she did a lot of physical work on farms and things like that and went from one job to the next. Her back was bugging her and it just roller-coastered to the point where she's like, ‘okay, now it's time to actually go see the doctor.’” 

That's when she found out she had a herniated disc. 

Klassen says she went for the procedure last year where they did a non-instrumental fusion on her back, but her back only got worse. 

“I don't know what irritated it, but it got worse to the point where she couldn't hold down a job at all, and so she was either going to find herself in a wheelchair or get some surgery.” 

The family has almost hit their fundraising goal, but they are just short about $12,000. 

Klassen is incredibly impressed by the support she and her family have received from the community in their time of need.

“It just blesses your socks off, the support when there is a need, people really step up. You just have to say it, if you don't say it, people don't know, and they do want to help. It’s just unbelievable. There are no words to describe it.” 

She notes that in 2011 her husband had back surgery by the same specialist in the same hospital that her daughter is going to.

With the transformation she saw after her husband’s back surgery, she is excited for her daughter to recover and go back to her regular life. 

“There are no limitations, it's just amazing what can happen after a back surgery.” 

She has already raised $36,000 through various fundraisers. 

“I've been baking cookies, I've done two fundraisers already, a soup and pie, and then I did a Mexican fundraiser two or three weekends ago, and so I'm doing one more and hoping that will cover it.” 

Klassen says she loves making Mexican meals, which is why she chose to do a Mexican platter night. 

“I love making Mexican meals. It is my ultimate favorite, I thrive at it, I'm so good at it and I'm not tooting my own horn, I get a lot of compliments. It's not a plate, it's a platter, so you come hungry, and you leave satisfied.” 

Each ticket gets you a platter with plenty of food. 

“There are two chicken tacos, two beef tacos, pico de gallo, that's for in your taco, refried beans, and Mexican rice, and then there will be a dessert as well.”  

For their last fundraiser, they prepped 225 plates, sold over 275 plates, and still ended up needing to turn people away at the door. 

This time she plans on prepping at least 300 plates, and is hoping to do more.  

She says it takes a few days to cook all the food, but she loves to serve and is happy to do this for her daughter. 

“She has one shot that gives her a different future. Her life is going to be different after this, and for her to get to back to the land of the living is the name of the game, so that's what I'm doing, that's my focus.” 

Kayla Penner with her two dogs, Ellie and Gus.

Klassen is still looking for more prizes for the silent auction, and asks that anyone interested in donating a prize call or text her at (204) 381-1976.

The taco night and silent auction fundraiser is this Sunday, October 22nd, from 4-7pm at the Abundant Life Church in Grunthal. 

The deadline to RSVP is this Friday, October 20th as Klassen needs to know how much food to prepare. 

 

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