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All the New Milford native has to do to put her confounding illness in the past is come up with $3,000 worth of co-pays for Hackensack University Medical Center.
“It’s just funny,” said Kwiecinski, 42. “Insurance covered $250,000 for me and [HUMC] is still asking me for more.
“If I pay them that then I won’t have a dime to live on.”
More than $9,200 had been raised as of Saturday evening on a GoFundMe page to help Kwiecinski fight her financial battle.
Kwiecinski has endured 125 sessions of hyperbaric oxygen chamber treatments for wound care, specifically for one on her toe from a procedure performed last November.
The operation was the tail end of a journey that began in November 2014, when debilitating full-body pain sent Kwiecinski to the hospital — and then back again almost 100 times in the year that followed.
Doctors still don’t know what caused the illness that resulted in several vein grafts, two finger amputations, trial chemotherapy treatments and a daily dose of bottomless hospital bills delivered right to her doorstep.
They call it “Kwiecinski Syndrome,” as Karen seems to be the only one to have it.
“It’s a new normal,” said Kwiecinski of recovery. “I’ve always been a happy energetic person — a crazy red head.
“This is just what it is and it’s out of my hands," she said. "No pun intended.”
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