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The 33-year-old as the nurse from Prince George's County embarks on a difficult journey to recover from multiple medical maladies.
Last September, Ketsia, who has ties to Laurel and Temple Hills, was diagnosed with leukemia, according to a GoFundMe launched for her and her husband, Gregory Kendall.
"For the past three years, she has worked tirelessly as a cardiac nurse and patient advocate, earning several Daisy Awards for superior nursing excellence," the campaign launched by her sister, Elizabeth Erra, reads. "In an ironic twist of fate, it was now her time to learn how to be a patient."
After months of intense chemotherapy, Ketsia was hoping to return to work as a patient care director at Virginia Hospital Center.
But it turns out she'll need a bone marrow transplant to rid her body of the disease, the GoFundMe says.
Things have only gotten worse for Ketsia, who on Dec. 6 suffered from heart failure due to chemotherapy, the campaign reads. She was admitted to the ICU over the Christmas weekend.
Ketsia remains in the ICU at Washington Hospital Center after being placed on an ECMO machine to support her heart and lungs, her sister said.
To make matters worse, her husband lost his job, adding to the family's financial burdens.
Elizabeth Erra is stunned by the outpouring of support.
"While we knew that raising 75K through crowdfunding would be a lofty goal that would take some time, I would not have believed it if someone told me that we would be able to raise over $20,000 in just a few days," she said. "The overwhelming amounts of support and love from her community has truly left us all speechless, and we cannot believe that so many people would show up for us like this so quickly."
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