Meet Katy Morton

Katy Morton had to fight for her life this past year. Katy struggled against covid beginning October of 2021 and still has life altering effects, including the loss of her toes. But, you can’t tell the hard times she has been through by her personality and positive outlook on life. She is a strong woman who attributes her survival to friends, family and the community’s praying and supporting her family while she was ill.

About Katy

Katy met her fiancé, Keegan Waibel, 4 years ago. They moved to Oregon after being flooded out of their home in Craig, MO. Here in Oregon, they share a home with Katy’s son Logan, 14, and Keegan’s son Christopher, 13. Several furry members of the family live with them as well.

The Battle With Covid

Both Katy and Keegan ended up sick in October of 2021. Katy was in and out of the hospital throughout October. The doctors decided to intubate her near the end of October when she wasn’t getting better. She was put into a medically induced coma and intubated for 11 days. After coming out, the doctors told her that the machine had been doing 90% of the breathing for her and that her lungs looked like shattered glass from the covid infection.

Katy spent two more weeks in the hospital and had to make preparations for coming home with lingering health issues. Her biggest complication was the death of her toes due to a reaction to medication. She also suffered loss of muscle mass from being immobile for so long. She was in a wheelchair and coming home to a house that was not wheelchair accessible.

Coming Home

She reached out to the community and they responded. During her hospital stay friends and community members helped Keegan with babysitting and meals. Then when Katy needed some changes made to her house to make it more accessible, the community showed up again. A local small construction company was able to get a wheelchair ramp in immediately. Then, another local business working with a fairly local rock quarry was able to get the driveway graveled so that she could get the wheelchair from the driveway to the ramp. This was all done at no cost to Katy so that she could focus on getting well.

In December she had her first set of toes amputated. Then a month later, the second set. She is now adjusting to her new normal. She says, “Living my life without toes and taking care of my family has been a blessing. The Dr’s were sure I would never have woken up but I have surprised them all by not only waking up, but being fully recovered and mobile. The only lingering affect is not being able to be on my feet for long periods of time.”

Katy Morton and family is extremely grateful to the community for all the prayers, support and help along the way. The help and support of community members is what can make or break a community. Oregon is a community whose members will always show up when needed.

To meet more of the neighbors around Oregon, be sure to check out the The People category on the blog.

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The Word

James 5:16. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.