A KC woman died in a Pennsylvania hospital. Her family wants to bring her home
A family is raising money to bring their loved one home to Kansas City after she had a medical emergency in Pennsylvania and died.
Erica Dixon suffered a brain injury on June 23, and she died Wednesday night. Dixon is still in Pennsylvania, but her family wants to bring her home for a funeral and burial. They had previously been raising money on GoFundMe to airlift her to a hospital in Kansas City, but Dixon’s sister LaChaunda Wells said the money will now go toward transporting Dixon home and paying for her funeral.
“I was trying to tell her story to try to get the community’s help and resources to get Erica back home,” Wells said. “I had just ran out of all options.”
Wells told the Star it will cost almost $3,000 to embalm Dixon and fly her home. She said the family is still working out the funeral costs.
As of Thursday, the GoFundMe had raised over $4,000 with 90 donations. Dixon’s family has also been raising money in other ways, like selling tacos, wings and fish fry plates.
“We appreciate any help we can get, No amount is too small,” the GoFundMe reads. “We are also asking everyone to please Pray for our family during this difficult time.”
What happened
Dixon became sick while traveling through Pennsylvania with a friend, according to Wells. Dixon was throwing up, but she told her friend she didn’t want to go to the hospital because she had a dialysis appointment the next day in New Jersey. Dixon has been on dialysis for three years due to kidney failure.
However, Dixon became too sick the day of her appointment and had to call 911 at a truck stop. She was taken to the hospital, where she was still alert and told hospital staff what was wrong. In the moments the hospital staff left Dixon and came back, though, her heart stopped. Wells said Dixon had to be resuscitated four times.
Wells said Dixon could move a little bit and open her eyes, but she died on Wednesday. Her daughter never left her side, and seven of her family members drove 18 hours to be with her. Wells had planned to fly back to Pennsylvania Thursday, but she said she canceled her flight.
Before Dixon’s death, Wells said she was “free living” and “loved life.” She said Dixon had just divorced her husband last year. Dixon and her friend were in the middle of a cross-country road trip, and Wells said they had been to seven states, including New Mexico and Virginia, the week prior to the incident.
Wells also said Dixon previously worked for the Center for Developmentally Disabled in Kansas City, where she helped secure funds to build a park for babies in wheelchairs.
She also said the Fourth of July was Dixon’s favorite holiday, so it was hard for the family to celebrate it this year.
“It was really hard to even try to celebrate this year,” Wells said. “Erica loved that holiday. She loved to party.”
