Published: November 01, 2009 09:56 pm         

Dinner, silent auction are held to help family with medical costs

Shalyn Petty is a cute, blonde 12-year-old who has had a lifetime of struggle.

Shalyn was born with se-vere scoliosis, a congenital de-formity that fus-ed her vertebrae. She also has an undeveloped pelvis and is a Type 1 diabetic.

Her medical problems, along with her father Billy’s ongoing medical problem, have put the family deeply into debt with medical bills. The Pettys are like many families, they have good insurance, but with the amount of medical treatment and medications, the co-pay is costly.

Her brother Bryant, 11, is healthy.

Shalyn, who will be 13 on Saturday, is 4 feet 6 inches tall and worries because she will never grow any taller. She has to wear a body cast 23 hours a day and her diabetes is believ-ed to have caused an infection in her incision from a recent surgery. She has traveled to Shrin-er’s Hospital in Louisiana, which does not charge what a normal hospital would, but there are a number of medical bills anyway.

She returns to Shriner’s Hospital Nov. 24 for a checkup.

Billy Petty, also diabetic, has had two pancreatic transplants and a kidney transplant, but now is insulin-free.

“We’ve had one medical challenge after another because of the diabetes. The kidney transplant and the two pancreatic transplants,” said Kari Petty, Shalyn’s mother and Billy’s wife. Kari donated a kidney to Billy. His surgeries were at Mayo Clinic.

Friends and family of the Pettys held a benefit dinner and silent auction Sunday at Enid Elks Lodge to help raise money to defray medical expenses. Meredith Westfahl, a family friend who coordinated the benefit, said their goal was $4,000 plus what they raised with the silent auction. The meals were $10 each and it cost $5 to sign up for the silent auction.

“We have good insurance, but medical bills keep mounting up. We pay as much as we can, but there are too many hospitals, too many ambulances, laboratories, doctors visits and the medical bills add up quickly,” Kari Petty said.

Anyone wishing to make a donation to the medical fund may send it in care of the Petty family, 2822 N. Jefferson, Enid, OK 73701.