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HERRIMAN — Neighbors in Herriman rallied together to support a single mother by raising money through horse rides, a trampoline-a-thon and games Saturday.
Jeane Taylor, a mother of two, lost her fingers and legs after she developed a cyst on her ovary so large it tore the ovary and cut off her blood supply, she said. It went septic into her bloodstream and she had to spend eight months in the hospital.
She said she needed a ventilator to breathe and her kidneys shut down.
"The first night they told my family ‘she's not going to survive this,'" Taylor said.
Taylor said she kept fighting because she knew she was a single mother and her two boys, now 8 and 10-years-old, needed her.
"I just couldn't imagine them going through life and me not raising them," Taylor said.
It has been 4.5 years since her health took a turn. After she got out of the hospital she said the medical bills started piling up. She couldn't pay rent and her car was repossessed.
"I don't qualify for disability even though I am disabled because I decided to be a stay at home mom to raise my kids," Taylor said.
That's when Taylor's best friend said she decided to have Taylor's family move in with her family even though she has a young child of her own.
The first night they told my family 'she's not going to survive this'
–Jeane Taylor
"I just think, ‘why not'? She's my best friend and I would do anything for her and I love her," Kerilyn Bernhard said. "I just think we're here to help each other out and that's what it's all about."
Neighbors have heard her story since then and said they wanted to help.
One day when Taylor ran out of her $800 dialysis medication she said she received an anonymous envelope that had $800 in it the next day at church.
"I think you look at what's going on in the world today and it's just sad story after sad story after sad story and there's something like this and it's like, ‘you know what? There are a lot of good people,'" Taylor said.
Many neighbors also purchased Taylor's handmade jewelry on Saturday.
The support has been overwhelming, she said. "I told her she can live with us the rest of her life if she needs to," Bernhard said. Those interested in Taylor's jewelry can contact her at jeanedtaylor@gmail.com.
