Kathy Helfrick was diagnosed in early October with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a condition affecting her nerves and ability to walk. Since then, her friends and family have pulled together to ensure Kathy, her husband Ken, and their two children, feel the love and support. 

According to friend Stephanie Schmidt, what began as a simple cupcake fundraiser snowballed into something incredible.

"Well, I think a lot of it has to do with who they are to this community," she commented. "People just kept seeing the posts, and contacting us, and donating, and it was just incredible. It got to a point where we actually had to cut off donations because as incredible as it is, we just can't go forever." 

The donations added up to $24,300, and Schmidt said the donations came from far and wide, including from Oklahoma.

"There was rider tickets, there was lots of local-based baskets supporting local businesses, which was really incredible to see. Just things, all sorts of things."

She said Kathy is doing a lot better now.

"These past two weeks, she's been really working hard, and she's able to walk on her own with a walker now, so she will be able to go home and then just go in for outpatient therapy," she shared. "She's doing a lot better now, and over the course of the fundraiser there were some setbacks, but she's improving daily. And I think we all kind of expect there will be a bad day here and there, but she's in very good spirits and has a ton of support, so she's doing really well."

Schmidt expressed, "We just really want to say thank you to the whole community. We had everything from people going over there to rake their leaves, we had cash donations, auction donations, and then of course all of the bidders."

"It was absolutely mind-blowing, and we are so proud to be a part of this community. Every time I do something like this, the community steps up and it's incredible." 

Read more: From Cupcakes to Gift Baskets: Help for the Helfricks Still Open for Bidders