
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 5, 1994                   TAG: 9402070265
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

$21,000 GIVEN FOR BRAIN SURGERY

Touched by the story of her fight against a debilitating movement disorder and her struggles with the health insurance system, local residents have poured $21,000 into a fund to pay for Kelly Wert's brain surgery.

Those fund-raising efforts continue from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday with a spaghetti dinner at Christiansburg High School.

Wert, a 22-year-old William and Mary graduate who wants to teach high school English, now has a Feb. 28 date for surgery at New York University Medical Center. She is scheduled to enter the hospital Feb. 22.

The donations to the Kelly Wert Medical Fund, which family friend Lenore Jackson organized to help defer the cost of the $44,000 surgery, have amazed and encouraged the Wert family.

"We are just overwhelmed by the generosity of the community, it's just amazing to me," said Vickie Wert, Kelly's mother.

Kelly Wert was substitute teaching and job hunting when a movement disorder she'd had since age 13 worsened in late October.

Wert left her parents' health insurance policy when she graduated from college last year. Since then she'd purchased a series of short-term policies from the Illinois-based Golden Rule Insurance Co.

When she sought coverage for expenses related to the movement disorder, Wert said the company told her it considered the problem a pre-existing condition that is ineligible for coverage.

Jackson and others have planned fund-raisers to benefit Wert, including:

A "haircut-athon" scheduled from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at Creative Looks, 1601 N. Franklin St. in Christiansburg.

A Feb. 19 alumni basketball game at Christiansburg High, featuring players from the classes of 1989 vs. 1991.

The Domino's pizza stores in Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Radford, owned by Tim and Carolyn Bell, have pledged to donate 5 percent of each order during the week of Feb. 14-20. Domino's also is challenging other pizza stores in the area to do something similar, said Scott Crawford, acting assistant manager of the Christiansburg branch.

Contributions may be sent to: the Kelly Wert Medical Fund; First National Bank of Christiansburg; P.O. Box 600; Christiansburg, VA 24073; account number 01196336.

by CNB