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Today's Featured Biography

Karla Grauberger Timmons

Hi, everyone! This is Julie - I'm going to add Karla's information since she is no longer able to.

Karla was diagnosed with Huntington's Disease about 2 years ago. It is a degenerative disease of both the body and mind. We started noticing problems with Karla's balance while she was pregnant with her first child, Brandon, back in 1999. She saw doctors at Mayo's, KU Med, and in Topeka, but no one was able to figure out what was happening to her. She really started going down hill around the time her little girl, Melissa, was born in 2002. Her husband had a really hard time handling the disease with the severe mood swings and they separated in September 2004. Mom & Dad brought her and the kids home to live with them. She started going to Area Mental Health Center in Garden City for treatment of her depression. Dr. Montgomery was able to finally diagnose her at that time and she had blood work to confirm his suspicions. It is a genetic disease and is fatal. At that time, the doctor told us that in approximately 2 years, she wouldn't care if the kids were still with her or not, in 2-3 years she would be in the nursing home and in 3-5 years we will loose her. It has been a really rough time. At times she is our old Karla, but at other times, she just sits and watches TV and zones the world out. If you would like more information about Huntington's Disease, there is tons out there on the net.

After high school, Karla attended Garden City Community College and then Fort Hays State University where she received her Bachelors Degree in Special Education. She started working on her Master's degree, but stopped 5 hours short to start working. She taught in Ulysses and Johnson.

On June 11, 1994, she married Jeff Timmons. They lived in Lakin for 1 year before moving to Lawrence where Jeff attended KU while Karla taught at Eudora.

Brandon Michael Timmons was born on September 12,1999 and Melissa Ann Timmons was born on June 25, 2002.

Due to Karla's declining health and Mom's health problems, the kids went to live with their dad about a year ago. The kids seem to be doing well and it is much easier on Mom & Dad this way so they can focus on taking care of Karla. We get to see the kids about once a month. They are such sweet kids!

If you get a chance to see Karla, please come up and say hello. She loves to visit with people and right now she remembers the years around high school and college really well. We are planning to take her down to the Deerfield Days parade and she would love to see you!

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