SAYING GOODBYE TO MICHELLE. AN ANGEL LEFT US.

It is with a deep and incredible sadness that we share the news that one of our longtime members of the KD family, Michelle Profant, passed away last night around 8:45 PM.

Michelle was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer that metastasized into her bones and lungs. At the time she was diagnosed last summer, the doctors had given her 3 to 6 months to live. Despite rounds of chemo treatment and periods where it looked as though the cancer might be minimizing, in the end, the battle was too much for her body to withstand. We knew the end was near when she let us know recently she’d be going into hospice care.

We can’t even put into words how profoundly heartbreaking this news is to us and I know many of you who know and love Michelle as we do, will find this news just as devastating.

Michelle applied to foster with KD and joined our rescue on June 3rd, 2013. In that time she has had a hand in saving countless lives. The kitties she pulled from safety at Devore for Kitty Devore Rescue and KD Rescue partners alone total 311 kitties.Additionally, she has fostered many kitties along the way, too. She’s attended adoption events, helped out other foster parents by picking up their kitties and getting them to the vet when they could not, transported short and long distances…we could go on and on. Michelle is one of the members who has helped make KD the force for good that it has become. She is one of the people we considered to be the heart of this team and we’re sure we’re not alone in that feeling.

In 2014, when Kitty Devore Rescue hit hard times financially and was struggling to meet the needs of the kitties in our care, Michelle, without letting KD administrators or other members know, wrote to Examiner journalist, Sharon Gilbert, to plead KD’s plight. The article Sharon wrote brought in new fosters and donors that enabled us to continue the good fight for the kitties of Devore.

Michelle was known for her amazing sense of humor, her giving spirit, her kindness, her generosity, her willingness to do whatever needed to be done on behalf of the kitties in need without complaint, with a happy heart and with a generosity of time, energy and spirit unlike any other. As a KD member, she never engaged in gossip or badmouthing anyone. She was truly in it for the kitties 100% of the way.

When a kitty didn’t get saved, it was Michelle who always reminded us we needed to do better, try harder, find a little more space by saying at the conclusion of a daily rescue thread, “And nobody came…” This single statement reminded each of us why we were all here - to be there for each kitty at Devore we had committed ourselves to save.

In June, when she became aware her time was limited, she asked KD to care for her kitties and, within a few days, we had secured alternate placements for not only all the fosters she’d still had in her care but also many of her adopted kitties, too. We wanted to be sure Michelle was able to ease her heart and mind, knowing her kitties would all be safe and secure, so she could focus on the battle ahead.

Last night, when her longtime friend and fellow KD member, Michelle Johnson, contacted us to let us know of her passing, the entire KD membership grieved and we will continue to do so because the loss of the force of nature she was is heartbreaking to all of us. However, we know Michelle is now at the Rainbow Bridge, greeting all the kitties and pups who will make that journey and will be assuring each one they are safe and loved.

Rest in peace, Michelle. We love you. We always will. You are and will continue to be so greatly missed by all who knew you.

Michelle leaves behind her husband, Steven Horine, her mother, Gerda Profant, several former Devore kitties that Steven and Michelle opted to keep as well as numerous family members and even more friends who loved her dearly.