With her mother in another state facing an unclear diagnosis, Kiely Wilkerson needed backup. Last October, Kiely Wilkerson received another worrying call from her 68-year-old mother: “I’m all out of breath just from going up the stairs!” Kiely had always known her mom Jane O’Hara to be a healthy, energetic woman. But over the past year, every time they spoke, she would hear about tiredness and shortness of breath. Her mom and stepdad had moved to a beach town in North Carolina, and yet her mom never had seemed to have enough energy to go enjoy the beach. Instead, she was napping on and off throughout the day.

“The doctors she had interacted with up to that point were dismissive. They would say things like, ‘Well, you do have asthma, and you’re getting older.’ But my mom is a fighter. She really kept advocating for herself and insisting something else was going on.” Jane finally secured an appointment with a local cardiologist. He was also dismissive at first, but after Jane pushed back, he ordered a stress test — which she failed.

In November, Kiely drove down from her home in Arlington, Virginia to the North Carolina coast to accompany her mom to a heart catheterization appointment. As the President and CEO of a consulting firm, Kiely is comfortable navigating complex issues in technology, engineering, and finance. But with medical matters, she felt outside her comfort zone. When the cardiologist delivered his report — “100 percent blockage on one side, 75 percent on the other side and a leaky valve” — she remembers thinking, That means nothing to me. But it doesn’t sound good.

Kiely returned home and a few days later her mom had a follow-up appointment to discuss next steps. As she often does, Kiely joined her mom via video call for the appointment. To their frustration, no plan was offered. Kiely remembers the doctor giving the general message: “This is a complicated situation. We are limited in the tools and expertise here at this hospital, and we don’t do the kind of procedure she probably needs.”

Problem Solving Mode

A day or two later, in a meeting with her YPO forum, Kiely shared about her mom’s situation. She’ll never forget the words her forum-mate said: “Kiely, you’re dealing with the C team. You need to find the A team.” For Kiely, whose entire career is built around solving problems, that advice helped her know how to act. She went from feeling confused, unsettled, and at the mercy of experts she didn’t have confidence in, to feeling empowered and back in control. She knew

with instant clarity her mom was not going to get the care she needed back in her small beach town. They needed to get her somewhere else.

Kiely had joined YPO earlier in the year and remembered hearing about Healthnetwork Foundation

as a member benefit. She reached out and was immediately put in touch with Jennifer Donnellan, one of Healthnetwork’s medical coordinators.

“Within 24 hours my mom had an appointment with a cardiologist at Duke University Hospital,” Kiely recalls. “It was unbelievable. I didn’t have to be the expert in everything. I could share the information with Jennifer and she was able to get answers for us and help us understand what it all meant. That was a beautiful gift to me. I’m used to being competent and knowing what levers to pull, but I was stressed, and this wasn’t my world. Plus, the fact that my mom

didn’t have to log into ten different portals or send paperwork multiple times was an added benefit.”

A Clear Path Forward

Kiely once again joined her mom virtually for the consultation with two cardiologists at Duke. “The Duke doctors spoke with confidence and clarity about treatment options,” she recalls. “They connected the dots for us that the damage to my mom’s heart was a result of treatment she had 29 years ago for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. They explained she had significant damage and laid out a plan to repair the damage. For the first time, I could see a path forward to get my mom back to the person she used to be.”

Even when Kiely and Jane were thrown a curve ball, they remained confident. The cardiology team at Duke initially had recommended a stent, but then told the family they wanted to do a double bypass and valve replacement. “It was a much more intensive treatment plan, which could have made us feel uneasy,” says Kiely, reflecting back. “But when we researched the surgeon, Dr. Carmelo Milano, we realized that we weren’t just getting the A team; we were getting the captain of the A team.”

The surgery was scheduled for late January 2026. Kiely says, “Looking back, I really didn’t feel that worried. I was concerned, of course, but I knew my mom was getting the best care in the world, literally. If there was anything that could be done to help her get well, she was in the place and with the doctors to make it happen.”

Back to the Beach

After Jane experienced increasing chest pain around Christmastime, her surgery was moved up. “It went as well as it possibly could have. She had no complications and recovered remarkably well,” says Kiely. “The entire Duke team was wonderful. We saw firsthand that it’s not just about finding the best surgeon, it’s the whole ecosystem of caregivers and medical staff. My mom was in the hospital for weeks,

and the medical team became our family for a time. Every person she interacted with was extraordinary.”

Today, Kiely tells everyone she can within YPO — “Don’t sleep on this one. Healthnetwork Foundation is an incredible organization and a life-saving benefit.”

As for Jane, “My mom is back to working out every day. She has energy back and she’s finally walking down to enjoy the beach.”