This is for anyone that has lost a Father, loved one, or friend.
Hello, my name is Desirae, Michael Kellys oldest daughter. My dad was born on July 28th, 1965 and tragically passed at the age of 59 on May 15th, 2025. I am making this on behalf of my mother to help with funeral costs and bill expenses for the next few months, while I help her navigate the tragedy of losing one of the brightest people in our lives. My parents 30th wedding anniversary would have been on June 1st 2025, and as a tribute to their love for each other, I would like to ask anyone capable to please give this a read and if you aren’t able to donate please repost this wherever you can. I would like to honor my dad and help my mom in any way I can so she has one less thing to worry about while we settle into our new reality.
My parents met at the Alpha betta grocery store out of high school, where they worked together. Michael left roses on Michele’s car everyday until she finally agreed to a date. The rest is history. Eventually Vons bought out this small grocery store where my dad continuously flipped stores for this company making them a success once again.
On 1/18/11 all of our lives would be forever changed. While I was getting ready for work my dad came home from his job with blood running down his head and staples from an emergency hospital visit that none of his family were informed about by the company. While opening the store for the night crew, my dad walked through the doors onto a freshly waxed floor with no signs to inform the workers of the slick floors. My dad fell hard onto the concrete floors and his head broke his fall, rendering him unconscious instantly. The fall happened at 12:30am and at 4:30am he arrived at Henry Mayo, a full 4 hours after being knocked unconscious in the store with an open wound in his head. An ambulance was never called, nor did they inform his family. The workers moved him without any trained professionals and the assistant manager proceeded to take Michael to Henry Mayo Hospital in his own vehicle. After being in the emergency room with little to no memory of the traumatic event, this same assistant manager decided he should drive himself home. Michele came home from work to find Mike fast asleep after his traumatic brain injury.
From that point on everything changed. My parents began a lawsuit against this multi billion dollar company with the goal of simply getting my dad the help he needed after the fall and asking them to do what was right due to their negligence. Instead, the video tapes of the fall magically vanished, and Vons corporation began following and harassing my family. They soon fired him due to his limited working abilities caused by the head injury. The doctors paid by Vons continuously downplayed the severity of his fall… And when one of those doctors expressed that Mike was lucky to be alive and he believed the head injury to be extremely serious, Vons corporation quickly fired him from being a union doctor.
At 21 years old I put my entire life on hold to financially support my family and take on my dad’s financial role in our household. I didn’t want my parents to lose their house and I wanted my little sister Courtney to have a normal junior high experience since she was so young. My life became sink or swim, failure was not an option. I would do all of this in a heartbeat again to help the people that gave me everything and gave me all the opportunity’s to succeed in life. We continued trying to get my dad the help he needed, with numerous therapy and doctors visits weekly.
Unfortunately after a seven year battle with Vons my parents were forced to back out of the lawsuit. It was seven years of prolonging/rescheduling court sessions to increase our legal fees, and unfortunately after immense financial strain on all of us – we were barely keeping our heads above water – we couldn’t afford to continue and had to walk away from the case.
Reluctantly we have decided to not attempt reopening this case due to the corruption of this company and the years long heartbreak that will continue from them after all they have cost us.
Everything changed about my dad from day one of his head injury and everyone that knew him could see how different he had become, including himself. The evidence of the head injury was astounding, and only got worse with time. Unfortunately in 2025 my dad succumbed to the weight of the head injury.
I write his story here as a means of seeking justice for Michael and my family. This could happen to any of us or our loved ones. If you can’t donate please give this a repost to share his story and what the Vons corporation has cost us – or simply stop shopping at Vons.
Forever in our hearts Michael Kelly