My Pictures of Montana

My Family and I Need Your Help Urgently

I originally posted this on my other blog (http://www.ezdiyelectricity.com/?p=1020) on January 6, 2010.

First I would like to apologize for this post. I am a very proud person and I usually find a way to solve problems on my own. However, my family and I have a medical emergency and we need your help desperately. My wife has a disabled daughter Amanda. That is Amanda in the picture last night at the University hospital in Salt Lake City, UT.

Amanda was a premature baby and has had lots of medical issues throughout her life. Amanda is 27 years old but has the mentality of a 2 – 3 year old. She is deaf and uses very limited sign language and some of her own signs. Additionally, Amanda got meningitis at 2 months old and needed shunts in her head to pump spinal fluid from her brain to belly. This makes it very challenging for us and the doctors to figure out what is going on once things start to go wrong. Amanda is able to tell us when something hurts, but she can’t explain the level of pain or pinpoint exactly where the pain is.

Amanda started complaining of headaches around the end of October 2009. After several trips back and forth to the doctor and specialists for lots of testing, we finally learned that she has shunt failure and fluid building up on her brain. Amanda’s neurologist woke us up early yesterday morning with the bad news and told us that we needed to get Amanda to the ER immediately.

After arriving at the ER in Bozeman, MT yesterday, we learned that Amanda needed to be flown down to Salt Lake City, UT for emergency brain surgery. Due to Amanda’s limited communication ability, they allowed my wife to fly down with her. I drove down in the middle of a snow storm and it took almost 8 hours to arrive to the hospital.

Last night the neurosurgeon tapped one of Amanda’s shunts and drained approximately 30cc of fluid to relieve some of the pressure and she is scheduled for surgery this afternoon We do not know how long Amanda will need to stay in the hospital here in Salt Lake City. It looks like she will be here at least a week. However, we will know more after her surgery today.

We are currently experiencing some extreme financial difficulty. My wife has been out of work since May of 2009 with a severe back and neck injury. She is collecting workers compensation, but that is only approximately 60% of her wage. My wife had her first of many surgeries to attempt to correct her back and neck injury on 10/22/09. My wife had complications with her surgery and need me to stay at home and take care of her and Amanda. Then Amanda started having problems so, I requested a 30 day medical leave from my wife’s and my employer. However, my employer denied the request for a medical leave and terminated me. Their reason for terminating me was my absences were unexcused during my family crisis and my absence caused hardship for their company. So, I have been out of work since my wife’s surgery on 10/22 and my previous employer is fighting me on collecting unemployment.

Things were tight, but we were managing and getting by. Because this happened so soon after the holidays we are broke and have no medical insurance. Amanda has medicare because of her disability, but we are unsure of what they will cover.

I left Bozeman yesterday with $186.00 to our name. I cost me $60.00 in fuel to get here. We are trying to stay on a strict budget and we are only allowing $5.00 per meal per person for my wife and I. This is extremely challenging to do here at the hospital. So, we have budgeted $30.00 per day for meals for my wife and I. If we eat 3 meals per day. However, we have decided to drop down to 1 or 2 meals per day to try to save money. At this rate we will run out of money in approximately 4 days. We also need a place to stay and fuel to get back to Bozeman.

Our immediate need is food, gas and a place to stay in Salt Lake City. As much as I hate to do this, I have to swallow my pride and ask if you can help us out with a donation. We are desperate and I do not know where else to turn. We have several calls in to family and friends, but everyone is struggling right now. Any help that you can give us will be greatly appreciated. Please click on the PayPal donation button below to make your donation.

If you are unable to make a donation, we totally understand. However, you can still help us out. Please help us spread the word about this post. Click on the retweet button on the top right side of this post, post it on facebook, stumble it or any other way you can think of to help us get our message out.

Update 1/8/10:
Amanda’s surgery went well. The surgeon revised the shunt that failed, added a new shunt and removed and replaced the catheters in her belly. The catheters in her belly were plugged and creating problems as well. Everything was going well until this morning. Today, something has changed. Amanda is very emotional and complaining of pain. The nurse gave her some more meds to try to help with the pain. They also scheduled her for another CT and cat scan. We will hopefully know more this afternoon.

My family and I are very grateful for the 5 donations which we have received. I am going to talk to a social worker today to see if there are any programs out there to help us get through this. My wife and I are very stressed and we are concerned about our finances. I took this picture of the bandage on Amanda’s head yesterday. I will update this page and post more pictures as we learn more.

Update 1/9/10:
It looks like the CT and cat scan were fine yesterday. We are going home today. The doctors think it will be best for Amanda to recover at home. The whole time we have been here Amanda has received a total of 7 hours sleep. They think that she is not sleeping because of the new and strange environment. The picture below is where the surgeons cut her head. It looks pretty nasty.

Update 1/10/10:
We made it back to Bozeman and Amanda finally slept through the night. However, we are broke and still could use some help. We need gauze pads, rolled gauze, medical tape and food. We spent all of our money between food and fuel going to, from and while in SLC. I am going to the pawn shop today to try to sell my guns. I also plan to start selling most everything that we own of value on eBay and craigslist.

We really need your help. I am definitely willing to work for it. I am a licensed master electrician and I can help you with your electrical projects. I am also willing to do most odd jobs in an attempt to make money. I have another website where I sell electrical tools as well (https://www.theelectricaltoolstore.com/).

You can help us by making a donation, purchasing one of my services, purchasing some tools, help us spread our message on twitter, facebook, your website, your mailing list, etc.

Update – 1/13/10
I am updating Amanda’s progress and our information on my other site http://www.ezdiyelectricity.com/?p=1020. My family and I want to thank everyone that has and continues to help us from the bottom of our hearts. It really means a lot to us during this very difficult time.