Save the Dave!!

Dave Schenker is suffering from a spinal fracture and now a staph infection in both his spine (osteomyolitis) and his blood supply (sepsis). It started in early October (2012) and he has since been bed ridden, spent several days in the hospital, and requires full time care from myself and my dear friend Jen Merrill. He is months into this and now racking up the bills with multiple bone biopsies, MRIs, CT scans and other imaging, at home intravenous antibiotic treatments daily, specialists, and medications - and he will most likely need spinal surgery if his condition does not improve. The doctors believe he will make a full recovery but no-one knows how far down the medical rabbit-hole we have to go before he is out of the woods. 

The infection in his spine is "bone eating" and carving out the inside of his lower vertebrae.  The infection in his blood is making his blood supply potentially toxic to his organs. As it stands now, I am monitoring him for any signs that he is deteriorating (the infection spreading from his vertebrae to the nerves in his spine or other organs.)  If this happens he will be in surgery immediately to remove and replace the infected bone and fuse the two sections of his spine together. The doctors consider his condition life-threatening despite his positive attitude and their own bewilderment that he is still alive and able to get around at all - walker or no walker.  

Dave is my boyfriend, a full-time mechanical engineering junior at Boise State University and the leader of Greenspeed BSU (which has built the World's Fastest Vegetable-Oil Powered Vehicle.) He is a highly productive person, genuine, intelligent, warm, artistic, scientific, and - in spite of it all - has never been short or grumpy while spending 23 hours a day in bed for over two months. 

I want nothing more than to see him *not* swamped with medical bills, back on his feet, back in classes, wielding a wrench on the Greenspeed truck, and back in my arms. 

Anything you can contribute to Dave's funding of this strange phase we have entered would be a huge relief. 

Thank you all so very much. 

Jenny Kniss