U'Ren family
Donation protected
As many of you know I am Amanda's sister-in-law, I have watched Matt and Amanda face so many struggles for the past two years. I thought this would be the easiest way to share their story and help relieve some stress. So here it is...
Our Story,
Hello! Were a family of 4, we have two awesome, amazing boys, Jaxson and Abel & live in Midland MI! In early 2014, I started to experience extreme back pain, but I was a full time student online, taking care of my 1 and 3 year old boys as a stay at home mom so I ignored it. At that time my husband had enrolled in a year program at ACC in Alpena, MI to become a Mechanic. I had no time to worry & kept going with my life until I literally couldn't get out of bed one day. In July, 2014 I went straight to a Chiropractor, he worked on me for about a month & I got considerably worse so my doctor recommended physical therapy. We were very hopeful but I knew the pain I was feeling wasn't going to be fixed by PT but I did 3 months of it anyway. In October, 2014 I started on pain medication as my quality of life went from walking 5 miles a day with both boys in a jogger to laying on the couch, crying everyday. Our oldest is Autistic & has been in therapy daily for the past four years so he has been a top priority for us.
In November I had my first visit with a Neurosurgeon from Saginaw, after reading my MRI &Ct he told me I had Degenerative Disc Disease, Arthritis, Spinal Stenosis and RA and no L5 disc left! My husband & I sat there in shock. In 5 minutes he told us I will need to be scheduled for a fusion surgery & he would see us in Saginaw. That was it, our lives changed but we had no idea how drastic it would become. In Jan, 2015 I had my first surgery with hopes to relieve some of my pain & buy me some "time". The surgery was a fail, in one month I was back in extreme chronic pain & scheduling for my 2nd surgery. We were very confused & wanted second & third opinions but the pain I was in was so debilitating I had no options but an emergency surgery. April 2015 I had my second surgery, 2 weeks later it was a fail. I now fell into a depression as a SAHM of 2 young boys, in college & supporting my husband in college as well while he was working 9 hours a week. Everything went downhill very fast & we were loosing everything. Thankfully, I had a great support system of family & friends but behind closed doors I was a different person. My depression got a hold of me so strong I wanted to end my life. My husband got me help with our local Mental Health department & if saved my life. It's taken a lot of time & sessions but today I'm mentally stronger than ever!
May, 2015 I had my 3rd back surgery, this time was a Fusion L5/S1. This was the "promising" fix me up surgery... we had hope but little faith! At this point we had traveled thousands of miles back & forth, our boys were watching me go through painful weeks at a time with no relief but we still had to go on with our life. These surgeries were tearing our family apart when we needed to be close; we had no answers & my back was getting worse. I followed doctors orders after my 3rd surgery, did my bed rest, tried to walk down the block in my walker daily & did 3 months of pool therapy. I came out making no progress & my pain was creeping back up. At this point we moved our family down to Midland to be closer to my doctor as at this time we were told I would not get better & my disease & arthritis were pretty rapid. Our move was good all around, it felt like a fresh start plus Jaxson was getting more care for his Autism. Matthew was trying to look for work but could not leave me at home alone. We are workers, we hustle to get things done, we have strong family values & both believe our life is great & God does answer our prayers. Not working was making Matt feel as he was not providing but at the same time he was backed in a corner.
Here we are today, its May 2016 I had a spinal cord stimulator temporally put it and it relieved ALOT of my pain! In June I will have yet again another surgery to have the stimulator perminatly put into my spinal canal. We have a whole new set of doctors including pain management since last fall. My husband got a job in January as a Mechanic & loves it. My sons are doing wonderful considering they watch their mom in pain everyday, they are still happy, silly & thankful for all the small things. I had to withdraw from school & continue to do as much research on my own as possible to get me to a place where our quality of life is back to where we are functioning & able to raise these boys! Matthew & I have a close relationship with our heavenly father & through this all, we keep him first. He answers our prayers in ways we don't understand & it doesn't always seem fair or right but we believe at this point he will make things the way they should be. My back will continue to get worse but I'm 28 & not giving up! We are so grateful for our family and friends, all the help we get, prayers & kind words. Looking back at the past 2 years, we have NO idea how we did it but we did & today we are happy & hopeful
Our Story,
Hello! Were a family of 4, we have two awesome, amazing boys, Jaxson and Abel & live in Midland MI! In early 2014, I started to experience extreme back pain, but I was a full time student online, taking care of my 1 and 3 year old boys as a stay at home mom so I ignored it. At that time my husband had enrolled in a year program at ACC in Alpena, MI to become a Mechanic. I had no time to worry & kept going with my life until I literally couldn't get out of bed one day. In July, 2014 I went straight to a Chiropractor, he worked on me for about a month & I got considerably worse so my doctor recommended physical therapy. We were very hopeful but I knew the pain I was feeling wasn't going to be fixed by PT but I did 3 months of it anyway. In October, 2014 I started on pain medication as my quality of life went from walking 5 miles a day with both boys in a jogger to laying on the couch, crying everyday. Our oldest is Autistic & has been in therapy daily for the past four years so he has been a top priority for us.
In November I had my first visit with a Neurosurgeon from Saginaw, after reading my MRI &Ct he told me I had Degenerative Disc Disease, Arthritis, Spinal Stenosis and RA and no L5 disc left! My husband & I sat there in shock. In 5 minutes he told us I will need to be scheduled for a fusion surgery & he would see us in Saginaw. That was it, our lives changed but we had no idea how drastic it would become. In Jan, 2015 I had my first surgery with hopes to relieve some of my pain & buy me some "time". The surgery was a fail, in one month I was back in extreme chronic pain & scheduling for my 2nd surgery. We were very confused & wanted second & third opinions but the pain I was in was so debilitating I had no options but an emergency surgery. April 2015 I had my second surgery, 2 weeks later it was a fail. I now fell into a depression as a SAHM of 2 young boys, in college & supporting my husband in college as well while he was working 9 hours a week. Everything went downhill very fast & we were loosing everything. Thankfully, I had a great support system of family & friends but behind closed doors I was a different person. My depression got a hold of me so strong I wanted to end my life. My husband got me help with our local Mental Health department & if saved my life. It's taken a lot of time & sessions but today I'm mentally stronger than ever!
May, 2015 I had my 3rd back surgery, this time was a Fusion L5/S1. This was the "promising" fix me up surgery... we had hope but little faith! At this point we had traveled thousands of miles back & forth, our boys were watching me go through painful weeks at a time with no relief but we still had to go on with our life. These surgeries were tearing our family apart when we needed to be close; we had no answers & my back was getting worse. I followed doctors orders after my 3rd surgery, did my bed rest, tried to walk down the block in my walker daily & did 3 months of pool therapy. I came out making no progress & my pain was creeping back up. At this point we moved our family down to Midland to be closer to my doctor as at this time we were told I would not get better & my disease & arthritis were pretty rapid. Our move was good all around, it felt like a fresh start plus Jaxson was getting more care for his Autism. Matthew was trying to look for work but could not leave me at home alone. We are workers, we hustle to get things done, we have strong family values & both believe our life is great & God does answer our prayers. Not working was making Matt feel as he was not providing but at the same time he was backed in a corner.
Here we are today, its May 2016 I had a spinal cord stimulator temporally put it and it relieved ALOT of my pain! In June I will have yet again another surgery to have the stimulator perminatly put into my spinal canal. We have a whole new set of doctors including pain management since last fall. My husband got a job in January as a Mechanic & loves it. My sons are doing wonderful considering they watch their mom in pain everyday, they are still happy, silly & thankful for all the small things. I had to withdraw from school & continue to do as much research on my own as possible to get me to a place where our quality of life is back to where we are functioning & able to raise these boys! Matthew & I have a close relationship with our heavenly father & through this all, we keep him first. He answers our prayers in ways we don't understand & it doesn't always seem fair or right but we believe at this point he will make things the way they should be. My back will continue to get worse but I'm 28 & not giving up! We are so grateful for our family and friends, all the help we get, prayers & kind words. Looking back at the past 2 years, we have NO idea how we did it but we did & today we are happy & hopeful
Organizer and beneficiary
Caitlin Fenby
Organizer
Eagle, MI
Amanda Uren
Beneficiary
