Dave McDowell Family Fund

Wow.  $45,000 sounds like a ton of money to us, and we imagine it does to you, too.  But between Dave's non-covered medical expenses and the loss of work income for both of us, it's just a drop in the bucket.  I'd like to make this a short story, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do that and still help you understand why we have resorted to a campaign like GoFundMe.  We are private people, and reticent to ask for help.  But it's time.

In 2013, Dave began a journey of still-unexplained medical events, culminating in a final diagnosis of osteomyelitis (infection of the bone) of the lower jow. Along the way, the medical community has tried multiple  rounds of home antibiotic IV infusions for weeks on end, 6 weeks of 5-days/wk. hyperbaric chamber treatments, numerous cocktails of oral antibiotics, and more,   Nothing worked for any extended period of time, and the slow, often-excrutiatingly painful deterioration of Dave's lower jaw continued.   To this day, doctors remain mystified as to what has caused this disease - all lab results come back negative.  

Finally, the decision had to be made to move forward with a lower jaw replacement, and in in May of 2015, Dave's fibula bone (from his leg) was used in conjunction with a titanium support to create a new lower jaw.  Dave's surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania was long, scary and extraordinarily expensive.

For months it looked as though this surgery might have not only provided Dave with a new lower jaw, but possibly arrested the disease, and he was looking forward to getting a new set of lower teeth. He was progressing well in physical therapy, his pain was lessening more and more each day, and he had gained back enough strength to begin to return to his piano tuning business and his therapeutic massage work as an MFR therapist.  Then, in September of 2015, a CT scan showed that the lower jaw deterioration had continued to progress. And unlike refunds that we can get when products that we buy don't do what they're supposed to, we still had to pay, and continue to pay, for all of these attempts to stop the progress of the disease. 

The costs have not just been medical.  Our income loss has been and will continue to be substantial.  Dave was unable to work fully for many months prior to surgery, and at all for months after surgery.  Even now, his ability to work has been very limited.  His recent hospitalization for pneumonia has resulted in even more loss of work for Dave, as will upcoming surgery/surgeries to continue to deal with more deterioration.  I also am often unable to work during Dave's hospitalizations and recoveries in order to take care of him.  Neither of us is a full-time benefitted employee with our employers, so when we don't work, we don't get paid.  And our health insurance premiums are extraordinarily high.  I have already postponed a needed hip replacement surgery while we wait for Dave's condition to stabilize enough for me to have the surgery, but that's not even in the mix right now.

We realize that there are so many others out there that are in need, which is probably one of the many reasons we find it difficult to ask for help.  But we have finally come to accept that we are also in need, and we're asking for your help.  

So anything that you can give would be such a gift and so appreciated.  But please realize that, if you aren't able to help with a monetary donation, your prayers, positive thoughts and healing energy are still worth millions.