The Florida Project

So, I was really hesitant on starting this gofundme because I am really hard on myself for the type of person I used to be. but after speaking with a good friend he showed me it might be beneficial because of my situation and that I am not the facade I put on so long ago. I know everyone is busy with their own lives and their families so I will try to keep this short and to the point. Let me start with a bit of background and bring it current. About 10 years ago I was diagnosed with Lupus. My Lupus liked to attack my brain, I learned this by having to relearn how to walk at 25 years old. The lupus had apparently attacked the part of my brain that retained that information. It was a struggle, but what doesn’t kill us, right? Anyway it has went on and thankfully I haven’t had this dramatic of an issue with this disease since. Then the following Easter they found a type 1 bacteria in my blood and I had to be hospitalized for a week in the ICU. The doctors don’t know what caused it where it came from, the only knowledge we have is that I have faced the same thing now 5 times in my life and 3 of those were emergency life saving surgeries to alleviate the bacteria and drain an abscess it formed on my throat. The following spring/ summer time I had an episode at work where I had started coughing up blood and lung tissue and went to the emergency room immediately and found out that I have a lump in my left lung. It is still currently being monitored for radical growth or progression for the large concern of lung cancer. Fast forwarding about 2 years we found out we were expecting a child, due to this and medical reasons I left cooking and got a “9-5” with Verizon and loved it! However my health had different plans. I began to have a lot of back & chest pains and lots of anxiety and depression. I always attributed my back to the laborious life of a chef and so I ignored it, but it just keeps worsening but more on that later. The chest pains took me to the Emergency room and found that everything seemed okay but there is no explanation at that time and they continue to test trying to figure it out as i still suffer episodes of debilitating chest pains. However this and many other comorbidities put me out of work on long term disability. All the while still seeing my primary care doctor. He found that my back may be something more serious and my health and weight were getting out of control. At my biggest I was 7ft and 528 lbs I wore a 7xlt top and size 56 bottoms. This is unhealthy to say the least but was literally out of my control. I ate a good diet and have been as active as much as my body would allow. But my weight would fluctuate as much as 60 pounds up or down in any given month. My doctor also found and referred me out because of severe anxiety & depression it was discovered that a lot of the factors are due to incapacities such as not being able to get down and play with my daughter or go out and play on the playground with her or go out with my wife and feelings of failure and being a bad spouse and father for not being able work anymore. He also referred me to a spine and pain specialist and now I see 2 different ones for treatment. Where we found my L5 vertebrae is broken in 2 spots. Unfortunately, this type of fracture is irreparable. Basically what is happening is the back half of my veritable is separate from the front and this has pushed the front toward my pelvis area and my weight sits on all the nerves that come from the bottom of your spine to the rest of your body causing constant excruciating pain. The doctors aren’t sure how this happen other than it is usually a stress fracture from hyperextending your back. Treatment usually includes opiates for the remainder of your life to control pain as best as possible or until hopefully it heals. In some cases I am told this is possible when it is a small crack or fracture. However this isn’t my luck unfortunately. So after about 3 years of treatment and numerous ER visits and hospital stays and doctor appointments trying to get my health under control, it was found with the consistent decline of my health and symptoms I was advised I had 5 years at best to live. Because of this My doctors got together and decided to try a very radical approach. Last June I had a very invasive surgery where they took almost half my internal organs in an attempt to lengthen my life expectancy. So they went in and took a kidney, part of my liver, my gallbladder, my appendix, half my small intestine, and 3/4 of my stomach. Did it work? We won’t know until I pass the 5 year mark. But until then I am being monitored closely. Since then it has been a rocky road with recovery and whatnot, until February this year. MetLife decided that they would cut all my long term disability insurance, my families health, dental and vision insurance and my disability pay. However they didn’t tell me until 3 weeks after the fact when they didn’t pay me and I had to call them. No letter or anything letting me know. Where is the silver lining? Well I am shorter now due to basically missing a vertebrae, I am about 610 now and I weigh in at about 220 lbs unfortunately this hasn’t alleviated any pain or symptoms “yet” I still am praying and staying optimistic that it does! So now let me get to why I am here on gofundme. Here in Utah it is basically just My wife, my daughter and me. My wife’s parents are deceased. Her mother died when she was 14 and her father wasn’t around but died a few years later. After he mother died she was raised by her uncle who over the next few years suffered 2 strokes and the third one sadly won the fight. As for familial support on my side. Non-existent. I screwed up a lot when I was younger and burnt bridges that aren’t fixable no matter how hard I try. But you live and learn. So with the advice of medical professionals and research I am in need of moving to another state that is closer to sea level and without extreme climate changes season to season. My doctors found a few leading specialists in Florida and it happens that we have quite a bit of family down there so the support would be amazing so it isn’t so hard on Monique, my wife. The issue arises to being able to afford to move across country, but I owe it to my daughter addaleigh to do everything possible so she grows up with her father and Monique keeps her spouse. I can’t help but to constantly feel I am going to die on her in a similar situation with other important people in her life and it destroys me. I am here asking for donations for the move. I need to raise around $6500 to move across the country with hiring movers and such due to inability and time frame. I appreciate you taking your time to watch my gofundme video! Any donations are greatly appreciated, I know times are tough for everyone especially with this Coronavirus stuff going on. When your hurting all one can do is reach out a hand and ask for help back up. Thanks again everybody and take care and cherish your time and families!