For those of you who know me and those that don't, I don't like asking for help. I'm always the one offering to help, so this is a difficult position for us to be in. I am at a point where we are open to receiving some extra support.

Over the last several months, my husband Richard has faced health challenges that I wouldn't wish upon anyone. We have now been at Munson for over a month trying to find a course of treatment that can help him and get him healthy enough to return home with outpatient treatment.

Unfortunately, we have faced several setbacks and unsuccessful treatments that have left us at a fork in the road. We are facing a decision to have surgery and also looking at transferring downstate to U of M to see if they have other treatments that would prevent him from needing surgery.

He was diagnosed and admitted on December 6th with ulcerative colitis after a trip to the ED. Typically, this disease can be managed with medication and without surgery. Unfortunately, we endured a very scary setback on 12/31 when the treatment medication was administered and his heart stopped. By the grace of God, he was able to come back to me and all those who know and love him. We have been traumatized by this event both physically, mentally, and emotionally. Unfortunately, they have run out of options to treat him here if the current course of treatment fails. I haven't been able to work for almost a month, and he has been off work since the beginning of November. He has a very long road of recovery ahead as we take it day by day. As we tackle this disease together, I am his support system and am not comfortable leaving him in the current state he is in. We now face the decision to either transfer downstate if he doesn't improve within the next couple of days, or potentially risk irreversible damage and face surgery to remove his colon. Either choice he makes, we will be faced with a very long journey to get him back to baseline and healthy enough to return to regular life. Without having answers and a definite outcome, we are asking for some help to pay for medical-related costs and living expenses. I am starting this in hopes that this will eliminate some of the stresses we have that are unrelated to his diagnosis and help us be able to focus on getting him healthy again.