Leonard Miller's Road to Recovery
Donation protected
Hello Friends and FB Community. So back in April my Aunt had started a GoFund Me for my Dad and Family while he was recovering from a major heart attack. My Aunt was also dealing with some health issues and so the GoFund was shut down. Today I am starting a new page hoping to hep my dad and mom while he continues to recover.
Backstory: In April my Dad had a major heart attack that left him fighting for his life. While recovering my father arrested 3 times, one of which took place while my mother left for only an hr to eat and shower. Once this happened my mother refused to leave my dad, blaming her absence for the arrest. She lived in a chair for 6 weeks. My parents are two hearts that have been together since they were small children and in high school they fell in love. Once they graduated, they had children and this last year they celebrated 30 years of marriage, apart. Stress and loss have been a lot for our family this last year and when faced with having to take a job away from his soulmate I believe it was too much for my daddy’s heart and it broke. As soon as my mom discovered that my dad had his heart attack, she dropped everything and flew down to Casper to be with him while he underwent open heart surgery. Once in surgery it was discovered that a large portion of my father’s heart was damaged and so he was left open, so to not cause anymore stress to his heart. A 2nd surgery put in an Impella Pump that is meant to assist the heart. While in an induced sleep my father’s kidney’s and heart stopped functioning and he was placed on dialysis. Then it was discovered, according to the doctors, that my father’s bowels had died because of lack of blood flow to that abdominal area. He underwent numerous surgeries where each time more and more of his intestines were removed. My dad was left with an extremely rare disorder known as Short Bowel Syndrome that only effects between 10,000 -20,000 people in the United States because SBS is so rare there hasn’t been a lot of options for him as far as specialists that can treat him.
After about 6 plus weeks in WY my father was transported to an Acute Rehab Hospital in CO. He wasn’t even in CO a few hours when he had to be rushed to the ER and back into ICU. Once back at the rehab hospital things just continued downhill, my wonderful family moved my parents into a storage shed as the unknown forced them to give up their home. Homeless my mom was now also living in the Rehab hospital becoming the subject matter expert on my Dad’s condition and making sure he was being properly taken care of as he sustained terrible bed sores and a staff infection. One of his bed sores went so deep that it is to the bone on his rear and a wound vac is being used to assist in the healing process. This has slowed his progress as it is extremely painful to sit on that bed sore. Only allowed a specific amount time in the rehab my mother was forced to find somewhere else for him to go. My mom was not given a choice as only 1 skilled nursing home in the area would take him and his TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition). With the move to the nursing home my mother was no longer allowed to room with my dad and her and my youngest sister are currently living with my middle sister and her fiancé 30 min away from my father. 30 min doesn’t seem that far away, but neglect has been recurring in nearly all these places and occurrences have become almost a daily as his wound care has not been done and he was nearly overdosed. All I can say is thank God my dad has my mom there as her situational awareness brought attention to the fact, he was being double dosed, and that they were giving him the wrong TPN on certain days.
Through all this my dad continues to try and make it home and back to Montana, even though they have no home to call their own. My father and mother have worked so hard for all their lives and multiple factors are allowing them to become destitute as my dad is months away from receiving any disability. Insurance also seems to be work against my Dad’s recovery as they are not allowing him the care he needs to survive and being in a nursing home at any age let alone 50 is not helping him. We want to be able to bring him home to Montana as soon as possible but that is going to take help and I am on here asking everyone for their help. We appreciate any donation and ask that if you can’t donate to please share and say a little prayer for his recovery. I know that if it wasn’t for your support and prayers my dad most likely would not be here but God heard us and allowed him to live. SBS is rare but SBS with multiple organ failure after a heart attack is possibly unheard of, my dad is a miracle. God allowed him to live so I am asking for your help to make it a life worth living and help us get him home.
Backstory: In April my Dad had a major heart attack that left him fighting for his life. While recovering my father arrested 3 times, one of which took place while my mother left for only an hr to eat and shower. Once this happened my mother refused to leave my dad, blaming her absence for the arrest. She lived in a chair for 6 weeks. My parents are two hearts that have been together since they were small children and in high school they fell in love. Once they graduated, they had children and this last year they celebrated 30 years of marriage, apart. Stress and loss have been a lot for our family this last year and when faced with having to take a job away from his soulmate I believe it was too much for my daddy’s heart and it broke. As soon as my mom discovered that my dad had his heart attack, she dropped everything and flew down to Casper to be with him while he underwent open heart surgery. Once in surgery it was discovered that a large portion of my father’s heart was damaged and so he was left open, so to not cause anymore stress to his heart. A 2nd surgery put in an Impella Pump that is meant to assist the heart. While in an induced sleep my father’s kidney’s and heart stopped functioning and he was placed on dialysis. Then it was discovered, according to the doctors, that my father’s bowels had died because of lack of blood flow to that abdominal area. He underwent numerous surgeries where each time more and more of his intestines were removed. My dad was left with an extremely rare disorder known as Short Bowel Syndrome that only effects between 10,000 -20,000 people in the United States because SBS is so rare there hasn’t been a lot of options for him as far as specialists that can treat him.
After about 6 plus weeks in WY my father was transported to an Acute Rehab Hospital in CO. He wasn’t even in CO a few hours when he had to be rushed to the ER and back into ICU. Once back at the rehab hospital things just continued downhill, my wonderful family moved my parents into a storage shed as the unknown forced them to give up their home. Homeless my mom was now also living in the Rehab hospital becoming the subject matter expert on my Dad’s condition and making sure he was being properly taken care of as he sustained terrible bed sores and a staff infection. One of his bed sores went so deep that it is to the bone on his rear and a wound vac is being used to assist in the healing process. This has slowed his progress as it is extremely painful to sit on that bed sore. Only allowed a specific amount time in the rehab my mother was forced to find somewhere else for him to go. My mom was not given a choice as only 1 skilled nursing home in the area would take him and his TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition). With the move to the nursing home my mother was no longer allowed to room with my dad and her and my youngest sister are currently living with my middle sister and her fiancé 30 min away from my father. 30 min doesn’t seem that far away, but neglect has been recurring in nearly all these places and occurrences have become almost a daily as his wound care has not been done and he was nearly overdosed. All I can say is thank God my dad has my mom there as her situational awareness brought attention to the fact, he was being double dosed, and that they were giving him the wrong TPN on certain days.
Through all this my dad continues to try and make it home and back to Montana, even though they have no home to call their own. My father and mother have worked so hard for all their lives and multiple factors are allowing them to become destitute as my dad is months away from receiving any disability. Insurance also seems to be work against my Dad’s recovery as they are not allowing him the care he needs to survive and being in a nursing home at any age let alone 50 is not helping him. We want to be able to bring him home to Montana as soon as possible but that is going to take help and I am on here asking everyone for their help. We appreciate any donation and ask that if you can’t donate to please share and say a little prayer for his recovery. I know that if it wasn’t for your support and prayers my dad most likely would not be here but God heard us and allowed him to live. SBS is rare but SBS with multiple organ failure after a heart attack is possibly unheard of, my dad is a miracle. God allowed him to live so I am asking for your help to make it a life worth living and help us get him home.
Organizer
Danielle Moore
Organizer
Helena, MT