Help Cowboy Ted
Donation protected
Hello. My name is Ted May and am a long time working and rodeo cowboy, entrepreneur, author, motivational speaker, ex-police officer and father of five wonderful children, ages 40, 37, 35, 23 and 15. My two youngest are two daughters and I am trying to keep a promise I made to them both and that is too live long enough to walk them both down the aisle one day.
I have lived a most colorful life and am currently putting in book form. I have lived a life that few get to experience and most dream about. Not long ago, I had everything and then cancer came along in 2013 in the form of CML leukemia. I didn’t realize how my life was going to soon change. I was given a bone marrow transplant on May 17, 2015 and spent the next 100 days in isolation. I was told by my doctors that if I could make it through this period without complications that I should be able to regain my health and live on. The first 100 days went great with no complications and I thought I was on my way. On day 114 post transplant the wheels started coming off the wagon. Since day 114, I have been admitted to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Hospital eleven times and am currently in the oncology ward with a serious case of pneumonia, which has now consumed 60% of my lungs capacity and am going through extensive antibiotic and breathing treatments. This has become my second home and the entire nursing staff knows me by name for that is how many times I have been admitted due to a disease that I have contracted known as GVHD. GVHD, Graph Versus Host Disease, is deadly in itself with some many side effects. Not all cancer survivors acquire this and to be honest I think the cancer would have been easier to fight another way but at the time it was my only option but to have the transplant and so I did. GVHD has led me to this go fund me site. I had to use it a few years ago to raise money for treatment that insurance wouldn’t cover and although we fell short, it did provide some temporary help. GVHD has now taken away the feeling in both feet, neuropathy; mucositis, severe mouth and throat sores; thinning of my skin which leads to many skin tears and constant bandaging; jaw muscle pain which makes it hard for me to just get a spoon full of oatmeal in my mouth because I cannot open my mouth wide enough; bone pain that I have been told that I will have to live with, congenial heart failure and then the final two items which bring me to this writing.
I am not one to mice words nor will I play on others sympathies so I will just put my cards on the table. The first is dry eye syndrome. I no longer produce tears which lead to constant drying of my eyes and loss of vision. I met with the USC Eye Institute and they can take care of this by placing special lenses in my eyes which will provide moisture to the eyes and giving me 20/20 vision once again. The cost is $5,000 and they require a 20% deposit being as my insurance, Medicare will only pick up 80%. I have to provide the $1000 before they will make the lenses. I just found out this information three days ago and being as I have $3.68 in my checking account and live alone on SSI in the amount of $1120 a month it may as well be a million dollars they want. I am a very independent cowboy and hate to ask anyone for anything, but this is just out of the question on my income. Just to be able to see again would be a Godsend. You really don’t know what you have until it is taken away and losing my sight has been a very difficult adjustment. I have to increase my font size to 400% and use a strong magnifying glass just to read or type.
The next issue and most expensive is a gum disease which is slowly causing me to lose my teeth. The dental team here at UCLA has examined me and told me that I am going to lose all my teeth in time. Since that diagnosis I have lost three teeth in the past three weeks. I have been calling around and the cost is going to be approximately $1,000 a tooth. I am thinking of going down the denture route. I am afraid to eat anything in fear that the next tooth will be one of my upper front teeth. I have lost two incisors and one front bottom tooth so far. I am hoping and praying that I will have my smile back and the ability to eat and enjoy my cowboy chuck, and I make a mean Son of a gun stew.
I may not ever be able to repay your generosity or kindness, but I will try. I have been blessed with a great community, Chino/Chino Hills that have followed my cancer journey and have provided much help in the form of meals, medicine, bandaging, transportation, money, doing my laundry, running errands for me, working on my rig. I live by myself with the horses and livestock in a fifth wheel trailer. It’s a 1993 trailer and has needed some repairs which have been attended to by some great church folks. My twenty-three year old daughter has nursed me back to health time after time and is so worried about me that she spends a lot of her time stressed out over me. I want to remove that stress, get my sight back and regain my big smile once again but I need your help. I am a God fearing man and though I don’t know why God has led me up this rocky mountain pass I remain strong in my belief that my Lord and Savior has a plan for me. I am hoping that so many prayers will be answered and I can live the rest of my life without so many complications. I know so many others have it worse than me and though many have compared me to Job from the Old Testament, I have to find solace in his story. A man that lost all his wealth, family, and friends but a man that would not deny his Savior and ended up being a richer man than what he was when his world was taken away. What cancer didn’t know in the beginning was this. It brought a knife to a gun fight and picked the wrong cowboy to fight with. Being a cowboy is not something you were born to be, it is something that you become and I am proud to a cowboy. Please, find it in your heart to help, no matter what the amount. Know that it is going to a good cause and should anyone need validity of my requests, I will be happy to provide anything such as bills and accounts. I am an honest man and live my life by the Code of the West.
May God bless you for your kindness and generosity.
Respectfully,
Ted May
Story to come
I have lived a most colorful life and am currently putting in book form. I have lived a life that few get to experience and most dream about. Not long ago, I had everything and then cancer came along in 2013 in the form of CML leukemia. I didn’t realize how my life was going to soon change. I was given a bone marrow transplant on May 17, 2015 and spent the next 100 days in isolation. I was told by my doctors that if I could make it through this period without complications that I should be able to regain my health and live on. The first 100 days went great with no complications and I thought I was on my way. On day 114 post transplant the wheels started coming off the wagon. Since day 114, I have been admitted to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Hospital eleven times and am currently in the oncology ward with a serious case of pneumonia, which has now consumed 60% of my lungs capacity and am going through extensive antibiotic and breathing treatments. This has become my second home and the entire nursing staff knows me by name for that is how many times I have been admitted due to a disease that I have contracted known as GVHD. GVHD, Graph Versus Host Disease, is deadly in itself with some many side effects. Not all cancer survivors acquire this and to be honest I think the cancer would have been easier to fight another way but at the time it was my only option but to have the transplant and so I did. GVHD has led me to this go fund me site. I had to use it a few years ago to raise money for treatment that insurance wouldn’t cover and although we fell short, it did provide some temporary help. GVHD has now taken away the feeling in both feet, neuropathy; mucositis, severe mouth and throat sores; thinning of my skin which leads to many skin tears and constant bandaging; jaw muscle pain which makes it hard for me to just get a spoon full of oatmeal in my mouth because I cannot open my mouth wide enough; bone pain that I have been told that I will have to live with, congenial heart failure and then the final two items which bring me to this writing.
I am not one to mice words nor will I play on others sympathies so I will just put my cards on the table. The first is dry eye syndrome. I no longer produce tears which lead to constant drying of my eyes and loss of vision. I met with the USC Eye Institute and they can take care of this by placing special lenses in my eyes which will provide moisture to the eyes and giving me 20/20 vision once again. The cost is $5,000 and they require a 20% deposit being as my insurance, Medicare will only pick up 80%. I have to provide the $1000 before they will make the lenses. I just found out this information three days ago and being as I have $3.68 in my checking account and live alone on SSI in the amount of $1120 a month it may as well be a million dollars they want. I am a very independent cowboy and hate to ask anyone for anything, but this is just out of the question on my income. Just to be able to see again would be a Godsend. You really don’t know what you have until it is taken away and losing my sight has been a very difficult adjustment. I have to increase my font size to 400% and use a strong magnifying glass just to read or type.
The next issue and most expensive is a gum disease which is slowly causing me to lose my teeth. The dental team here at UCLA has examined me and told me that I am going to lose all my teeth in time. Since that diagnosis I have lost three teeth in the past three weeks. I have been calling around and the cost is going to be approximately $1,000 a tooth. I am thinking of going down the denture route. I am afraid to eat anything in fear that the next tooth will be one of my upper front teeth. I have lost two incisors and one front bottom tooth so far. I am hoping and praying that I will have my smile back and the ability to eat and enjoy my cowboy chuck, and I make a mean Son of a gun stew.
I may not ever be able to repay your generosity or kindness, but I will try. I have been blessed with a great community, Chino/Chino Hills that have followed my cancer journey and have provided much help in the form of meals, medicine, bandaging, transportation, money, doing my laundry, running errands for me, working on my rig. I live by myself with the horses and livestock in a fifth wheel trailer. It’s a 1993 trailer and has needed some repairs which have been attended to by some great church folks. My twenty-three year old daughter has nursed me back to health time after time and is so worried about me that she spends a lot of her time stressed out over me. I want to remove that stress, get my sight back and regain my big smile once again but I need your help. I am a God fearing man and though I don’t know why God has led me up this rocky mountain pass I remain strong in my belief that my Lord and Savior has a plan for me. I am hoping that so many prayers will be answered and I can live the rest of my life without so many complications. I know so many others have it worse than me and though many have compared me to Job from the Old Testament, I have to find solace in his story. A man that lost all his wealth, family, and friends but a man that would not deny his Savior and ended up being a richer man than what he was when his world was taken away. What cancer didn’t know in the beginning was this. It brought a knife to a gun fight and picked the wrong cowboy to fight with. Being a cowboy is not something you were born to be, it is something that you become and I am proud to a cowboy. Please, find it in your heart to help, no matter what the amount. Know that it is going to a good cause and should anyone need validity of my requests, I will be happy to provide anything such as bills and accounts. I am an honest man and live my life by the Code of the West.
May God bless you for your kindness and generosity.
Respectfully,
Ted May
Story to come
Organizer
Ted May
Organizer
Chino Hills, CA