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Larry and Betty Jo Maughan Miller are fighting for their lives right now. She, with cancer, who has already surpassed the time doctors gave her to live, and he, coming back from a coma that took him to the brink of death. He is now in recovery. She is optimistic for both herself and him. But between them, medical expenses are quickly draining all of their finances.
Larry has an interesting history.
Before he was a year old, his parents divorced. He never knew his mother. Circumstances forced his father to place Larry in an orphanage for two years.
Boy Scouts and Boys Club kept him off the streets as a teenager. Then, at age 17 he joined the U.S. Army serving three years in Germany and then in the Vietnam war between 1967-68.
After the war he became a Virginia State Trooper, graduated from college in law enforcement, and then, in 1976 changed careers and became a district executive for the Boy Scouts of America.
In 1990 he was called upon as an Army reservist to serve in Operation Desert Storm, leaving his wife and five children. The two youngest had been born with significant disabilities, possibly due to effects from Larry's exposure to Agent Orange when he was in Vietnam.
While fighting in Saudi Arabia, Larry was injured. The event dredged up a full-blown case of P.T.S.D. from his Vietnam experiences, memories that had lain latent for 22 years.
This is when his life unraveled.
Within two years, he lost his health, his wife and children to divorce, his career, his home, church membership, and even his knife shop burned to the ground.
With determination and some assistance from the Missoula, MT Vet Center, he fought his way back from the brink of suicide to a new exuberance for life.
His new sweetheart, Betty Jo, helped him win a seven-and-a-half year battle with the Veterans Administration to acknowledge its responsibility for his physical injuries and ongoing P.T.S.D.
In 2007, as Betty Jo was leaving for work one morning, she discovered Larry not moving and barely breathing. He was in a coma. (This became the first of two comas.) After two weeks in the hospital and two weeks in a nursing home, Larry got up from bed and discharged himself so he could go home, determined to rehabilitate there. It took several months for him to regain most of his lost strength.
THEN August 12 of 2015, Larry suffered a major hemorrhagic stroke from the rupture of an Arterial Venal Malformation (AVM) in his head. After four weeks in ICU, several doctors consulted with Betty Jo that Larry's entire cerebellum was "mush" and that he would remain in a vegetative state, kept alive in that condition as long as life support was continued. So the tough decision to remove every piece of life support was made and he was placed in Hospice care.
But the "Miracle Man" was not yet ready to give up the fight! After four days with no food, water, or oxygen, he opened his eyes and raised one arm toward his doctor!
In the weeks since, he has made small leaps of progress every day, relearning to talk, brush his teeth, sit up, hold his head up, and even walk. His will to fight his way back to health is evident.
Larry's Medicare benefits are quickly depleting and the VA is balking at picking up the tab for intensive skilled therapy to improve his overall safety and daily functioning in hopes of him returning home. He has been accepted by an intensive rehab program but the expense will be overwhelming without VA assistance, which is likely not going to happen. Money, at this point is what stands in the way of Larry having the ammunition necessary to win his latest battle!
Throughout all of this, Betty Jo has been in her own battle with cancer. In 2011 she was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer so underwent surgery and a six-month round of chemo therapy. The doctors gave her two years to live.
Betty Jo retired from her job, changed her diet to cancer-fighting organic eating, kept up her exercises and teaching Tai Chi at the University, and continued playing piano at church even though her fingers became numb with neuropathy. She was sick, had no energy, and was bald but she kept smiling and living!
The cancer was in remission for a time but another round of chemo therapy was started in January of 2013. During this time she found help from a naturopathic doctor who began treating her for cancer which Betty Jo believes has kept her going, not only in life but free from chemo therapy. The price of her treatments are $3,300 per week but are required to keep her alive and well. Without her, Larry has no one to care for him and little motivation to keep fighting.
It has been two months now since Larry's second coma began. Betty Jo has been by his bedside12-14 hours per day and most nights. The first few weeks were an emotional roller coaster for her but now she is more physically exhausted as she is needed to help her restless husband be comfortable and carefully watch that he doesn't fall out of bed. Men from church have generously been donating their time to sit with Larry some nights to give Betty Jo a chance for rest but their resources are wearing thin.
Larry is a fighter. And his dear wife is a hero as she sacrifices focus on her own battle with cancer to stand guard over the safety and recovery of her husband. They could use some helping hands from those of us who can be grateful we have our own problems and not theirs!
Larry has an interesting history.
Before he was a year old, his parents divorced. He never knew his mother. Circumstances forced his father to place Larry in an orphanage for two years.
Boy Scouts and Boys Club kept him off the streets as a teenager. Then, at age 17 he joined the U.S. Army serving three years in Germany and then in the Vietnam war between 1967-68.
After the war he became a Virginia State Trooper, graduated from college in law enforcement, and then, in 1976 changed careers and became a district executive for the Boy Scouts of America.
In 1990 he was called upon as an Army reservist to serve in Operation Desert Storm, leaving his wife and five children. The two youngest had been born with significant disabilities, possibly due to effects from Larry's exposure to Agent Orange when he was in Vietnam.
While fighting in Saudi Arabia, Larry was injured. The event dredged up a full-blown case of P.T.S.D. from his Vietnam experiences, memories that had lain latent for 22 years.
This is when his life unraveled.
Within two years, he lost his health, his wife and children to divorce, his career, his home, church membership, and even his knife shop burned to the ground.
With determination and some assistance from the Missoula, MT Vet Center, he fought his way back from the brink of suicide to a new exuberance for life.
His new sweetheart, Betty Jo, helped him win a seven-and-a-half year battle with the Veterans Administration to acknowledge its responsibility for his physical injuries and ongoing P.T.S.D.
In 2007, as Betty Jo was leaving for work one morning, she discovered Larry not moving and barely breathing. He was in a coma. (This became the first of two comas.) After two weeks in the hospital and two weeks in a nursing home, Larry got up from bed and discharged himself so he could go home, determined to rehabilitate there. It took several months for him to regain most of his lost strength.
THEN August 12 of 2015, Larry suffered a major hemorrhagic stroke from the rupture of an Arterial Venal Malformation (AVM) in his head. After four weeks in ICU, several doctors consulted with Betty Jo that Larry's entire cerebellum was "mush" and that he would remain in a vegetative state, kept alive in that condition as long as life support was continued. So the tough decision to remove every piece of life support was made and he was placed in Hospice care.
But the "Miracle Man" was not yet ready to give up the fight! After four days with no food, water, or oxygen, he opened his eyes and raised one arm toward his doctor!
In the weeks since, he has made small leaps of progress every day, relearning to talk, brush his teeth, sit up, hold his head up, and even walk. His will to fight his way back to health is evident.
Larry's Medicare benefits are quickly depleting and the VA is balking at picking up the tab for intensive skilled therapy to improve his overall safety and daily functioning in hopes of him returning home. He has been accepted by an intensive rehab program but the expense will be overwhelming without VA assistance, which is likely not going to happen. Money, at this point is what stands in the way of Larry having the ammunition necessary to win his latest battle!
Throughout all of this, Betty Jo has been in her own battle with cancer. In 2011 she was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer so underwent surgery and a six-month round of chemo therapy. The doctors gave her two years to live.
Betty Jo retired from her job, changed her diet to cancer-fighting organic eating, kept up her exercises and teaching Tai Chi at the University, and continued playing piano at church even though her fingers became numb with neuropathy. She was sick, had no energy, and was bald but she kept smiling and living!
The cancer was in remission for a time but another round of chemo therapy was started in January of 2013. During this time she found help from a naturopathic doctor who began treating her for cancer which Betty Jo believes has kept her going, not only in life but free from chemo therapy. The price of her treatments are $3,300 per week but are required to keep her alive and well. Without her, Larry has no one to care for him and little motivation to keep fighting.
It has been two months now since Larry's second coma began. Betty Jo has been by his bedside12-14 hours per day and most nights. The first few weeks were an emotional roller coaster for her but now she is more physically exhausted as she is needed to help her restless husband be comfortable and carefully watch that he doesn't fall out of bed. Men from church have generously been donating their time to sit with Larry some nights to give Betty Jo a chance for rest but their resources are wearing thin.
Larry is a fighter. And his dear wife is a hero as she sacrifices focus on her own battle with cancer to stand guard over the safety and recovery of her husband. They could use some helping hands from those of us who can be grateful we have our own problems and not theirs!