***UPDATE***

First, thank you all SO MUCH for donating to my surgery!!! This would not be possible without your incredible generosity. We’re so close to the goal!!!

With the exchange rate and the 3% fee from GoFundMe, the target amount has changed to $60k. Up another $2000. The great news is that I only need a flight to Düsseldorf and another $3800 to pay for the surgery.

They have an opening on September 25th that I have asked to be booked in for. This means I need to come up with the full funding by September 10 (my birthday!). The hospital requires payment two weeks prior to the surgery.

At this point, I am looking for more donations to finish this off and/or a flight or points towards a flight. Donations can be made through this site which takes 3% off the top, in person, and also via etransfer.

Thank you for taking the time to read this update. Thank you for donating and most importantly, thank you for your continued prayer as I near the surgery.

Aaron

see below for more info

Back story

Well, it’s not a difficult story to tell but somehow the words escape me. I’ve never been one to ask for help. Quite the opposite really. I get joy from helping others and I thrive on it. I’ve always enjoyed being able to assist people with whatever they need. I think it’s why I became a Paramedic. The idea of offering help to people when they were at their worst brought me such fulfillment. The job consisted of frequent shifts of bad lifting technique helping patients in awkward positions and no other options to get them to safety but just lift them out of their predicament. I was in pain fairly often and took shifts off to recover.

When I decided to leave Paramedicine and focus on my construction business, my back was already pretty shot. It should come as no surprise that working in the construction industry didn’t magically cure my wrecked back. Once again I found myself needing to get things done and just doing them myself. I.e. lifting heavy and awkward items that I could have and should have had help with.

In 2018 I ended up being off work for months. The back pain was so severe that I was prescribed heavy narcotics to manage the pain. There were no answers. No miracle cure available. The doctors just wanted me to manage the pain and hope it gets better. At one point I was so drugged that I couldn’t function. I knew people were in the room. I could hear them talking to me but I couldn’t move or speak. Drugged into a stupor. This was the best our medical professionals could do for me.

In February of 2018, I woke up one morning and had no control of my urinary function. I remembered the doctors saying that if I ever found myself not able to urinate, that was an emergency and I needed to get to a hospital. The back pain was excruciating and I called an ambulance to take me to the University Hospital. I was catheterized and prepped for emergency back surgery. The surgeon removed most of my disc in my lower back where it had bulged out so much that it was compressing my nerve and had to be removed.

After surgery I began physio and had a bit of recovery but the pain was still there. Constant and nagging. Running down my leg to my feet. Some days it feels like a hot coal is stuck inside my back pocket. Nothing I try helps and to say I’m frustrated is an understatement. Some days it’s frustration, other days it’s anger. Most days it’s just exhausting. I can’t lift up my kids when they want a hug. I can’t carry heavy groceries in for my wife. I can’t help people with labour jobs that I used to do and love so much.

Someone told me about a friend of theirs who went to Germany and had a disc replacement surgery. They said it was expensive but that it was incredible how well the surgery worked. I began looking into it and everyone I spoke with who had gone to Germany was pain free and operating at better than when they were healthy before their back pain started. I reached out to the surgical team and a liaison got back to me explaining how the process works. I prayed that if it was God’s will, I would be a candidate for this surgery and started getting the required medical imaging together. I asked my doctor for a X-ray requisition and to try and get me an MRI. The X-rays were done that week but the request for an MRI was denied. I went back to the doctor, made a second request and reiterated how much pain I am in. I was scheduled for six months away. I was incredibly disappointed. I took it as a sign that it wasn’t in God’s plan at this time. I was at home a week later and got a phone call. It was the MRI department. They had a cancellation and asked if I could come in within the hour. I drove down, had an MRI and sent all my imaging to Germany. The liaison said it could take up to two weeks but got a letter back that same day. The surgical team reviewed my imaging and decided that I was a candidate for disc replacement. They booked me for surgery on December 12, 2024. The only downside? I had to come up with $58,000.00. We began to pray and trust that God’s timing is perfect. I put my truck up for sale immediately and prayed that God would provide a buyer for it. I didn’t feel that asking people for money was something I wanted to do at the time. The date to get the money in for surgery came and went. While I lost my initial surgery date, the surgeons let me know that they will rebook me once I have the funding so now we wait.

As I’ve said before, I’m not one to ask for help but as it turns out I need it. I’m not sure what God’s plan is for my back but as always, I’m trusting in his perfect will.

Thanks for reading this. Your prayers and support are greatly appreciated.

Aaron