Lee’s Medical Expenses

My brother-in-law is Lee Coleman. He went to the doctor on Monday, 3/5/18 and they did the CT scan which revealed he had a diverticulitis flare up with micro holes. Lee was told to lay down and take it easy and to go back on Tuesday 3/6 for a follow up. Early Tuesday morning he was in so much pain he couldn’t sit, stand or walk so my husband Roby helped his sister (Rochelle) take Lee on to the hospital. That evening he was finally admitted. The doctors went back and forth whether he should have surgery or not so they decided to try antibiotics first to fight the infection he had going on. His lab work showed that surgery wasn’t a good idea either. After the 3rd day, the doctors realized that antibiotics were not going to work, his kidneys were shutting down so he needed surgery, immediately.  That was on Friday 3/9.  His surgery took about 2.5 hours and the procedure was quite unexpected. He has a very long road ahead, as he has a large incision in his abdomen (open surgical wound) that must remain open to lessen the risk of worsening the infection until the doctors decide it can be closed. He will need another surgery in a several weeks/months to correct more problems. He also has a drain port with a bag on his left side. A large portion of his intestine was removed. This is all to address the massive infection. The other major problem is, his kidney function has not improved, but gotten worse since the surgery. Lee is the sole provider for their family, and they have a young son with autism.  He has medical insurance, but his plan states the first $9,000 comes out of pocket and he isn’t sure yet what happens after that.  We have no idea how long he will be out of work, how many more surgeries he faces or what will come of his kidney ordeal moving forward since they don’t seem to know why they’re still getting worse. Our family and friends will help Rochelle & Lee convert their living space at home to accommodate his medical and comfort needs while he awaits more info/surgeries. Lee is afraid of what the future holds, so I assured him I’d create a fundraiser to try and help ease some of his worries. Please help the Coleman family if you can, and share this GoFundMe story as much as possible. Thank you very much!

-Cheree Johnson