Aid Gary Woodruff Jr. in His Recovery

Hello everyone, my name is Stephanie, and I'm the youngest daughter of an amazing guy who really needs some help right now. His name is Gary Woodruff Jr. His life has been flipped upside down, as you'd say.

In March 1988, he suffered a stroke at the age of 27 with 3 young children and a wife. He had to learn to walk all over again, which he did! Even with the blood clot still in the base of his brain, he got back to working full-time, and along with his wife Doris, they raised their 3 kids. We lost my Mom the day before my Dad's birthday in July of 2019, and a huge part of him left with my Mom. But he continued on working full-time until March of 2020. My Dad ended up having a severe pulmonary embolism and had to have a procedure done to also blast away the blood clots that were putting pressure on his heart. He was put on blood thinners to try and help the blood clot in his lungs. After being told he could no longer work due to his lung issues, he had to retire early and lost his insurance. He started paying for his insurance out of pocket until he could get Medicare. Things seemed to get a tad better, or so we thought.

In February of 2023, we found out my Dad had Adenocarcinoma Lung Cancer in the right upper lobe. On May 1st, 2023, my dad went in for a lobectomy of the right upper lobe. The surgery was a success, but 2 short days later, my Dad was fighting for his life. He ended up getting double pneumonia and had to be sedated and put on a ventilator. They could barely get him comfortable and had to use a lot of sedation medicine for his body to heal from the inside out. After 11 days in the ICU and many broncs to clean out his lungs, he was able to transfer to a different floor, but he couldn't move his arms nor his legs and could barely lift his head. He started experiencing hospital delirium and was talking to people who we didn't see. After 2 days on the other floor, my dad unfortunately took a turn for the worse again and got what they call a white-out lung. He was taken back down to the ICU to be resedated, and more broncs were performed to remove the mucus and fluids from his lungs. He started getting better and was then moved to another floor again. This time, though, he could move his arms and tried to move his legs, but unfortunately, he couldn't walk. With the help of Genesis Hospital and the rehabilitation center, he was able to walk with a walker in just two weeks! So now, after 47 days in the hospital and rehabilitation center, he has no cancer and is walking with a walker. Things were going okay. I had moved back in to help him with things he couldn't do anymore.

Then, in July of 2024, just 2 days before his oldest birthday, we lost my sister Amanda at the age of 40. In September, he was retaining a lot of fluid and was admitted into the hospital with Afib. They were able to take over 40 liters of fluid off of him. Then, in November 2024, my Dad wasn't quite himself. He started talking kind of goofy and not being able to help himself much, like no walking or anything. So I called the paramedics and had him taken by ambulance to Genesis. They said he had cellulitis and was septic along with a severe urinary tract infection. He needed to be admitted, but there were no beds anywhere locally. So the next day, there was a bed open in Peoria, IL. He got down to OSF St. Francis and was in their ICU. Things started to get crazy there. His infection/cellulitis in his leg continued to go crazy. They ended up having to cut out and clean out the infection twice to try and get ahead of the infection that was now tunneling. While having a CT scan done, they had noticed a spot on his kidneys, but they were okay with holding off checking on it until he seen his regular Doctor. Things started to look up at OSF St. Francis, and he was healing well with a wound vac and antibiotics, but unfortunately, he couldn't go home. He had to go to a skilled nursing facility.

In late December, he was transferred to Bettendorf Healthcare, where he would be working on healing from his wound and also doing his therapy to start walking again. But unfortunately, it was the holidays and limited staff, and at the beginning of January, he ended up getting Covid, so that put him back on his therapy. But unfortunately, not his breathing. They ended up taking him by ambulance on the 22nd of January to get him checked out. They did some tests and we found out there were 2 spots on his right lung that are "not pretty looking" as the doctors stated. But he was sent back to BHC.

Fast forward to February 19th, I called my Dad to see how he was and what he wanted for dinner. Well, he was wheezing pretty bad and could barely catch his breath. When I finally got to the nursing home, I noticed how bad he was breathing. I went and got the nurse, and she checked his pulse ox level and his heart rate, which was above 120, and his pulse ox was in the 70s. He was eventually taken to the hospital via ambulance, where they found out he was septic again and also now battling influenza A and pneumonia, which then flared up his Afib and a fluid overload that led to dealing with heart failure.

Now, my Dad is not one to ask for anything. He always finds a way to make sure he gets things taken care of. Well, now with a bill of over 10 thousand for just his skilled nursing so far and being on a fixed income, he is needing help so he can continue to get the care he needs and deserves without having to lose everything he worked so hard for. So I'm asking from the bottom of my heart, even if you can't donate, please share.