Aid Heath's Fight for Vision and Health

Hello. I am Heath’s youngest daughter and I’m creating this to get some financial help for my dad, as it has been very taxing on my parents as well as me.

Last month, Heath went to the health clinic for what he thought were allergies irritating his eye. They prescribed medication that he placed in his eye that night, but the next morning it was worse to the point he could not open his right eye. The clinic referred him to an ophthalmologist in Pensacola for further testing and treatment. Over the next ten days, he was prescribed different drops to treat a 3mm corneal ulcer and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a serious, aggressive bacterial infection. He had to make a weekend visit to the ER because of the unbearable pain, where they performed a CT scan and saw he had cellulitis in his right eyelid. At his follow-up on Monday, we asked if the culture had come back verifying the bacteria because none of the medication was working, and at that point, he had excruciating pain and was completely blind in his right eye. The doctor informed us he did not do a culture, he wasn’t worried about the pain, and that he was sure it was the ulcer and this serious bacteria. The tech who triaged Heath at this appointment reached out to us to see if we would be okay seeing the cornea specialist they had on staff. We assumed the doctor we were seeing was a specialist, so we readily agreed that on the Thursday appointment we would see the other doctor also. This tech was so upset that Heath wasn’t getting the proper care she was crying and apologizing. Thankfully, due to her intervention and the second doctor, Heath was referred to UAB to see a top-ranked cornea specialist. By this time, the ulcer was at 5mm and Heath still could not see out of his right eye. The second doctor was sure it was fungal just by looking at it, not bacterial. This proved to be true when Heath saw Dr. Fowler at UAB the next day. She has prescribed drops, oral medicine, and ointment to attempt to kill the fungal infection. Unfortunately, it seems to be resistant to most normal medicines. His drops come from the compounding pharmacy, which our insurance doesn’t cover. He has had two surgical injections of various medicines, one also coming from the compounding pharmacy. This past week, his pain was so high the medications to put him in a twilight state did not work, so he was awake for the whole procedure. Dr. Fowler was concerned about the pain and the stress it was putting on the eye that she strongly recommended we stay in Birmingham, close to the ER at UAB. We live 4 hours away from UAB. She did see some improvement this past Thursday, and as of right now, his pain is tolerable.

The reason for the GoFundMe is because we moved in June to be closer to family. Heath did not start working until August because he was helping family. The week before all of this happened, we signed a lease for a home, which is nice after being in a 5th wheel for 5 years. Since Heath had not been employed over 90 days, Friday they called to let him go from his job. While we are sure this fungal infection came from work, there is no way to prove it, so workers' comp isn’t an option. He also has his CDL physical due the first week of November, and we know as of now he will not be cleared. He has 3 appointments per week in Birmingham, which costs about $160 a week in fuel. We were blessed with someone paying for our hotel last week. In the past five weeks, we have gone through any extra money we had and do not know how we are going to continue getting him the care he needs, with the distance, cost of medicine that isn’t covered by insurance, and if there are any more surprise stays. They are trying to get the infection cleared up before he has a corneal transplant. If it does not get cleared up, he will need a therapeutic cornea transplant (where they cut the infection out and then piece parts back in). Then in 12 months, he would need a second transplant. Anything can help.