As many of you know, my husband Jim was admitted to the hospital on December 3, 2024, for what we thought were blisters on his heels from new shoes that just wouldn’t heal. Immediately, ER staff detected Jim was diabetic, and those were foot ulcers. After a 3 nights and 4 days of testing, scans, etc., Jim was diagnosed with LADA, Type 1 diabetes. Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) is a type of diabetes that starts in adulthood and slowly gets worse over time. LADA happens when the pancreas stops making insulin. That's usually because an autoimmune process is damaging cells in pancreas. At that time is blood glucose was almost 600. Therefore, Jim will be insulin dependent for the rest of his life.

During our first hospital stay Jim contracted MRSA. He was put on rounds of antibiotics from the hospital doctor as well as the Podiatrist. Complications from all of this led us back to the hospital on January 24, 2025, when Jim got very sick. Upon admittance, his BP was 81/52, his WBC (white blood cell count) was at 23.37 (normal is typically 4-11) the infection had consumed his body and entered his bones, at least in his feet. Typically, this is where they would traditionally amputate from the knee down. Instead, we opted for a procedure called a Partial Calcanectomy the right foot, where they removed 1/3 of the heel bone and fill it in with a concrete bone graft, he also had a Calcaneous bone biopsy on the left foot and removal of infected and dead tissue within the wounds on both feet. Jim has been in a wheelchair since December 26, 2025, and is still no weight bearing on both feet.

On February 6, 2025, Jim was transferred to a skilled nursing facility to continue 6 weeks of IV antibiotics, work with PT and OT on learning basic transfers to the toilet, his wheelchair, etc., all without using his legs or feet. They are also working with him to make him stronger so when the time comes his body will be able to hold its own weight. By the time Jim gets discharged, it will be 2 ½ months since Jim has walked. So, it’s going to take some rehab just to be able for him to walk again. The PT told Jim that one week of being bedridden or wheelchair bound you lose 10 % of your leg strength.

If you have been keeping up with my Facebook post you know all the details that I’ve not disclosed here, this is just the short and sweet of it. This has taken its toll on us both. I’ve been trying to manage our business, manage Jim’s care, keep up with all the bills and all the medical bills/cost, we have insurance, but they don’t cover everything, like the bandages he needs, insurance covers 15 bandages a month, that covers 7 days, after insurance, we still have almost $300 a month to cover. There are needs that Jim will have that insurance will not cover. In the beginning I was asked by a few of you, if you could start a Go Fund Me for us, but I declined that offer, instead I did give my PayPal and store address, however, this has proven to be more than I can handle or accomplish on my own. This has not been an easy decision, it’s something that I have wrestled with, prayed about, talk to others about. Asking for help doesn’t come easy for me. It never has. I never want to be the one to take from someone else to help myself but right now, we have no choice. I know that there are some of you waiting for this to happen, and please know, it wasn’t you, it’s just taken me this long to swallow my pride and ask for help or let those around us help us financially in the midst of this storm. If your heart leads you to donate, thank you will never be enough, we know that! Please continue to keep us in your prayers and please pray that we can keep Jim’s target discharge date of March 12, 2025.