Support Kevins Journey in Navigating a new FND Diagnosis in fatherhood and more

Update of this roller coaster. 11/10/25

Happy Veterans day tomorrow 11/11/25

He has gotten into PT, OT and Speech. He has been given various exercises in each to work on. They have decided they won"t do regular appointments but instead gave him direction and to come back after WWP(Wounded Warrior Project) AZ trip and WWP UCLA trip for review and next steps. He used his cane most days as he still had significant weakness on his right side until about the third week of October. The days he has had better strength he has visibly noticible tremors again which have seemed to correlate with the temperature swings.

He has returned to, driving and work and still having days where he needs to step back so is on intermittent unpaid FMLA.

He will be going to Arizona with me his care partner through Wounded Warrior Project November 12 -14 to a health and wellness program for nutrition and mobility with an extensive itinerary each day. So we will both be out of our offices during this time and utilizing family for care of the children.

As for UCLA, they have spent this time collecting all of the health documents from the VA and other documents for review for his care through them. We recently heard back from them and have the 1 week of extensive testing and appointments at UCLA scheduled for the final week of January 2026.

Last month a work event brought him to the cities and unfortunately his vehicle was stolen, yes I am serious in the cacophony of medical woes things started doing better and then he was with out a vehicle and his job is 40mins away from his home, and he has 4 teenagers. So we scrambled to figure out some plans and had to have his dad bring him part way home and I went and picked him up. Luckily the next day he got a call saying they found the car. By some grace the car was intact as well as it's contents, however, it was impounded after being located by the police and that incurred a fee of just over $200 so another cost out of our control.

Also having 4 teenagers means they also go to the doctor and have recently had their own medical issues from a cold to sports injury. Er, urgent care and primary doctors.

We have also paused our direct foster care with all of this and other mitigating circumstances compounding so we are working through all of that loss as we navigate this.

With recent budget cuts I am only able to work a maximum of 70 hours and have my own health issues and trying to cover what I can but am at my financial cap as well and trying to find a secondary means of stable income that somehow fits into all the chaos and my career. I have had to close out my credit cards to consolidate debt to get to a lower payment to make things more doable.

Anything helps.

Background:

Partner, Veteran, Father of four full-time kids and more foster children over the years, and a Therapist, Kevin Brown has dedicated his life to serving others abroad and at home. Kevin has served in the army and had the fortune of returning and the misfortune of returning with PTSD and Burn Pit Disease. Burn Pit Disease refers to a range of health conditions linked to the open-air burn pits the military used to dispose of waste in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some waste included materials like chemicals, plastics, and medical waste with the use of jet fuel as an accelerant. It is essentially this round of veterans' version of Agent Orange with a plethora of complications that keep growing.

Airborne Hazards and Burn Pit Exposures

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/burnpits/

Research offers link between burn pit smoke and serious brain injuries

https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/2025/07/21/research-offers-link-between-burn-pit-smoke-and-serious-brain-injuries/

For the last nearly 2 years, Kevin has had some mild to severe tremors that at one point mounted to flailing, leading to an ER visit and being diagnosed with dystonia. Other symptoms seem to compound from wartime and grow in severity and frequency. Some things included stuttering, gait fluctuations, pain, and more, pointing closer and closer to a Parkinson’s diagnosis and trying to live with that. He has been working hard despite these things and pushing through such.

He has been a therapist working with homeless and at-risk youth and victims of human trafficking in a program that holds deep meaning to him as he went through something similar when he was a homeless youth. He strives to be back at work and helping again as soon as possible.

This weekend was meant to be a few hours of work for myself and then a weekend of self-care and relaxing camping for us. Thankfully, we opted out of Friday night camping as the weather looked like it was going to storm and voted to just do Saturday after I got off work, which of course did not occur, and a hospital stay incurred instead.

What happened 7/19/25 at just after 2 am:

Kevin was, luckily, at my house near the hospital, tossing around in bed thinking he had just a bad bout of heartburn. He told me he needed to get up, and he took his Tums and went upstairs for some water while I went to the bathroom. I returned to find him in the kitchen, death-gripped on a cup, bloodshot eyes, tears welling up, and guttural forced “I really don’t feel good” mustered out. His left arm would not release the cup, and his whole right side went slack as his face drooped. His words were quickly unintelligible, and responses were gone despite his best efforts. I pinned him to the sink with my body weight and pulled a 1950s highchair I have as a step stool and hoped it would suffice, and thankfully it did. I called 911 and struggled to keep him conscious for their arrival. He was able to get out to the ambulance, assisted heavily by EMS and firefighters, before temporarily losing all limb functionality. He was transported by ambulance, and I waited at the hospital for his arrival. Once I was able to come back into the ER room, he had limited movement on his left side and none on his right. He used minor ASL and left-handed squeezes to communicate that he wanted me to call for his kids, and I proceeded to call his ex-wife to have her bring the kids as ours stayed with a loved one, having witnessed the emergency response moments before. I then proceeded to call other loved ones, and we had a small village arrive to check in on him. He dealt with strange curling spasms that couldn’t be ruled out as a type of seizure, and his muscles on his right were seemingly refusing to relax and became rigid and the worst pain. He slowly got his words back with lots of stuttering and delay. He had various medications administered and a CT scan, and while they did not see an active stroke, they admitted him for observation. He later had an MRI and spoke with Neurology, who indicated FND (Functional Neurological Disorder). This aligned with every single one of the symptoms he has been struggling with for years and offered an amazing feeling of relief to have a diagnosis that makes sense and a proper starting ground for care. Given the severity of the flare, he was advised no driving until he gets cleared by another medical professional, needs physical therapy to regain muscle strength, and occupational therapy to work on skill-building with this major body change to his dominant side. Speech is also something to be working on and a major part of his life. He has been unable to work the week following this event and is working on FMLA. His primary care physician has been on vacation and will be in on Wednesday to assist with the next care management steps and a return-to-work plan.

Functional Neurological Disorder (FND):

https://neurosymptoms.org/en/

He is connected with the Wounded Warrior Project and will be working with them and his doctor to see what can be done with their medical-associated programming. He has a long road ahead of him and unfortunately, with lack of work and extensive care management needs and raising children, cost is not balancing easily, hence creating this GoFundMe as anything helps and just trying to stay afloat with rent, needs and additional medical costs.

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Dr appt update 7/30

The doctor is recommending going through wounded warrior project programs

Cleared to drive with person the next couple days and gauging it with family as mobility and control is returning and appears to be at a safe enough level and advised to be mindful of body and any future flares

Awaiting insurance approval for OT / PT refferal as well as neuro but long wait lists seen

Fmla paperwork will take a few days and will be for 3 weeks immediately and then intermittent fmla will be given as needed for flares and appointments.

Updates to come as we navigate this journey.