Hello, my name is Dorene Dobberstein and I've been married to Bruce Dobberstein for 18 years.

Bruce taught physical education for Virginia, Minnesota schools for 30 years. He graduated from Detroit Lakes High School in 1976. He played baseball, basketball, and football in high school and went on to play for the Minnesota Twins for a couple of years in Florida while going to Moorhead University.

We are originally from Minnesota and moved to Arizona 10 years ago after Bruce retired. Bruce struggled with arthritis, and the dry heat of Arizona relieved his pain. Minnesota will always be in our hearts, and we consider it home.

Bruce recently was diagnosed with ALS. This terrible disease attacks muscles and kills them off permanently. There is no cure, and someday he will pass away from this disease. At the end, he will be completely immobile. Hopefully, this will be years down the road, but the disease is attacking his hands, feet, and moving up into his legs currently. He has to use a cane and should be in a wheelchair, but we are just not able to get everything ready this fast. Currently, he’s homebound, only getting out for church and doctor appointments. Bruce has lost over 65 pounds since leaving Minnesota, and just moving around takes so much out of him.

A wheelchair is being ordered along with other items he currently needs. We are getting the home ready for wheelchair access, which is very expensive. We have a ramp, but it needs to be moved to the other side of our home where we have a 36” door, and that will cost around $5,000. Medicare will pay for the main wheelchair, but at this time we do not know what our copay will be. The cost for the wheelchair is $50,000.

The reason I’m doing this GoFundMe is there is a new therapy from Apex Medical Technologies that is a stem cell injection that will help the muscles he still has get stronger. Studies show (from the Mayo Clinic) that they have wonderful success with individuals who have ALS. Studies are still in process, and this procedure has not been FDA approved but is FDA compliant. I feel it’s not approved because of Big Pharma!

This procedure works for many different parts of your body. We thought it was only for pain management but found out that ALS has done studies, and if we can give Bruce a better quality of life, it’s worth every penny.

This procedure costs around $15,000. That is for a full body infusion as well as injections where his pain is.