Brandon, Denise & Logan are a special family that is in need of support during this challenging time. Brandon had neck surgery back in March 2022, therefore using up all their savings. They have been through a lot lately (read below) and have a long road ahead of them with the future back surgery AFTER Brandon's elbow heals up completely.

Unable to work for months, not qualifying for short-term disability, no PTO and savings make it extremely difficult for this family. Any help is greatly appreciated to cover medical expenses and other bills!

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Written by Brandon's wife; Denise (Hanson) Burket:

Brandon has a bad back and has been battling it for years to avoid surgery as long as possible. On Sept. 9th he came home from work in tears and hardly able to walk. We went to the ER only to pretty much get pushed to the side while they dealt with a trauma (understandable, but frustrating). After a long weekend of not getting out of bed and not even able to ride with to drop Logan off at his first day of preschool, the did an MRI on Monday. He was able to get in to see his pain Dr. the next day and he suggested waiting to see what the back Dr./Surgeon said before doing any more injections as he's had A LOT in the last few weeks to try to get the pain under control. His appointment with the Surgeon was scheduled for the following Monday, the 19th.

An infection showed up randomly this past Saturday, the 17th when he said his elbow felt funny and it began to swell that evening. We did some online searching and decided it was likely some bursitis and left it at that. Sunday he woke up and it was more swollen, and became red and hot so we went to the express clinic to be told it was likely Bursitis like we thought but given antibiotics in case there was any infection in it. Monday morning Brandon went to his appointment with the back Surgeon and he scheduled him for surgery on Sept. 29th, assuming there was no infection/the infection was improving by then. Brandon then went in to see a Chiropractor, and he suggested Brandon get a second opinion and get some bloodwork done. Brandon did that on Tuesday and they did tests, got images and started him on strong IV antibiotics only for him to then spike a major fever and not feel good. We spent most of the day in the clinic/outpatient area. Wednesday 6am he went back for the second round of IV antibiotics, got home and began feeling worse so I went home to check his arm (colorblindness doesn't make it easy for him to monitor the redness) and it had spread considerably so brought him to the ER as instructed by the nurse staff the day before. We hadn't even got in the door at home and the Dr. that ordered the tests the day before called and said to get to the hospital because they needed to admit Brandon and aspirate the abscess on his arm and would have to open it up on Thursday to clean out the infection and pack it with antibiotics and keep it open until probably Saturday. They did the surgery yesterday and said it was much worse than they thought and aren't optimistic that they'll be able to close it after they clean it out again on Saturday. He will likely be staying in the hospital until at least the middle of next week. They put in a PICC line this morning, but he's not been able to sleep for weeks now because of the pain in his back/hip and now his arm, so he's exhausted.

Brandon FINALLY got a few hours of sleep/rest this afternoon after they gave him a good dose of Benadryl. When Logan and I got up there around 5pm he was fighting to break yet another fever, but was able to eat some food for the first time today. He said the placing of the PICC line wasn’t painful but the position he had to lay in while they placed it was absolute HORRIBLE pain. The PICC line was placed because it sounds like he’ll need to go in for IV antibiotics on a regular basis for several weeks after he’s discharged.

While we were there his fever finally broke and he had quit sweating so I helped him wash up a little. We had noticed his IV tape was coming loose, but didn’t think much of it, well after we left, his IV began to leak so they got the ok to switch things over to the PICC line, only to find out it isn’t working! Poor guy now has an IV in his foot as it was the only available vein they could find.

Tomorrow around noon they will go back in and clean out his arm some more and HOPEFULLY be able to close it up, but we’re not getting our hopes up as he can’t seem to catch a break right now.

Logan is still REALLY struggling with fully understanding what’s going on with his Dad and is scared to death to even get close to him as he’s afraid he’ll hurt him or “get his germs”. Yet before we are to the car he’s telling me how he misses his dad and wishes he could come home etc.

That’s all I have for now, will update again tomorrow after surgery #2 and hopefully I’m around when the Dr comes this time!

After talking to the Dr. This is what we know… the wound is closed now except the drain tube, which is hopefully going to be removed tomorrow and Brandon could potentially come home tomorrow or Monday assuming all goes well and they’re able to get the pain under control. They were also able to get his PICC line working while he was in surgery!! The Dr. said he’s confident they stopped the infection before it got to the joint or bones or spread beyond the arm. Brandon will need to do IV antibiotics for the next two weeks and oral antibiotics for an additional month, all while seeing the Dr. once a week to monitor and make sure the infection is not returning.

We are still unsure how this will affect back surgery or how far it will push it back. Still, either way, Brandon will likely be unable to work until after he’s able to recover from back surgery (3-4 months+) because of how the status of his back is causing so much pain and a substantial amount of weakness in his left leg which prevents him from being able to walk more than around 30 yards max at a time without his leg going numb.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the thoughts and prayers so far!! We’ve finally got a few small wins today!! PLEASE KEEP THEM COMING!!

Also, thank you to all of you for the offers to help keep Logan busy, bring us meals, and just plain help where needed!!