Carbon Monoxide Poisoning ... 6 Strokes Later

In May of 2021, Becca realized her husband, Ben Barringer, had a stroke in the night that was caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. Thus began their excruciating journey of the past 14 months. Ben --- an exceptionally loving husband, father, listener and leader was thrown into a world he had never known. As he lay in ICU and the hospital for 4 weeks, Becca wondered if he would survive, let alone remember the 12 computer languages that once funded their life of helping others through missionary work in various countries. He had to learn to walk, talk, eat, drink, and do basic daily tasks again with limited vision, strength, and mental capacity. With disability pay, this family soon was forced to use their savings for their daily expenses and drastic increase in medical costs.

Fast-forward to August of 2021, Ben and Becca arrived at our office for mild-hyperbaric oxygen chamber therapy. When I tested his heart rate variability values, I was shocked at how little his functioning was and yet he still was working in some capacity to assist his family and ministry. After six weeks of weekly care and lots of prayers, Ben began normalizing before a necessary move in residence.

Shortly after January of this year, the whole family experienced CoVid, Strep and the Flu, most likely due to the compromised immune systems related to the exceptional life stressors. Amidst this unforgiving stress, Ben has continued to work to meet his obligations, yet it has pressurized him tremendously as their savings dwindled. This year, this family had to move yet again because the place they were staying became unavailable. They are currently living pay check to pay check and Ben's paycheck will be reduced 40% as he returns to medical disability status.

(This is a picture of their ministry team who they were traveling with when they were poisoned by carbon monoxide)

On June 23, Ben experienced a stroke affecting his speech again and mental capacity he had recovered. July 6th, Ben experienced two more strokes that affected his speech further, muscle strength, and basic physiological functionality. However, Ben has made great strides in his care in the past week and has miraculously managed to heal and reverse some of the damage, including normalizing his bladder control so they can obtain restful and restorative sleep. I am hopeful that with some financial stress relieved, his body will continue to heal. If he doesn’t heal enough to go back to work by October 26, he will lose his job of 23 years, which is the main support for his family and their ministry, in addition to health insurance for him and his family.

I have never created a GoFundMe for someone before, and yet, I ask you now, with sincerity and hope, please consider giving what you can to help this tremendously generous family. Because the home that they were in last year did not have a carbon monoxide sensor, the three of them were slowly poisoned for a month - Ben is the one who developed a stroke, but both Becca and their 17-year-old son developed cognitive and physical symptoms as well. This family has reached out to multiple attorneys to assist them with the liability insurance aspect of this situation to help them pay for the necessary medical care, but sadly, the attorneys did not follow through due to the required work involved.

John and I, and Ben and Becca and all those who love them, thank you in advance for your generosity, love, prayers and support.