The man you see in the picture is Carlos Heredia.

I am so blessed to call that man my father-in-law. He is a very kind, honest, hardworking man and has taught those same values to his children. Not only is he that, but he is by far the strongest person I've ever met, and you'll see exactly why once I share his story...

In the 15 years my father-in-law has been in my life, he has faced so many health obstacles. He lost his vision in his left eye back in 2011 due to a work accident, then later developed eye cancer in that same eye but conquered it. He also had skin cancer around 2014 and, you guessed it, conquered it! In 2015, he was in an accident where he hit black ice, got ejected from his car, and had to be airlifted to Fort Wayne where he was in critical condition for a week but managed to pull through like the fighter he is.

It wasn't until 2017-2018 that he developed diabetes, and while everything seemed to be controlled, he unfortunately developed cirrhosis (from the medicine) about a year later. In 2022, he began having kidney issues (due to his medicine once again).

After a change of medicine, his kidneys improved and were just significantly dehydrated. We thought the worst was over, but it wasn't until exactly one year later, in October 2023, when he got very ill and was once again in the hospital for his kidney function. Except now, his liver was failing too on top of that.

His health began rapidly declining afterwards, and doctors told him that he would no longer be allowed to work due to kidney and liver failure as well as other health issues not listed. April 2024 came by, and once again, another week stay in Fort Wayne due to his health. They began preparing his body for dialysis, and by the grace of God, his kidney function improved just enough to where he didn't need dialysis right away. He could get a fistula done and let it heal on its own and then just be on standby.

But as they say... it only gets better before it gets worse.

While his kidney was doing okay, his liver got worse. His kidneys were by no means okay but medically still had some function to them. These two things combined would cause him to retain 15-20 pounds of liquid in his stomach each week, and he would need to have it drained weekly at the hospital. This was our new normal. One day in November 2024, he got very bad stomach pain due to a large hernia he has (an ongoing condition I didn't list prior, but U of M doesn't want to operate because it's too high risk due to his health).

This stomach pain triggered a trip to the ER.

Fortunately, no hernia rupture, but scans showed a tumor in his liver. A biopsy then confirmed it was indeed carcinoma of the liver (cancer).

Treatment was done in late January of this year, and while that treatment was successful, there has since been new growth next to it, meaning possible cancer in a new area of his liver. They are currently awaiting new scans for possible tumors in his lungs as well, which we'll have more answers to at the end of June. He did start dialysis in late January of this year, allowing his body to no longer retain that immense amount of liquid so that his body gets a break from excessive liquid retention while dealing with everything else, so that's one positive thing.

I wish I could end this post and stop listing new things, but sadly, the main reason for this story is because while he's battling all of that, he suddenly lost his vision in his right eye on Wednesday, 6/5. We took him to a specialist, and after examining his eye, they told us his nerves and veins in the back of his eyes were swollen and basically just shut down permanently, causing a sudden complete loss of vision with no hopes of surgery or treatment to ever see again. They could have possibly helped it from spreading to his other eye if his other eye was good, but considering he was already blind in his left eye, there is nothing they can do for him sadly after losing vision in his right eye as well, making him completely blind. (They believe diabetes is the culprit once again.)

after his new diagnosis it really hit me on how the small little things he enjoyed would be robbed from him , his gardening (on the days he found some energy in him) sitting outside and watch the birds and the sky, watching movies from back in his day, even scrolling through his phone and seeing funny videos on tik tok , but most importantly watching his grandchildren run around and play during family gatherings .

Going from having eye vision to being completely blind so suddenly is going to be so challenging for him to adapt. While we're here every step of the way, my mother-in-law has since decided to quit her job so that she can help him navigate this new normal (changing clothes, eating, knowing which medicine is which, how to get to the restroom, move around the house, etc.).

I know my mother-in-law would never ask for help even if she's drowning, so I decided to do this for her because she has been the sole provider for almost 3 years, and they managed through because of her job thankfully. But now they have been left with little to no money due to all medical expenses the last 3 years and missing countless days of work to accompany him on his rougher days/important checkups. While I wish I could take all their financial burden away, medical bills are not cheap, and she still has her day-to-day living expenses, car payments, etc.

Any amount of money raised will go towards medical bills they have accumulated, as well as food and gas money to and from appointments in Ann Arbor and dialysis appointments, and really just any future expenses because they deserve to shift all of their attention on his health without having to always worry about how they're going to get by financially while they begin the process for Medicaid (which requires a lot of time and paperwork).

Thank you to anyone that stuck around to read this. I know the economy is very hard right now, so if you can just share this, it means the world. $1 goes a long way! If everyone who sees this could donate even $1, we could truly make a huge impact. ❤️

As I was writing this (Friday June 6) I sadly got notified that my father-in-law has had a fever all day and went to the hospital to get evaluated. They have found out he still has pneumonia (he had it over a month ago) and that now he has an infection in his blood (sepsis). He will be transported to a bigger hospital and be in critical care for a minimum of 3-4 days.

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers because it's all just too heartbreaking, and although financially they will need all the help they can get, they will need all the prayers in the world more, I will make any updates here once I know more