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We're the Alexander family, and we're raising money to support Chuck Alexander and his wife, Michelle, as he waits for a liver transplant. Many of you know him and his story and we'll tell some of it here.
Chuck fits into our family like most - he's a dad, a brother, an uncle, a son, a cousin, and our collective humorist as the second funniest person in the family behind Uncle Mike.
In July of 2018, Chuck was on a lake with his family in Alabama when he suddenly became violently ill. When he made it to the hospital, they told him that had be been 30 minutes later, he would have died. After many tests and weeks of mystery, Chuck was diagnosed with non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver and end-stage liver disease. He would need a transplant, and he'd need it pretty soon.
Life changed dramatically for him. He lost his job and most of his family's income because of his illness after going his whole life never having been unemployed. He's now on disability, but that doesn't cover nearly enough of their monthly expenses. Never having been one to sit still for long, he got to work raising money for himself by building bluebird houses, garden beds, and many other things to help the family get by. Still, this is not enough.
Being on a liver transplant list is difficult. He's slowly become increasingly sick with his MELD scores steadily climbing. The MELD score is a compound score that measures how sick you are and is used to place you on the waiting list for a liver transplant. It ranges from the low teens to 40, where it stops. Chuck is now at a 43 and is at the very top of the state and national liver transplant lists.
His immune system is compromised and it nearly cost him his eyesight just a few short weeks ago when he came down with a rare and exotic eye infection. He's been in an out of the hospital since his diagnosis with infections of all kinds.
He's managed to get through over a year on the list by keeping his faith each day. He and Michelle found their church family in Sonora Baptist Church where they are active volunteers. He's on the safety team, the maintenance team, and he's even joined the choir as a tenor!
As of this writing, Chuck is in the hospital and will remain there until he gets a transplant because he is so dangerously sick. He was admitted to the hospital almost a week ago with a severe infection and the doctors were not sure he would make it. He's slowly but surely gotten a bit better and his doctors are now confident they can treat this infection and get him a liver transplant. We pray that it will happen within days, but it could be longer if his infection doesn't clear.
If you pray, please pray for this infection to clear and for a matching liver to be found. Please pray for the family and friends of the donor it will have come from, too, as they grieve their loss. If you hope, hope for the same.
Chuck and Michelle will remain in Little Rock for at least one month after transplant to be sure he heals safely and to address any complications. This will be expensive as it involves paying all of their normal expenses, plus any expenses they incur in Little Rock including lodging, food, gas, etc. And once they return home, it will be many months before Chuck can return to work. They live modestly and responsibly and will not ask for help, so we, the family, are doing it for them. They will need rent, food, gas, and money to cover medical expenses before and after surgery.
Chuck, Michelle, and the family cannot express our thanks enough for the support we have received from all corners of the country. God has blessed us with so many of you and the kindness of so many strangers. We also want to thank our church family and our pastor, Brother Danny Williams, for keeping us lifted up in so many ways throughout all of this. The meals, gifts, quality time, hugs - all of it means so much to us.
Thank you for anything you can do to help Chuck and Michelle. Whether it's a donation, a share on facebook, or your thoughts and prayers, we appreciate all of you so very much.
- The Alexanders
Chuck fits into our family like most - he's a dad, a brother, an uncle, a son, a cousin, and our collective humorist as the second funniest person in the family behind Uncle Mike.
In July of 2018, Chuck was on a lake with his family in Alabama when he suddenly became violently ill. When he made it to the hospital, they told him that had be been 30 minutes later, he would have died. After many tests and weeks of mystery, Chuck was diagnosed with non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver and end-stage liver disease. He would need a transplant, and he'd need it pretty soon.
Life changed dramatically for him. He lost his job and most of his family's income because of his illness after going his whole life never having been unemployed. He's now on disability, but that doesn't cover nearly enough of their monthly expenses. Never having been one to sit still for long, he got to work raising money for himself by building bluebird houses, garden beds, and many other things to help the family get by. Still, this is not enough.
Being on a liver transplant list is difficult. He's slowly become increasingly sick with his MELD scores steadily climbing. The MELD score is a compound score that measures how sick you are and is used to place you on the waiting list for a liver transplant. It ranges from the low teens to 40, where it stops. Chuck is now at a 43 and is at the very top of the state and national liver transplant lists.
His immune system is compromised and it nearly cost him his eyesight just a few short weeks ago when he came down with a rare and exotic eye infection. He's been in an out of the hospital since his diagnosis with infections of all kinds.
He's managed to get through over a year on the list by keeping his faith each day. He and Michelle found their church family in Sonora Baptist Church where they are active volunteers. He's on the safety team, the maintenance team, and he's even joined the choir as a tenor!
As of this writing, Chuck is in the hospital and will remain there until he gets a transplant because he is so dangerously sick. He was admitted to the hospital almost a week ago with a severe infection and the doctors were not sure he would make it. He's slowly but surely gotten a bit better and his doctors are now confident they can treat this infection and get him a liver transplant. We pray that it will happen within days, but it could be longer if his infection doesn't clear.
If you pray, please pray for this infection to clear and for a matching liver to be found. Please pray for the family and friends of the donor it will have come from, too, as they grieve their loss. If you hope, hope for the same.
Chuck and Michelle will remain in Little Rock for at least one month after transplant to be sure he heals safely and to address any complications. This will be expensive as it involves paying all of their normal expenses, plus any expenses they incur in Little Rock including lodging, food, gas, etc. And once they return home, it will be many months before Chuck can return to work. They live modestly and responsibly and will not ask for help, so we, the family, are doing it for them. They will need rent, food, gas, and money to cover medical expenses before and after surgery.
Chuck, Michelle, and the family cannot express our thanks enough for the support we have received from all corners of the country. God has blessed us with so many of you and the kindness of so many strangers. We also want to thank our church family and our pastor, Brother Danny Williams, for keeping us lifted up in so many ways throughout all of this. The meals, gifts, quality time, hugs - all of it means so much to us.
Thank you for anything you can do to help Chuck and Michelle. Whether it's a donation, a share on facebook, or your thoughts and prayers, we appreciate all of you so very much.
- The Alexanders
Organizer and beneficiary
Michelle Alexander
Beneficiary