+UPDATE from Michelle*

We are so grateful for all of the support we have received so far! Unfortunately, even though Manny was able to come home in the middle of January, we still have many, many issues to face. To make matters worse, Manny unexpectedly lost his insurance and was terminated from his job via email while in the hospital. He is unable to collect unemployment or disability payments due to regulations placed upon those programs. For unemployment, you have to be able to work, which his health still prevents, but you can't collect disability payments until you have been disabled for 13 months, which wouldn't be until November. We have had wonderful friends reach out to us about scheduling a benefit concert and dinner, so look for more information on that soon! We are so very grateful to everyone who has supported us throughout this long and difficult journey!

Hi, my name is Cathy Williamson and I am the mom of Michelle, Manny Martinez's wife. It is with a heavy heart to share that Manny has been ill for many weeks now with an undetermined lung issue. He went into the hospital and was immediately put in the ICU. After a week, he was put on a ventilator to help him breathe. As of last week, he was moved from Carle Bromenn in Bloomington to a Carle pulmonary rehabilitation center where a tracheostomy was done. He is a medical mystery as he is testing negative for everything. They hope they can get to the bottom of what is wrong with him. Michelle is showing extraordinary strength, as are their children Diego, Gabe, and Ellie. Michelle travels now over to Urbana while still maintaining her teaching load. Manny has not been drawing his salary for almost 6 weeks. As you can imagine, with the travel costs and lack of a paycheck from Manny, the family is beginning to feel the hardship. Any contribution that you can make to my daughter's lovely family would be a blessing.