David Wilbur fund

Our brother in law, David Wilbur of Pierre, SD (formerly from Des Moines, IA) had a seizure on August 25th, 2019 and was taken to the Pierre hospital ER by ambulance. A CT scan revealed that he had suffered a stroke and he was immediately airlifted to Avera McKennan hospital in Sioux Falls, SD and was admitted into the neurology ICU. An MRI revealed he had an Ischemic Stroke in the left back vertebral artery and a “shower of strokes” throughout the brain. Several emergency procedures/surgeries were necessary to reduce the swelling of the brain. Another stroke occurred after that. He has been in critical condition since and has lost the use of the left side of his body. It is doubtful if that will be regained at all. His vision has also been compromised. Cognitive responses are sluggish.

He was put on a ventilator in order to perform the surgeries. A tracheotomy was done in hopes of weaning David off the ventilator. The tracheostomy has been hooked up to the ventilator most of the time and occasionally they have been able to use a CPAP to push the air. He has fluid in his lungs so they must continue to assist breathing with these machines. The prayer is that David can get into a “tracheostomy collar” and not require breathing assistance.

David will need intense inpatient rehab but will not qualify for that if he is still needing breathing assistance with the ventilatory or CPAP. If he can get to this point there are some rehab options in South Dakota, but if he can’t get to that point, he will need to transferred to a facility out of state, and possibly quite far away…..and that will also require insurance approval as well as out-of-network medical expenses.

Unfortunately, when these strokes occurred David was transitioning between employers and had to go on Cobra insurance with no sick leave or benefits. Anyone that knows about Cobra insurance knows that it is ungodly expensive! David has no income. Lorraine has filed for Social Security Disability  for him but once it is approved, benefits do not begin until 5 months after disability occurred and it while only be a very small portion of a normal income.

Lorraine has been in Sioux Falls since he was airlifted and will remain with David for as long as possible. Her paid leave will end soon. In order to remain with David, unpaid FML will be started. Luckily, she has been able to stay at the Walsh Village right next to the hospital, but when David is transferred to another facility, that is no longer an option. They do have some savings to pay their bills for a while but with no or very limited income and all the medical expenses already occurring that will be gone in no time.

It took a lot of convincing by us to let us set up this GoFundMe page for them. This is something Lorraine or David would never want but she had to accept that they will need not only a lot of emotional support, but also financial support.   We have no idea how much David's care is going to cost, David's SSAD won't start until at least February,  or  how long Lorraine will be away from work so we struggled with what to set for a goal.  The amount we set is just a number to put in the field.  We you will find in your hearts to help!
Thank you,
David and Donna Paul
Gerard and Laura Brennan

Today is my big sister Lorraine's birthday and she is spending it at Avera McKennan hospital in Sioux Falls with her hubby David Wilbur who is still in ICU following his massive strokes 3 weeks ago.

PS:. I have had a few questions about what GoFundMe charges for fees and if Lorraine and David will have to pay taxes on the money they receive. Being a retired banker I did research all of our options before setting up this account and this is the information:

GoFundMe has a 0%0 platform fee. They do charge 2.99% on each transaction for credit/debit cards and .30 per transaction. So if you donate $100.00 L&D will receive $96.71. GoFundMe charges the lowest fees and is the top rated platform for fundraising.

All donations made are considered gifts and taxes are not owed on anything they receive.