My brother, Denver Troyer, is very ill with severe kidney disease, likely needing dialysis and eventually a possible kidney transplant. He lost total function of one kidney and half the other in 2017 after multiple complications from a surgery in Chicago for bladder cancer. He is down 60 lbs, very anemic, nauseous and confused, all related to his kidney disease.

My husband and I flew out to Chico, CA, ten days ago after receiving a call from a friend telling us how thin and sick he was. When we arrived two days later, we found him living in horribly unsanitary conditions. He had twelve cats/kittens (one lying dead on the floor) thousands of cockroaches and their dirt, a whole lot of spiders/webs, and clutter everywhere with maggots in pans of old food setting on the stove. The stench is unimaginable. If he were in his normal state of mind, he couldn’t stand to live like that, but the confusion makes him unable to think rationally and he has just become accustomed to it.

We have helped him start the process of getting back on MediCal and CalFresh for food, plus met with Social Security to find out why his benefits were cut. We bought him clothes, found new doctors for him that aren’t two hrs away and made multiple appointments since he hasn’t remembered to go for over a year. We have also contacted Adult Protective Services to see if they can assist him with senior services at a lower cost. I assumed they would remove him from the home but California doesn’t remove adults or relocate them regardless of their living conditions.

We had to extend our trip to a third week to take him to his nephrology appointment. On a positive note, our two hour trip to his cardiology office a week ago was good; his heart is functioning well even though he is in afib all the time.

Steve and I have spent hours, with masks and gloves, trying our best to clean but we barely made a dent and his vacuum broke so we had to buy him a new one. We believe the cleaning needs to be done by a professional service and even if we are able to salvage his mobile home from the months or years of cat feces and urine all over the floors and carpet, plus the severe cockroach infestation, it will be cost prohibitive for him and us. Estimates are in the thousands of dollars (one was $40K) and several said it probably needs to be condemned. We offered to bring him back to Indiana with us but he is not ready for that in his current state of mind, and we want to respect his wishes. I don’t think he can survive another six months if his situation doesn’t change.

Denver’s monthly expenses are currently more than his income but we are working diligently to help him decrease those. We need help with the costs we have incurred thus far and hopefully to find a company to clean and fumigate his mobile home. Anything you can donate would be appreciated. Thank you.

Update:

Denver was admitted to Enloe Med Center tonight. We decided not to wait until seeing the nephrologist on Monday. He simply looked too sick. He is severely dehydrated and acidotic, and the little bit of the one kidney he has is barely functioning. His Dr says he may be here for a week.

Update as of 7/20:

We are finally home, and Denver is out of the hospital after 9 days, 2 units of blood, IV iron, 3 days of a bicarbonate drip, lab work every 6 hrs and oral meds to keep him going in the right direction. His lab work isn't even close to normal but at least it is now compatible with life. I really doubt that he would have survived another 2 months without help because his hemoglobin was only 4.6 and his CO2 was 5. Any medical people know that those numbers are ominous. Thanks to Denver's friends, Steve and Nora, for alerting us to how sick he was.

We cleaned his place up as much as we could in the limited time we had but it is far from clean. I wish we could have convinced him to come back to Indiana but it was his desire to stay at his place with his kitties, but now he only has 3 as opposed to 12, a little more manageable. I am still paying bills for him and organizing social service visits and doctor appointments. I hope he can continue in an upward path. By the time he went home yesterday, he sounded like the old Denver, and not a very confused, sick man. I pray he has the energy to continue making progress.

Thank you all for your support and generosity; we truly appreciate every one of you. God bless you!