Donate to help my Mom and Stepdad in recovery.

Hello Everyone,

I am writing you today on behalf of my Mother and Step Father. I am very close with my family. We are a tight group, and we love each other dearly. I am lucky enough as a queer person to have such a loving family.

There is a lot I don’t share about my personal life/family life and it is time to share and hopefully get some additional help from the world!

Eight years ago, my mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. A few years later she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and Spinal Stenosis. A condition where your spinal cord narrows. She has had a lumbar fusion and a cervical fusion. These three diagnoses have changed her life forever. Additionally, she receives chemo treatments for both MS and cancer.

It’s been very hard to watch my mom decline. My Mom has always been fit, adventurous, and outgoing. All my life I watched my mom stay active. She worked hard and loved her career. She lived her life in tip-top shape. Hiking every mountain, she could find. Seeing her explore gave me my love for the outdoors. Sadly, she no longer can do any of those things. Sixty-one is too young to have to lose such freedoms.

Because of her diagnosis, she can no longer work. Relying completely on her husband Bob and their disability. In December of 2022, an MRI showed that my mom’s spinal stenosis was progressing quickly. On December 22nd, 2022, she was sent for another surgery. Her surgery went well but she needed time to recover, on the same day my mom was released from the hospital, my stepdad Bob was rushed into the emergency room. Suffering from a large infection in his vertebra.

Instead of having my stepfather take care of my Mom during this time he too had to be taken care of. Luckily between Bob's four kids and my siblings, we were able to step in and help. However, my stepdad is still healing from his surgeries three months later and still struggles to function while living with pain daily. Having a home care nurse come in twice a day to care for him.

My stepdad Bob was also a very adventurous man. He has always been an avid skier, hiker, and climber. Also, an amazing philanthropist. Bob has scaled the Tetons, Mount Reiner, and more. He loved to take his ultra-light plane flying over the Wasatch Mountains. He worked in hospice for many years, served the homeless, and worked hard on making Utah a safe place for people in need. Winning a service award from the state of Utah. Bob can no longer enjoy doing these things.

Bob’s medical issues began with a rock-climbing accident in 2005. Bob Fell 50 feet while climbing with his son Craig in Alta, Utah. The fall resulted in Bob losing 20% of his frontal lobe and needing emergency surgery to repair his cervical and thoracic vertebrae. After the accident, Bob suffered from extreme, crimpling neck and head pain for over a decade. Bob has had five cervical surgeries to address his pain.

On November 16, 2018, Bob suffered a dissected aortic aneurysm. It was nothing short of a miracle that the heart surgeon was in the hospital when the EMTs arrived at the Emergency Room with Bob. Unfortunately, throughout the healing process, Bob’s crippling headaches persisted.

September 24th, 2019, Bob had another cervical fusion. During the surgery, the surgeon discovered an infection in his vertebrae. Bob received eight weeks of IV antibiotics, and they thought the infection was gone. But it was not. On Christmas day 2022, we rushed Bob to the ER. They discovered the infection in his vertebrae had grown extensively, and Bob would need emergency surgery.

On Jan 6th, 2023, the surgeon opened Bob’s neck from the front. He washed out almost an inch-thick wall of bacteria. The bones were so infected that they could not hold the screws to hold the neck in place. Then on Jan 8th, 2023, Bob went back into surgery again. This time the bones were so soft and mushy from the infection, the Dr could only put screws in certain places. So, they took a bone graph from Bob's hip to reinforce his vertebra. After the surgery, Bob woke up on life support. This is the third time in Bob's life that he’s woken up on life support.

The surgeon told us if the infection is in his hardware, it may be impossible to treat. Bob has a 50% chance of beating this infection. And he will.

If you can please donate to help my parents it would be greatly appreciated. It truly breaks my heart to see them struggle when they are such great individuals who deserve to be healthy, happy and well.

You are loved.