Matt's Stroke Recovery

Hi, I'm Patrick Freivald, and I'm fundraising for my best friend, Matt Rowley. Matt, only 48 years old, had a stroke last week that has paralyzed him on the right half of his body, after recovering from Covid this past winter and a heart attack last fall. He has made a little bit of progress but is still in the hospital and still very much paralyzed.

This has left him and his family with large (and pending) medical bills, and in the coming weeks and months they will need to pay for additional hospital time, inpatient and outpatient rehab, therapy, medication, plus things that insurance doesn't even touch—a mobility wheelchair, remodeling their home (at least the entryway and bathroom) to accommodate his condition, plus the lost income for himself and his wife Melissa (a nurse).

I sat down with Melissa and we think $125,000 is a realistic but possibly conservative amount to cover what they need so that Matt can come home in a few months or a year to something closer to a normal life as a husband, father, grandfather, and dear friend. Fortunately he has better insurance than he did last fall, where the bills for his heart attack were devastating, but that situation has certainly made this one that much more dire.

Anything you can give, even just the GoFundMe minimum of $5, will be most appreciated. Every penny will go toward managing Matt's hospitalization, rehabilitation, and to needed upgrades he'll need for the rest of his life.

Thank you so much.