Emergency Medical Fund for Betty Boyles Briskin
Donation protected
Almost 5 years ago my mother Betty Boyles Briskin had Lumbar surgery on her spine. The surgery was botched by a well-known local neurosurgeon in Cape Coral, Lee County, Florida. The surgery was completely unsuccessful even though he gave her an 85-90% or more success rate to get through it with no real problems. After discovering the surgery had not gone well, the surgeon told her she would have a very long period of recovery and there was so much wrong with her back, even though he didn’t tell her that from the beginning. He eventually decided to walk away from her case. Several days later after she was sent home we noticed a redness forming around her 7 inch lumbar surgical scar. We were told after a phone call to their office that she should start taking antibiotics prescribed by the doctor’s P.A. after they brought her in to look at the wound with her surgeon nowhere in sight! We tried several different antibiotics over a period of a few weeks that the P.A. suggested to get rid of the infection. As time went on the wound just got progressively worse. Being her caregiver, I called an ambulance and had her taken back to the hospital. When she arrived at the emergency room they took cultures and sent them to pathology and found out that the wound was infected with MRSA. Mom was being treated with the wrong antibiotics for many weeks by the surgeons P.A. supposedly at the request of the surgeon. The hospital called in an infectious disease and wound specialist who indeed pronounced it MRSA and said she needed to have the scar debrided and cleaned of the MRSA immediately. Mom was violently ill by this time. The specialist required that a different surgeon from the Neurological group do the procedure to debride and clean the wound and re suture it. .After cleaning up the infection by surgery, she was told by the new surgeon that many of her nerves were affected or cut improperly by the first surgeon. Her back would only get much worse now with age and time. After the surgery the Neurological group dropped her as a patient in fear of a lawsuit.
Mom eventually had to go into Pain Management now and was put on Morphine ER 15mg twice a day and Hydrocodone 10/325 1 tablet every eight hours. Regardless of the opioids her pain is normally at least 9 out of 10 daily. This was a businesswoman use to running her own business and now she could barely get out of bed.
She was left crippled in her legs and numb in her feet with such terrible pain, she can now barely stand it! Her feet and and hands will start to claw all of a sudden and it has forced her to remain mostly bed ridden. She can barely walk with a walker and is a terrible fall risk as she has broken both hips from falls because she isn’t steady. The first hip replacement she had was a complete failure also! Unfortunately, now no doctor can seem to help her down here in Cape Coral, Florida. We need everyone's help and we know this is a pandemic and many people are challenged financially and feeling the financial pain this has brought many of us. We now need to take mom up to the northern states by air ambulance, which is very costly since she is in no condition to travel by car or commercial airlines. We would be looking into further treatments offered to her by Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and Northwestern Hospital in Chicago. If only they allowed stem cell research to further progress as she really needs a new spine. By the way, the surgeon operated on my mom 6 times prior to her lumbar surgery and she really trusted him. It turns out that even the Kyphoplasty’s he did for her over the years were done sloppy and cement from them was all over her spine causing other problems .
It has been very difficult trying to keep mom from catching the Coronavirus, since she is so susceptible to catching everything in her hospital stays. She has suffered from Pseudomonas, C-Diff, H Pylori and MRSA while being treated in the hospital just within the last few years! Mom nearly died at the beginning of 2020 from C-diff, a horrible form of stomach bacteria that causes bloody stools and massive dehydration due to being put on many different antibiotics in the hospital. She has been in and out of the hospital at least 10 times in the last year and taken by ambulance every time! Luckily, I have kept her safe from the Coronavirus which would surely kill her with her asthma and poor health. She is a wonderful mom and grandmother and has been a very good person to help many people during her lifetime. She helped my grandmother and grandfather through their illnesses before their deaths. My uncle’s wife had terminal cancer and she flew into Chicago many years ago, to help my uncle and his family. She helped my uncle face the death of his wife who was dying of Stage 4 cancer.
Mom hasn’t gotten any better and I feel that if I don’t get her help soon to the northern states to better clinics and hospitals, that she will die. She is my heart and soul. She now suffers with Wet Macular Degeneration (The Eye patch after surgery), A horrible swallowing problem made much worse after she was crippled by the surgery. Her stomach is always upset after having the C-Diff and she is becoming increasing upset with her life and her inability to barely walk, wash herself or do anything for herself. She still has good Cognitive thinking and doesn’t feel it is her time yet! Recently, as you see by the picture,mom's spine has a badly bulging disk! This makes our trip up north even more important as we have exhausted any or all medical help here in Florida
Would it be too much for everybody to donate what you can to help her?
We are trying to raise a minimum of about $20,000 or more during the month of November. This is a large amount of money we realize, but necessary to facilitate what we need to do such as Air Ambulance, Unreimbursed medical expenses and Living and lodging expenses during the trip. I hope I am asking for enough, I am determined as her daughter to give her back a better life than being bed ridden most of the time and unable to walk properly without assistance. Mom falls with the walker that Medicare gave her and requires additional medical equipment that is expensive and Medicare doesn't pay for She needs to drink boost at times as she can’t swallow well at times with that swallowing problem, She needs to have several large skin cancers looked at and evaluated by specialists.
I will of course be away with her from my in-home business for a undetermined amount of time, while we travel to see those doctors, clinics and hospitals. My business is really suffering during the Coronavirus with no help in the future even though Coronavirus is getting worse! Specialists up north seem much more qualified and are using techniques that might possibly restore her health to a better quality of life.
She has great pride though even though I have to help her wash and take care of things for her she would normally do by herself. Mom was always an active and viable businessperson her whole life. She helped me to learn a lot about how to run a business and to think positive about life and its challenges. She was a pioneer in the 1960's as she raised me by herself and ran a bridal shop in Chicago for many years to help support us when women didn’t own businesses during that time period.
If I don’t get help with donations to take her now to see specialists, I am afraid we will lose her soon. I love her with all my heart and soul!!!I am asking everybody to help her and our family to be able to help my mom. She didn’t deserve this and I even contacted the surgeon who caused this all by mail. I asked him to help her and provide her with funds so she could get the help she needed in those fine clinics and hospitals. He never answered me. His attorney wrote me a letter telling me that his client wasn’t responsible for my mom and I needed to stop contacting him or else. He was worth millions of dollars and had been sued for malpractice several times and it would just go away! When I finally choose legal action, no local attorney wanted to sue him and most attorneys in Florida said he would just tie it up in court and mom might die before she even collected any money!
May God bless everyone that feels they can help us! These are truly challenging times for most of us!!! Help bring mom some happiness and give her a final chance to get some really badly needed specialty medical help. She is so worried that I am worn out, because I am in remission for several years after almost dying of colon cancer. I will help her till I take my last breath if I need to as she means the world to me. Our family is having some very difficult times right now with mom so sick and the pandemic raging again! She is also worried I will lose my business and we would be out on the street with how bad sales have been during this pandemic. Your help for my mom and our family will forever bring great happiness, that we tried our very best to improve her quality of life and allow her not to have to worry about finances while we get her more qualified medical help!
God Bless Everybody and Stay Safe from the Virus,
Melanie Briskin for my mother Betty Boyles Briskin
Fully infected part of her 7" Lumbar Operation scar with MRSA along scar!
Spine Bulging disk different angle
Spine Bulging Disk so dangerous!!!
C-Diff from Hospital Antibiotic infection!!!This nearly took her life in the hospital ER!!!Stool is bloody tarry black!
Mom eventually had to go into Pain Management now and was put on Morphine ER 15mg twice a day and Hydrocodone 10/325 1 tablet every eight hours. Regardless of the opioids her pain is normally at least 9 out of 10 daily. This was a businesswoman use to running her own business and now she could barely get out of bed.
She was left crippled in her legs and numb in her feet with such terrible pain, she can now barely stand it! Her feet and and hands will start to claw all of a sudden and it has forced her to remain mostly bed ridden. She can barely walk with a walker and is a terrible fall risk as she has broken both hips from falls because she isn’t steady. The first hip replacement she had was a complete failure also! Unfortunately, now no doctor can seem to help her down here in Cape Coral, Florida. We need everyone's help and we know this is a pandemic and many people are challenged financially and feeling the financial pain this has brought many of us. We now need to take mom up to the northern states by air ambulance, which is very costly since she is in no condition to travel by car or commercial airlines. We would be looking into further treatments offered to her by Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and Northwestern Hospital in Chicago. If only they allowed stem cell research to further progress as she really needs a new spine. By the way, the surgeon operated on my mom 6 times prior to her lumbar surgery and she really trusted him. It turns out that even the Kyphoplasty’s he did for her over the years were done sloppy and cement from them was all over her spine causing other problems .
It has been very difficult trying to keep mom from catching the Coronavirus, since she is so susceptible to catching everything in her hospital stays. She has suffered from Pseudomonas, C-Diff, H Pylori and MRSA while being treated in the hospital just within the last few years! Mom nearly died at the beginning of 2020 from C-diff, a horrible form of stomach bacteria that causes bloody stools and massive dehydration due to being put on many different antibiotics in the hospital. She has been in and out of the hospital at least 10 times in the last year and taken by ambulance every time! Luckily, I have kept her safe from the Coronavirus which would surely kill her with her asthma and poor health. She is a wonderful mom and grandmother and has been a very good person to help many people during her lifetime. She helped my grandmother and grandfather through their illnesses before their deaths. My uncle’s wife had terminal cancer and she flew into Chicago many years ago, to help my uncle and his family. She helped my uncle face the death of his wife who was dying of Stage 4 cancer.
Mom hasn’t gotten any better and I feel that if I don’t get her help soon to the northern states to better clinics and hospitals, that she will die. She is my heart and soul. She now suffers with Wet Macular Degeneration (The Eye patch after surgery), A horrible swallowing problem made much worse after she was crippled by the surgery. Her stomach is always upset after having the C-Diff and she is becoming increasing upset with her life and her inability to barely walk, wash herself or do anything for herself. She still has good Cognitive thinking and doesn’t feel it is her time yet! Recently, as you see by the picture,mom's spine has a badly bulging disk! This makes our trip up north even more important as we have exhausted any or all medical help here in Florida
Would it be too much for everybody to donate what you can to help her?
We are trying to raise a minimum of about $20,000 or more during the month of November. This is a large amount of money we realize, but necessary to facilitate what we need to do such as Air Ambulance, Unreimbursed medical expenses and Living and lodging expenses during the trip. I hope I am asking for enough, I am determined as her daughter to give her back a better life than being bed ridden most of the time and unable to walk properly without assistance. Mom falls with the walker that Medicare gave her and requires additional medical equipment that is expensive and Medicare doesn't pay for She needs to drink boost at times as she can’t swallow well at times with that swallowing problem, She needs to have several large skin cancers looked at and evaluated by specialists.
I will of course be away with her from my in-home business for a undetermined amount of time, while we travel to see those doctors, clinics and hospitals. My business is really suffering during the Coronavirus with no help in the future even though Coronavirus is getting worse! Specialists up north seem much more qualified and are using techniques that might possibly restore her health to a better quality of life.
She has great pride though even though I have to help her wash and take care of things for her she would normally do by herself. Mom was always an active and viable businessperson her whole life. She helped me to learn a lot about how to run a business and to think positive about life and its challenges. She was a pioneer in the 1960's as she raised me by herself and ran a bridal shop in Chicago for many years to help support us when women didn’t own businesses during that time period.
If I don’t get help with donations to take her now to see specialists, I am afraid we will lose her soon. I love her with all my heart and soul!!!I am asking everybody to help her and our family to be able to help my mom. She didn’t deserve this and I even contacted the surgeon who caused this all by mail. I asked him to help her and provide her with funds so she could get the help she needed in those fine clinics and hospitals. He never answered me. His attorney wrote me a letter telling me that his client wasn’t responsible for my mom and I needed to stop contacting him or else. He was worth millions of dollars and had been sued for malpractice several times and it would just go away! When I finally choose legal action, no local attorney wanted to sue him and most attorneys in Florida said he would just tie it up in court and mom might die before she even collected any money!
May God bless everyone that feels they can help us! These are truly challenging times for most of us!!! Help bring mom some happiness and give her a final chance to get some really badly needed specialty medical help. She is so worried that I am worn out, because I am in remission for several years after almost dying of colon cancer. I will help her till I take my last breath if I need to as she means the world to me. Our family is having some very difficult times right now with mom so sick and the pandemic raging again! She is also worried I will lose my business and we would be out on the street with how bad sales have been during this pandemic. Your help for my mom and our family will forever bring great happiness, that we tried our very best to improve her quality of life and allow her not to have to worry about finances while we get her more qualified medical help!
God Bless Everybody and Stay Safe from the Virus,
Melanie Briskin for my mother Betty Boyles Briskin
Fully infected part of her 7" Lumbar Operation scar with MRSA along scar!
Spine Bulging disk different angle
Spine Bulging Disk so dangerous!!!C-Diff from Hospital Antibiotic infection!!!This nearly took her life in the hospital ER!!!Stool is bloody tarry black!
Organizer
Melanie Briskin
Organizer
Cape Coral, FL
