Help us Move for Granny Muffins!
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Many people don’t have a grandmother, I was blessed enough to have a literal walking saint of woman. Through all the chaos of her life, the woman I so lovingly call Granny-Muffins, has lived up to her very high moral standard in that she wanted to essentially treat people and literally do everything thinking, “How would Jesus do this?” She was by far the most true example of a real christian - showing love to everyone she crossed paths with. I cannot tell you how many times I remember going and helping people, How many times she would remind me to do the right thing and be courteous, helping seniors, helping distant family members, just trying to be the best person she absolutely positively could be. I literally cannot stress this enough. She is amazing.
Currently at age 92 she is living all alone in a suburb of Detroit and I know that she needs me. This makes the decision a non-issue, we have to move to get up there and help her. Our entire house is basically packed up and we have to be out at the end of the month. She has actually come to visit as I started writing this and during this trip I see ever so badly what I have been fighting and trying to find solutions for, going on for about ten years now, that she absolutely needs someone to be there for her and she will not be comign to Florida. She is extremely stubborn (Probably what kept her around this long ;) )about wanting to stay in Michigan, wishing to leaving this world in her sleep in bed at home. Can you blame her? After living through the Great Depress, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, The 80’s The 90’s, Y2K, 9/11, The woman has literally seen the world go from just the beginnings of automobiles to seeing technology literally take over and restructure very unfamiliarly to her the world around her. She is pretty much a blast from the past, stuck in her ways. The issue with this is she likely needs assistance to do most tasks you and I don’t even consider the time we put into the issue like opening a bottle of water, or remembering to stay hydrated as she has been hospitalized multiple times for dehydration. Something as simple as finding her grandsons phone number to call in an emergency could be a serious and tremendous overtaking, and often with many other misplaced necessities, glasses, keys… I want to try to find smart and easy solutions to help my grandmother have the absolute most comfortable and safe environment to give her what she told me she wants; to stay out of a nursing home; and ultimately to die in her home.
As I mentioned; For ten years I’ve asked her to come stay with me saying I would gladly get a bigger place and give her her own entire area for privacy but just so that I could be there for her like she was for me. She was the one that bought me my first guitar, always got me books to learn, kept me in Karate, always made sure we had food when times were tough, always would take me school supply shopping… My parents got divorced when I was three or four and I would say in a very big way it’s as if my grandmother without a moments hesitation just decided that she was going to look out for me as if I were her own. You know what’s amazing about this? This woman shares not one drop of blood with me or my mother yet this amazing woman has been there for me and treated me better than any one else on the planet. I love her like I cannot express. She simply is a gift from god to this world and Anyone that has met her I promise you agrees. That is why I am so confident that this asking for help to help her may actually, no it will… Just work! Let’s continue…
Myself, Brad, I have an auto-immune disease that is super rare. I need to slow down as I am already running at my maximum capacity in both my work, and in dealing with my health. I see this as a fork in the road and in many ways it feels like God is almost telling me that I need to do this and in that I feel that while this crowdfunding may be a leap of faith, I feel that it absolutely can and will work when people understand the severity of this cause. Stress essentially will kill me. My body attacks itself, literally shutting down and very painfully system by system causing all sorts of issues from kidney failure, respiratory issues (during the first round the most painful part were the 38 holes in my lungs, literally coughing up blood wheezing and whimpering in pain)… I never knew just how much I would live up to the tattoo on my left forearm - STRONGER THAN ALL.
The name of the autoimmune disease is Wegener's Granulomatosis with Polyangitis or Wegeners Disease. You’ve probably never heard of it. I want to do as much as possible to tell my story… I have been working on a book since 2012 with the goal to empower those who are in similar situations to my own and that I’ve been told many times that my life doesn’t even sound like it could be real, it sounds like a movie… and honestly at times I have to say it really feels like that. I had to fight the system, was able to eventually get 4 rounds of a newer experimental chemo drug, Rituxamab that allowed me to successfully holistically keep myself in remission for three years. I want to write about what I did, what worked, what didn’t work, what hurt, what helped, and as much as I can for anyone that has the disease I have…
In short here is a description of symptons from the wiki page link below,
"Kidney: rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (75%), leading to chronic kidney failure
Upper airway, eye and ear disease:
Nose: pain, stuffiness, nosebleeds, rhinitis, crusting, saddle-nose deformity due to a perforated septum
Ears: conductive hearing loss due to auditory tube dysfunction, sensorineural hearing loss (unclear mechanism)
Oral cavity: strawberry gingivitis,[9] underlying bone destruction with loosening of teeth, non-specific ulcerations throughout oral mucosa
Eyes: pseudotumours, scleritis, conjunctivitis, uveitis, episcleritis
Trachea: subglottal stenosis
Lungs: pulmonary nodules (referred to as "coin lesions"), infiltrates (often interpreted as pneumonia), cavitary lesions, pulmonary haemorrhage causing haemoptysis, and rarely bronchial stenosis.
Arthritis: Pain or swelling (60%), often initially diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis
Skin: nodules on the elbow, purpura, various others (see cutaneous vasculitis)
Nervous system: occasionally sensory neuropathy (10%) and rarely mononeuritis multiplex
Heart, gastrointestinal tract, brain, other organs: rarely affected."
I have nosebleeds whenever I don't sleep well, I often have trouble walking from swollen lymph nodes and general arthritic type pain from joint inflammation, but the more serious issues are that without a regular visit and testing irrepairable damage can occur from the body attacking itself through the swelling of blood vessels that personally I will never let stop me, even in this moving across the country at the harshest time of winter...
To learn more about Wegeners check out these links:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granulomatosis_with_polyangiitis
- http://www.findarthritistreatment.com/top-5-causes-of-wegeners-granulomatosis/
- https://patricebrown.wordpress.com/books/
There is an issue though. Currently my girlfriend and I are living in Naples, Florida and while my business is definitely starting to absolutely take off, the expenses of it and more heavily my medical bills in addition the very high cost of living in South West Florida have made it near impossible to save up to move while we have discussed it at length many, many times.
This is a long shot. This is asking for a miracle.
The first miracle is to be able to move to Detroit and to be able to do the right thing and be there for literally the most saint-like woman I have ever met on the face of the planet - My Granny Muffins. If I do not do this I will never forgive myself and I refuse to live with that regret. For her - the world, the moon, the sun and stars. This woman practically raised me, always looked out for me, got me my first guitar, always supported my passion for music, literally even financed my first Mac computer that kickstarted my business allowing me to start working for myself and following my dreams and my passion.
As far as my business, I have “paid my dues” so to say in that I have charged much less than my competitors and offered twice as much while getting paid a quarter of what they were. I worked smart, but far too hard. I absolutely see and know all of the points that I need to change with my business but the only way to do this is to STOP running 100 miles an hour all day, every day, trying to juggle everything from my health, trying to help my grandmother from afar, client issues that may arise, trying to at least give some quality time to the most amazing girl in the world, Christina who relentlessly is my by side, ready and willing to goto Detroit just to be there for me... I'm lucky and she certainly loves me totally unconditionally, as I her. I'm very grateful I found her.
Regarding our current living situation We have to be out by the end of month of our rental house in Naples, FL and We have everything we need except the money. We have the drive. We are getting rid of as much as we can that we don’t need. Moving I know will be expensive and honestly I know that it will take some time for new business leads to build up there, while some clients may not want to continue working remotely, I do believe with the relationships I have built with most, that a majority will work remotely… That’s not the issue, the issue is I again need to take a break. We need to focus, regroup, help my grandmother right off the bat clear off an area so that we can even stay with her, and then slowly help her get her life in order to make sure everything is as easy as possible. I want to also blog and write about this to spread the word on products that help, life hacks that made her life easier, again what did and didn’t work. She is absolutely wiling and ready to be a part of this and when I told her how many people around the would we could help, just by asking for help… her eyes lit up something magical…
This woman has been helping people her entire life… I am asking, Please, Help me help her, Granny Muffins - the most important woman on the face of the planet to me, My grandmother, this sweet, beautiful, kind and majestic creature that has done nothing but try to do the right thing, in her words, “As Jesus would…”
I hate to ask for a hand out, but in that I have not had the time to actually give my body the rest and the attention that it deserves because I have had to do what it took to survive and pay in the mean time to make sure I could cover rent, food, vitamins, medicines (the highest at one point was $1800 a month) whatever I had saved was shot, My parents tried to help when I got out of the hospital and blew a lot of money on medicine…I had to fight so hard to get any assistance, do you know why? I was asked again and again if I had any minority claims to call, any distant heritage. Nope. My mom was adopted. I’m just an american white, male, born and raised in the USA, who happens to be a little, okay a lot alternative, but that’s just my style.. I’m a teddy bear on the inside. I had to fight and strive to get any support. I remember at one point, I literally was unable to walk, unable to lift a fork and feed myself, unable to take myself to the bathroom and do what I needed to do… and I walked two steps too far to be approved for help. The medical system is so extremely difficult to navigate and it literally feels like the entire world is sometimes collapsing on top of you when you have to not only a) not stress because that will get you sick, b) still work and make sure you can pay to eat, vitamins, medicine, rent, power, water, etc…) c) I believe strongly in trying to be as drug-free as possible only taking pharmaceuticals when absolutely nessecary and honestly I would prefer to be on none but when needed I suppose its true they did save my life multiple times…At one point I was able to get disability for my condition but literally after a month or two the second I tried to work all benefits were revoked so basically unless you are willing to hide your income and be fraudulent and take advantage of the system, for being honest and trying to survive I quickly learned I had to depend on my skills not any type of governmental assistance. For the past several years I have been doing much better when I take the time to allow my body to rest, when I don't overwork and stress myself out...
If I was able to go up to Detroit in the first place I would be able to the do the absolute most important part of this message for help and that is be there for my grandmother but I also will be able to finally rest for a couple months, regroup and restructure my business, to honestly be able to live to my girlfriend who I am so lucky that she has stuck by my side, most of the issues telling me along the way even though much was out of our control… I have an amazing team but like I said we are short on the money part that will make it all possible. If this really spreads and is shared I am hoping that people will see that I will use this an opportunity to help others, to help my grandmother and document the time we can share together, while also sharing what helps her with others just in the same as what I would love to do with my book and trying to help those that have struggling with my disease. I have a story to tell and everyone that I have told has said, “I would buy that book!”… I haven’t even mentioned my music! I have so much that I want to put out and to try to change the world, to make a shift for a better place, but I need a kick start.
Here is the list of everything that we need in list of priority to the subject matter:
Moving to Detroit:
- Renting a vehicle to drive with the dogs up van is $1k, SUV is $900, so instead we probably will just get a Uhaul or Penske truckwhich at about $900 for the truck and $500 for gas would save us some instead of going for a POD and a rental car...
- Food money for drive. Again with my auto-immune disease I don’t need 5 star dining but I can’t eat crap… We try to eat as healthy as possible while not breaking the bank. Lately its been very fun learning to cook together and trying new recipes. On all of our past trips (We’ve done this before :) ) we usually prepare and bring a ton of snacks to save costs on gas station snacks… This absolutely will be a section in the book - Traveling for an emergency on a budget.. How to source and price everything out, what we did and what worked… Someday soon!!! Last time we’d stop at Whole Foods and eat maybe a soup, or again snack with our cooler. I have many health food items that work wonders for when the pain peers it’s ugly head up, or when feeling the malaise of Wegener’s such as Kombucha, which I can tell you I can feel the difference if a little under the weather. GT’s GIngeraide is my favorite but at $3-4 a pop I try to do this rather than drink expensive coffee or a lot of soda.
- This ones a joke, kind of - but a miraculous snow free sun melting the path Three day break in the weather for a smooth drive from SWFL to Metro Detroit ;)
- Someday this spring or summer Building a fence at her house would run $1500-$3500 if we do it ourselves from what I’ve found online… This would be so that the dogs can run around… Our two dogs and my Grandma’s dog… She really is too old to have a dog but she loves it so dearly and says that she, Baby is her name, saved her in that the love and affection makes her so happy and keeps my Granny Muffins keeping on keeping on.. The issue is though that she is not capable of ever walking the dog (a very bad breed choice was suggested by a friend that I think was trying to help but ultimately got my Grandma a very high energy Jack russel Rat Terrior Chihuahua type mix dog that obviously would want to run run run… Instead she baby and coddles it endlessly but the dog has been trained to pee in a box inside because she can’t walk her in the snow or ice.. Again she really didn’t need a dog when she couldn’t physically take care of it but it would absolutely break her heart to lose the pup.. The dog already had a very expensive kidney stone issue a year or so ago costing my Granny $1600 and as luck would have it literally on this trip Baby got two more kidney stones which cost her another $1000 on a credit card. The whole while I have to be honest I’m thinking she doesn’t need this dog but she loves it so much, I took her to the best vet I’ve ever found in my life (and I’ve had quite a few pets growing up), The Old 41 Animal Hospital on Old 41 in Bonita Sprngs, Florida.. Dr. Gregory recommended switching her to Royal Canine SO and I totally believe as long as someone is there to make sure (us) that no one gives the dog table scraps and that we are there to take the dog out, and even more wonderfully if they had a fence around the yard, the dogs would have it made. This would absolutely make my grandmother happy, and would make life easier for both Christina and I in that we could play with them right in our back yard. I know a fence definitely isn’t an emergency and can’t even be done until it warms up.
- Brad's medicine is $500/ month. At one point it was $1800 a month. I try to do this on my own, not that I really have anyone to ask for help anyones, but this alone is pretty much the reason I can’t afford the next item that would dramatically help and make my life much easier…
- Brad's Insurance is $700 a month and never have been able to afford. I have looked into Obamacare but with the kind of disease I have it’s far better to have good insurance and goto specialists and people that have dealt with it. There are very few, but when I have a way to work with them, this doesn’t feel like an option at all… again if I wasn’t spending so much on my cost of living this will become another mandatory expense. I have been told there is a possibility at least here in Florida, I hope there as well that Chrirstina and I could do a group plan for my LLC and it would actually be less.. We will see but I know I need this because even though for three years after I got out of the hospital I was able to stay healthy, when issues come up I can die Very quickly if I am not aware. To top it off the tell tale sign of blood in your urine or stool - I cannot even tell because I am colorblind. At least I see the world differently than everyone else, but that brings me to my next item.
- Not a necessity but I know this would be extremely helpful and I would absolutely cry the first time putting them on, they have come up with Colorblind glasses… Being that I do graphics and a ton of color-heavy related work its a miracle I’ve been blessed to be able to teach myself a way around it, using hex codes, and actually devising a system comparing colors to notes and filling in what I can’t see with what I imagine based off of what I know with my utmost passion - MUSIC! Color blind glasses will run maybe $300-$500 with my prescription and all. This would help my business for sure.
- Need to take time off to help her with her medicine - making sure that she is on everything that she needs to be on, she has had two less-than-favorable doctors and many situations that were nightmares most importantly for her but also the entire family. As many will connect with any time she gets hospitalized I immediately block off about 5-10 hours to make sure that they have all of her medicines right, they have often still messed them up, but again because she's alone she's going off of half-baked recommendations and honestly needs her family help to find a good doctor specializing in elderly people. I want to make sure that she is on of course what she needs for her heart, blood pressure, etc.. but I see the side effects of many of these pills will cause the issues that this beautiful angel of a woman sadly is faced with such as incontinence and the very beginnings of memory loss. All the same at 92 she absolutely should not be alone and she certainly shouldn’t be driving. There are times she’s called me and told me she needs something important, but can’t drive, we call every one possible for help but determined and independent Granny muffins ends up in my eyes dangerously driving herself. I’m not saying she's a horrible driver or senial, but at 92 why not just have her grandson that loves her more than life itself drive and help her, go get her groceries, take her to the doctors and actually goto the appointments to make sure that she is getting the quality of care that she deserves and that they aren’t just making a slew of needless followups over and over again because she has insurance. It’s really sad to see how the medical system is failing from both my angle and seeing hers, I have so little faith in it and yes while we need it any one that has gone through any thing like me will tell you every step of the way is almost like a battle and you have to take tremendous care and caution to make sure you are taking the right medicine, that the doctors are all communicating and even often I’ve been, my grandmother has been even prescribed things we are allergic to and it was on the charts! She needs an advocate that with unconditional love make sure that she gets exactly the quality of care she needs and that she is never taken advantage of again.
- Not asking to be supported and to be lazy, but I know that I need to regroup business, totally restructure everything and what a better way to do it to where I can much more safely and health-conscienciously delegate tasks rather than working 12-15 hours a day when work arises.
- Help packing - we have so many friends in Naples, I’m sure this won’t be hard we can even make a party out of it…
- Help unpacking - we definitely don’t nearly know that many people up there but I’m sure we could get some help from the one friend I have a couple miles from her house, and possible offering the team of helpers maybe $50, food, and much gratitude for their help in even just getting our stuff out of the POD say into my Granny Muffins garage to be able to not have to pay extra to store the POD if Christina and I had to unload everything alone…
- Breaking my Lease. My landlord has been cool and is well aware of the situation with my Grandmother but I definitely have been worried about this but after having her down for this most recent trip it is glaring, blaring, and oh so obvious she needs to no longer live alone, and there’s no one left to go up there and be there for her but me. I want to.
- Michigan Registration fees if we bring a vehicle, We are in the process of figuring out if we can sell our two older cars that are having trouble anyways… I would love to finance a Subaru Outback maybe like a 2011/2012 or something and in time we plan to do this, the AWD will be great for Michigan winters and to make sure in case I need to goto the hospital, or my grandmother does we can… In my case especially such as for example in Naples, I have to drive 2 hours and 20 minutes which Christina has done Many times whenever I have had an issue, emergency taking me to the best hospital I have been to so far where Dr Sanjar saved my life, where I did the four rounds of chemo and even though I was going through hell where a charity case allowed me to receive just under a million dollars of medical care. I know for a fact after researching that Ann Arbor and U of M will have amazing medical facilities. In order to get a vehicle we would need downpayment, insurance, etc... so while this is a top priority moving and health issues obviously take more importance but I know this is something we have to address fairly soon as well.
- Speaking of Doctors - I Also need to take time off for health (Brad), My Dr. that saved my life, a real life “HOUSE” - Dr. Tina Sanjar at South Miami Baptist - has given me a connection to another Dr. in Ann Arbor, that should be able to help me find wonderful Doctors such as a Rheumatologist, Kidney Specialists, ENT, Foot Doctors, Pain management, etc...
I don’t want to ask for a pipe dream, Sure would new computers and a camera help our business? Absolutely! We would be making more money and able to maybe knock off items on this list much sooner, but that has not been how the cookie crumbled… Honestly whatever this campaign raises it will help… I have nearly 3,000 friends on Facebook, I’ve had half a million views on youtube… if even 10% of my friends (300) gave 5 or 10 bucks, we would have enough to just get our stuff and us up there.. We would be extremely grateful for that and any help, even if you can't afford to financial help sharing the video is just as if not even more valuable.
Any help that we receive from this will not be frivolously used, and we will absolutely be continuing on our crusade to bring more light into this world that for too long darkness has been roaring. I believe that due to the severity of the need of my grandmother, due to the amazingness of her soul and how beautiful of person she is; the fact that absolutely unconditional love is all that the woman knows… For so long she has done her part to make the world a better place. She totally listened to “Be the change she wanted to see in the world” and now it is my turn to help her. If i do not get up there I will regret this for the rest of my life. I love her so dearly this is not a choice this is what is, must and will be done. I am just asking for you guys to help to make it a little easier and less stressful on us, especially because of my healths sake. I thank everyone of you for reading this, and for taking the time even if you can’t donate please share this, post it all over the internet, share it with your friends, your family, your coworkers. Help us help granny muffins!
#HelpUsHelpGrannyMuffins
Follow Our Story on the HelpUsHelpGrannyMuffins facebook page where we will be posting updates along the trip up and making sure that all of our awesome family and friends (that might as well be family) will stay up to date with us...
It took a lot for me (Brad) to swallow my ego to ask for help but we need it and I cannot think of a better cause than to help the most important woman on the entire planet in my eyes.... I love my Granny Muffins!
I do have some friends and I'm sure there are more people in the world that may have hearing issues so in case you cannot hear or understand us in the video here is the SCRIPT FROM THE VIDEO:
Brad - Hey guys this is brad and Christina from solve design create llc and we are coming at you from what is soon to be our old headquarters while we are really excited about the new potential that this move offers us our business and our current clientele we are sad to be leaving our friends and family here in southwest florida. as with any move there are a ton of extra and sometimes unexpected expenses. unfortunately for me i have a different set of circumstances due to health issues with a large financial burden with them, and while my business is prospering and growing and I am extremely lucky to have the great clientele that i have.
Christina - The financial responsibilities that Brad and I have to cover doesn’t just include your typical overhead such as Rent, Business expenses electric and phone but they also include some rather large financial responsibilities and bills connected to Brad’s health and The treatments necessary for his autoimmune deficiency on average it costs us over a thousand dollars a month just for medicine, vitamins, insurance and doctors visits. That’s not including any specialists, flare-ups, or costly treatments to help deal with flare ups.
Brad - This combined with our regular monthly expenses and the expenses of running a business on top of the expense of moving - Christina and I are finding ourselves in a tough spot. I’m a pretty tough guy and I fought hard to be where I am and while it hurts my ego a little to do this I know that those of you that are taking the time to watch this video, hear my words, and be a part of the next step in our journey, You will understand why i need to set my pride and ego aside and I need to admit that I need help because I would be willing to help others.
Christina - We have decided to set up a gofundme page which has a more extensive version of our story viewable at gofundme.com/grannymuffins set up to help with the expenses of moving and to hopefully absorb a little bit of Brad’s medical expenses while we are settling in, caring for Granny Muffins and establishing ourselves in metro detroit. We know many people are in similar situations to us or unfortunately sometimes worse - struggling financial and so truthfully we understand that if you cannot afford to help monetarily but we would greatly appreciate if you could take a couple of seconds to share this video
Brad - This journey is about me helping my grandmother, helping to help care for her we have seen she can no longer take care of her self. If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be who I am today. I am choosing to take what some may view as an unfortunate burden or responsibility but instead i see this as an opportunity to give back to a woman who has given so much to the world in her 92 years of life and I’m choosing to turn this into a positive experience not only for her and I on a personal level but for Christina and I and our relationship and the continued growth of our business.
Christina - We hope that this message is taken as it is intended and that if you are in a positive place financially and you are able to help that you would consider doing so. We wish all of you the best, and We look forward to continuing working with my amazing clients as business continues to grows just as while we continue to grow and our business continues to grow.
Brad - We are confident that this move will push us to expand to an even greater potential and that by moving to a larger metro city that opportunities will lead to ensuring that we are always learning, staying open to making new friends and relationships and that most importantly we would never forget or leave behind our awesome clients, friends and family in Florida. Thank you for taking the time to listen, thank you for being there and a part of in our lives in whatever capacity that might have been, because with the culmination of everything to where we are today, it is You that has helped to get us us to this place where we believe in ourselves enough and where we are secure enough in ourselves to take this leap of faith and take this next step of our journey and do what I know I need to in order to be there for my grandmother and being humble enough to know when I need to admit that we need help. Thank you and have a blessed day.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT! WE LOVE YOU GUYS! HELP US HELP GRANNY MUFFINS! LETS SPREAD THE WORD!
Currently at age 92 she is living all alone in a suburb of Detroit and I know that she needs me. This makes the decision a non-issue, we have to move to get up there and help her. Our entire house is basically packed up and we have to be out at the end of the month. She has actually come to visit as I started writing this and during this trip I see ever so badly what I have been fighting and trying to find solutions for, going on for about ten years now, that she absolutely needs someone to be there for her and she will not be comign to Florida. She is extremely stubborn (Probably what kept her around this long ;) )about wanting to stay in Michigan, wishing to leaving this world in her sleep in bed at home. Can you blame her? After living through the Great Depress, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, The 80’s The 90’s, Y2K, 9/11, The woman has literally seen the world go from just the beginnings of automobiles to seeing technology literally take over and restructure very unfamiliarly to her the world around her. She is pretty much a blast from the past, stuck in her ways. The issue with this is she likely needs assistance to do most tasks you and I don’t even consider the time we put into the issue like opening a bottle of water, or remembering to stay hydrated as she has been hospitalized multiple times for dehydration. Something as simple as finding her grandsons phone number to call in an emergency could be a serious and tremendous overtaking, and often with many other misplaced necessities, glasses, keys… I want to try to find smart and easy solutions to help my grandmother have the absolute most comfortable and safe environment to give her what she told me she wants; to stay out of a nursing home; and ultimately to die in her home.
As I mentioned; For ten years I’ve asked her to come stay with me saying I would gladly get a bigger place and give her her own entire area for privacy but just so that I could be there for her like she was for me. She was the one that bought me my first guitar, always got me books to learn, kept me in Karate, always made sure we had food when times were tough, always would take me school supply shopping… My parents got divorced when I was three or four and I would say in a very big way it’s as if my grandmother without a moments hesitation just decided that she was going to look out for me as if I were her own. You know what’s amazing about this? This woman shares not one drop of blood with me or my mother yet this amazing woman has been there for me and treated me better than any one else on the planet. I love her like I cannot express. She simply is a gift from god to this world and Anyone that has met her I promise you agrees. That is why I am so confident that this asking for help to help her may actually, no it will… Just work! Let’s continue…
Myself, Brad, I have an auto-immune disease that is super rare. I need to slow down as I am already running at my maximum capacity in both my work, and in dealing with my health. I see this as a fork in the road and in many ways it feels like God is almost telling me that I need to do this and in that I feel that while this crowdfunding may be a leap of faith, I feel that it absolutely can and will work when people understand the severity of this cause. Stress essentially will kill me. My body attacks itself, literally shutting down and very painfully system by system causing all sorts of issues from kidney failure, respiratory issues (during the first round the most painful part were the 38 holes in my lungs, literally coughing up blood wheezing and whimpering in pain)… I never knew just how much I would live up to the tattoo on my left forearm - STRONGER THAN ALL.
The name of the autoimmune disease is Wegener's Granulomatosis with Polyangitis or Wegeners Disease. You’ve probably never heard of it. I want to do as much as possible to tell my story… I have been working on a book since 2012 with the goal to empower those who are in similar situations to my own and that I’ve been told many times that my life doesn’t even sound like it could be real, it sounds like a movie… and honestly at times I have to say it really feels like that. I had to fight the system, was able to eventually get 4 rounds of a newer experimental chemo drug, Rituxamab that allowed me to successfully holistically keep myself in remission for three years. I want to write about what I did, what worked, what didn’t work, what hurt, what helped, and as much as I can for anyone that has the disease I have…
In short here is a description of symptons from the wiki page link below,
"Kidney: rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (75%), leading to chronic kidney failure
Upper airway, eye and ear disease:
Nose: pain, stuffiness, nosebleeds, rhinitis, crusting, saddle-nose deformity due to a perforated septum
Ears: conductive hearing loss due to auditory tube dysfunction, sensorineural hearing loss (unclear mechanism)
Oral cavity: strawberry gingivitis,[9] underlying bone destruction with loosening of teeth, non-specific ulcerations throughout oral mucosa
Eyes: pseudotumours, scleritis, conjunctivitis, uveitis, episcleritis
Trachea: subglottal stenosis
Lungs: pulmonary nodules (referred to as "coin lesions"), infiltrates (often interpreted as pneumonia), cavitary lesions, pulmonary haemorrhage causing haemoptysis, and rarely bronchial stenosis.
Arthritis: Pain or swelling (60%), often initially diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis
Skin: nodules on the elbow, purpura, various others (see cutaneous vasculitis)
Nervous system: occasionally sensory neuropathy (10%) and rarely mononeuritis multiplex
Heart, gastrointestinal tract, brain, other organs: rarely affected."
I have nosebleeds whenever I don't sleep well, I often have trouble walking from swollen lymph nodes and general arthritic type pain from joint inflammation, but the more serious issues are that without a regular visit and testing irrepairable damage can occur from the body attacking itself through the swelling of blood vessels that personally I will never let stop me, even in this moving across the country at the harshest time of winter...
To learn more about Wegeners check out these links:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granulomatosis_with_polyangiitis
- http://www.findarthritistreatment.com/top-5-causes-of-wegeners-granulomatosis/
- https://patricebrown.wordpress.com/books/
There is an issue though. Currently my girlfriend and I are living in Naples, Florida and while my business is definitely starting to absolutely take off, the expenses of it and more heavily my medical bills in addition the very high cost of living in South West Florida have made it near impossible to save up to move while we have discussed it at length many, many times.
This is a long shot. This is asking for a miracle.
The first miracle is to be able to move to Detroit and to be able to do the right thing and be there for literally the most saint-like woman I have ever met on the face of the planet - My Granny Muffins. If I do not do this I will never forgive myself and I refuse to live with that regret. For her - the world, the moon, the sun and stars. This woman practically raised me, always looked out for me, got me my first guitar, always supported my passion for music, literally even financed my first Mac computer that kickstarted my business allowing me to start working for myself and following my dreams and my passion.
As far as my business, I have “paid my dues” so to say in that I have charged much less than my competitors and offered twice as much while getting paid a quarter of what they were. I worked smart, but far too hard. I absolutely see and know all of the points that I need to change with my business but the only way to do this is to STOP running 100 miles an hour all day, every day, trying to juggle everything from my health, trying to help my grandmother from afar, client issues that may arise, trying to at least give some quality time to the most amazing girl in the world, Christina who relentlessly is my by side, ready and willing to goto Detroit just to be there for me... I'm lucky and she certainly loves me totally unconditionally, as I her. I'm very grateful I found her.
Regarding our current living situation We have to be out by the end of month of our rental house in Naples, FL and We have everything we need except the money. We have the drive. We are getting rid of as much as we can that we don’t need. Moving I know will be expensive and honestly I know that it will take some time for new business leads to build up there, while some clients may not want to continue working remotely, I do believe with the relationships I have built with most, that a majority will work remotely… That’s not the issue, the issue is I again need to take a break. We need to focus, regroup, help my grandmother right off the bat clear off an area so that we can even stay with her, and then slowly help her get her life in order to make sure everything is as easy as possible. I want to also blog and write about this to spread the word on products that help, life hacks that made her life easier, again what did and didn’t work. She is absolutely wiling and ready to be a part of this and when I told her how many people around the would we could help, just by asking for help… her eyes lit up something magical…
This woman has been helping people her entire life… I am asking, Please, Help me help her, Granny Muffins - the most important woman on the face of the planet to me, My grandmother, this sweet, beautiful, kind and majestic creature that has done nothing but try to do the right thing, in her words, “As Jesus would…”
I hate to ask for a hand out, but in that I have not had the time to actually give my body the rest and the attention that it deserves because I have had to do what it took to survive and pay in the mean time to make sure I could cover rent, food, vitamins, medicines (the highest at one point was $1800 a month) whatever I had saved was shot, My parents tried to help when I got out of the hospital and blew a lot of money on medicine…I had to fight so hard to get any assistance, do you know why? I was asked again and again if I had any minority claims to call, any distant heritage. Nope. My mom was adopted. I’m just an american white, male, born and raised in the USA, who happens to be a little, okay a lot alternative, but that’s just my style.. I’m a teddy bear on the inside. I had to fight and strive to get any support. I remember at one point, I literally was unable to walk, unable to lift a fork and feed myself, unable to take myself to the bathroom and do what I needed to do… and I walked two steps too far to be approved for help. The medical system is so extremely difficult to navigate and it literally feels like the entire world is sometimes collapsing on top of you when you have to not only a) not stress because that will get you sick, b) still work and make sure you can pay to eat, vitamins, medicine, rent, power, water, etc…) c) I believe strongly in trying to be as drug-free as possible only taking pharmaceuticals when absolutely nessecary and honestly I would prefer to be on none but when needed I suppose its true they did save my life multiple times…At one point I was able to get disability for my condition but literally after a month or two the second I tried to work all benefits were revoked so basically unless you are willing to hide your income and be fraudulent and take advantage of the system, for being honest and trying to survive I quickly learned I had to depend on my skills not any type of governmental assistance. For the past several years I have been doing much better when I take the time to allow my body to rest, when I don't overwork and stress myself out...
If I was able to go up to Detroit in the first place I would be able to the do the absolute most important part of this message for help and that is be there for my grandmother but I also will be able to finally rest for a couple months, regroup and restructure my business, to honestly be able to live to my girlfriend who I am so lucky that she has stuck by my side, most of the issues telling me along the way even though much was out of our control… I have an amazing team but like I said we are short on the money part that will make it all possible. If this really spreads and is shared I am hoping that people will see that I will use this an opportunity to help others, to help my grandmother and document the time we can share together, while also sharing what helps her with others just in the same as what I would love to do with my book and trying to help those that have struggling with my disease. I have a story to tell and everyone that I have told has said, “I would buy that book!”… I haven’t even mentioned my music! I have so much that I want to put out and to try to change the world, to make a shift for a better place, but I need a kick start.
Here is the list of everything that we need in list of priority to the subject matter:
Moving to Detroit:
- Renting a vehicle to drive with the dogs up van is $1k, SUV is $900, so instead we probably will just get a Uhaul or Penske truckwhich at about $900 for the truck and $500 for gas would save us some instead of going for a POD and a rental car...
- Food money for drive. Again with my auto-immune disease I don’t need 5 star dining but I can’t eat crap… We try to eat as healthy as possible while not breaking the bank. Lately its been very fun learning to cook together and trying new recipes. On all of our past trips (We’ve done this before :) ) we usually prepare and bring a ton of snacks to save costs on gas station snacks… This absolutely will be a section in the book - Traveling for an emergency on a budget.. How to source and price everything out, what we did and what worked… Someday soon!!! Last time we’d stop at Whole Foods and eat maybe a soup, or again snack with our cooler. I have many health food items that work wonders for when the pain peers it’s ugly head up, or when feeling the malaise of Wegener’s such as Kombucha, which I can tell you I can feel the difference if a little under the weather. GT’s GIngeraide is my favorite but at $3-4 a pop I try to do this rather than drink expensive coffee or a lot of soda.
- This ones a joke, kind of - but a miraculous snow free sun melting the path Three day break in the weather for a smooth drive from SWFL to Metro Detroit ;)
- Someday this spring or summer Building a fence at her house would run $1500-$3500 if we do it ourselves from what I’ve found online… This would be so that the dogs can run around… Our two dogs and my Grandma’s dog… She really is too old to have a dog but she loves it so dearly and says that she, Baby is her name, saved her in that the love and affection makes her so happy and keeps my Granny Muffins keeping on keeping on.. The issue is though that she is not capable of ever walking the dog (a very bad breed choice was suggested by a friend that I think was trying to help but ultimately got my Grandma a very high energy Jack russel Rat Terrior Chihuahua type mix dog that obviously would want to run run run… Instead she baby and coddles it endlessly but the dog has been trained to pee in a box inside because she can’t walk her in the snow or ice.. Again she really didn’t need a dog when she couldn’t physically take care of it but it would absolutely break her heart to lose the pup.. The dog already had a very expensive kidney stone issue a year or so ago costing my Granny $1600 and as luck would have it literally on this trip Baby got two more kidney stones which cost her another $1000 on a credit card. The whole while I have to be honest I’m thinking she doesn’t need this dog but she loves it so much, I took her to the best vet I’ve ever found in my life (and I’ve had quite a few pets growing up), The Old 41 Animal Hospital on Old 41 in Bonita Sprngs, Florida.. Dr. Gregory recommended switching her to Royal Canine SO and I totally believe as long as someone is there to make sure (us) that no one gives the dog table scraps and that we are there to take the dog out, and even more wonderfully if they had a fence around the yard, the dogs would have it made. This would absolutely make my grandmother happy, and would make life easier for both Christina and I in that we could play with them right in our back yard. I know a fence definitely isn’t an emergency and can’t even be done until it warms up.
- Brad's medicine is $500/ month. At one point it was $1800 a month. I try to do this on my own, not that I really have anyone to ask for help anyones, but this alone is pretty much the reason I can’t afford the next item that would dramatically help and make my life much easier…
- Brad's Insurance is $700 a month and never have been able to afford. I have looked into Obamacare but with the kind of disease I have it’s far better to have good insurance and goto specialists and people that have dealt with it. There are very few, but when I have a way to work with them, this doesn’t feel like an option at all… again if I wasn’t spending so much on my cost of living this will become another mandatory expense. I have been told there is a possibility at least here in Florida, I hope there as well that Chrirstina and I could do a group plan for my LLC and it would actually be less.. We will see but I know I need this because even though for three years after I got out of the hospital I was able to stay healthy, when issues come up I can die Very quickly if I am not aware. To top it off the tell tale sign of blood in your urine or stool - I cannot even tell because I am colorblind. At least I see the world differently than everyone else, but that brings me to my next item.
- Not a necessity but I know this would be extremely helpful and I would absolutely cry the first time putting them on, they have come up with Colorblind glasses… Being that I do graphics and a ton of color-heavy related work its a miracle I’ve been blessed to be able to teach myself a way around it, using hex codes, and actually devising a system comparing colors to notes and filling in what I can’t see with what I imagine based off of what I know with my utmost passion - MUSIC! Color blind glasses will run maybe $300-$500 with my prescription and all. This would help my business for sure.
- Need to take time off to help her with her medicine - making sure that she is on everything that she needs to be on, she has had two less-than-favorable doctors and many situations that were nightmares most importantly for her but also the entire family. As many will connect with any time she gets hospitalized I immediately block off about 5-10 hours to make sure that they have all of her medicines right, they have often still messed them up, but again because she's alone she's going off of half-baked recommendations and honestly needs her family help to find a good doctor specializing in elderly people. I want to make sure that she is on of course what she needs for her heart, blood pressure, etc.. but I see the side effects of many of these pills will cause the issues that this beautiful angel of a woman sadly is faced with such as incontinence and the very beginnings of memory loss. All the same at 92 she absolutely should not be alone and she certainly shouldn’t be driving. There are times she’s called me and told me she needs something important, but can’t drive, we call every one possible for help but determined and independent Granny muffins ends up in my eyes dangerously driving herself. I’m not saying she's a horrible driver or senial, but at 92 why not just have her grandson that loves her more than life itself drive and help her, go get her groceries, take her to the doctors and actually goto the appointments to make sure that she is getting the quality of care that she deserves and that they aren’t just making a slew of needless followups over and over again because she has insurance. It’s really sad to see how the medical system is failing from both my angle and seeing hers, I have so little faith in it and yes while we need it any one that has gone through any thing like me will tell you every step of the way is almost like a battle and you have to take tremendous care and caution to make sure you are taking the right medicine, that the doctors are all communicating and even often I’ve been, my grandmother has been even prescribed things we are allergic to and it was on the charts! She needs an advocate that with unconditional love make sure that she gets exactly the quality of care she needs and that she is never taken advantage of again.
- Not asking to be supported and to be lazy, but I know that I need to regroup business, totally restructure everything and what a better way to do it to where I can much more safely and health-conscienciously delegate tasks rather than working 12-15 hours a day when work arises.
- Help packing - we have so many friends in Naples, I’m sure this won’t be hard we can even make a party out of it…
- Help unpacking - we definitely don’t nearly know that many people up there but I’m sure we could get some help from the one friend I have a couple miles from her house, and possible offering the team of helpers maybe $50, food, and much gratitude for their help in even just getting our stuff out of the POD say into my Granny Muffins garage to be able to not have to pay extra to store the POD if Christina and I had to unload everything alone…
- Breaking my Lease. My landlord has been cool and is well aware of the situation with my Grandmother but I definitely have been worried about this but after having her down for this most recent trip it is glaring, blaring, and oh so obvious she needs to no longer live alone, and there’s no one left to go up there and be there for her but me. I want to.
- Michigan Registration fees if we bring a vehicle, We are in the process of figuring out if we can sell our two older cars that are having trouble anyways… I would love to finance a Subaru Outback maybe like a 2011/2012 or something and in time we plan to do this, the AWD will be great for Michigan winters and to make sure in case I need to goto the hospital, or my grandmother does we can… In my case especially such as for example in Naples, I have to drive 2 hours and 20 minutes which Christina has done Many times whenever I have had an issue, emergency taking me to the best hospital I have been to so far where Dr Sanjar saved my life, where I did the four rounds of chemo and even though I was going through hell where a charity case allowed me to receive just under a million dollars of medical care. I know for a fact after researching that Ann Arbor and U of M will have amazing medical facilities. In order to get a vehicle we would need downpayment, insurance, etc... so while this is a top priority moving and health issues obviously take more importance but I know this is something we have to address fairly soon as well.
- Speaking of Doctors - I Also need to take time off for health (Brad), My Dr. that saved my life, a real life “HOUSE” - Dr. Tina Sanjar at South Miami Baptist - has given me a connection to another Dr. in Ann Arbor, that should be able to help me find wonderful Doctors such as a Rheumatologist, Kidney Specialists, ENT, Foot Doctors, Pain management, etc...
I don’t want to ask for a pipe dream, Sure would new computers and a camera help our business? Absolutely! We would be making more money and able to maybe knock off items on this list much sooner, but that has not been how the cookie crumbled… Honestly whatever this campaign raises it will help… I have nearly 3,000 friends on Facebook, I’ve had half a million views on youtube… if even 10% of my friends (300) gave 5 or 10 bucks, we would have enough to just get our stuff and us up there.. We would be extremely grateful for that and any help, even if you can't afford to financial help sharing the video is just as if not even more valuable.
Any help that we receive from this will not be frivolously used, and we will absolutely be continuing on our crusade to bring more light into this world that for too long darkness has been roaring. I believe that due to the severity of the need of my grandmother, due to the amazingness of her soul and how beautiful of person she is; the fact that absolutely unconditional love is all that the woman knows… For so long she has done her part to make the world a better place. She totally listened to “Be the change she wanted to see in the world” and now it is my turn to help her. If i do not get up there I will regret this for the rest of my life. I love her so dearly this is not a choice this is what is, must and will be done. I am just asking for you guys to help to make it a little easier and less stressful on us, especially because of my healths sake. I thank everyone of you for reading this, and for taking the time even if you can’t donate please share this, post it all over the internet, share it with your friends, your family, your coworkers. Help us help granny muffins!
#HelpUsHelpGrannyMuffins
Follow Our Story on the HelpUsHelpGrannyMuffins facebook page where we will be posting updates along the trip up and making sure that all of our awesome family and friends (that might as well be family) will stay up to date with us...
It took a lot for me (Brad) to swallow my ego to ask for help but we need it and I cannot think of a better cause than to help the most important woman on the entire planet in my eyes.... I love my Granny Muffins!
I do have some friends and I'm sure there are more people in the world that may have hearing issues so in case you cannot hear or understand us in the video here is the SCRIPT FROM THE VIDEO:
Brad - Hey guys this is brad and Christina from solve design create llc and we are coming at you from what is soon to be our old headquarters while we are really excited about the new potential that this move offers us our business and our current clientele we are sad to be leaving our friends and family here in southwest florida. as with any move there are a ton of extra and sometimes unexpected expenses. unfortunately for me i have a different set of circumstances due to health issues with a large financial burden with them, and while my business is prospering and growing and I am extremely lucky to have the great clientele that i have.
Christina - The financial responsibilities that Brad and I have to cover doesn’t just include your typical overhead such as Rent, Business expenses electric and phone but they also include some rather large financial responsibilities and bills connected to Brad’s health and The treatments necessary for his autoimmune deficiency on average it costs us over a thousand dollars a month just for medicine, vitamins, insurance and doctors visits. That’s not including any specialists, flare-ups, or costly treatments to help deal with flare ups.
Brad - This combined with our regular monthly expenses and the expenses of running a business on top of the expense of moving - Christina and I are finding ourselves in a tough spot. I’m a pretty tough guy and I fought hard to be where I am and while it hurts my ego a little to do this I know that those of you that are taking the time to watch this video, hear my words, and be a part of the next step in our journey, You will understand why i need to set my pride and ego aside and I need to admit that I need help because I would be willing to help others.
Christina - We have decided to set up a gofundme page which has a more extensive version of our story viewable at gofundme.com/grannymuffins set up to help with the expenses of moving and to hopefully absorb a little bit of Brad’s medical expenses while we are settling in, caring for Granny Muffins and establishing ourselves in metro detroit. We know many people are in similar situations to us or unfortunately sometimes worse - struggling financial and so truthfully we understand that if you cannot afford to help monetarily but we would greatly appreciate if you could take a couple of seconds to share this video
Brad - This journey is about me helping my grandmother, helping to help care for her we have seen she can no longer take care of her self. If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be who I am today. I am choosing to take what some may view as an unfortunate burden or responsibility but instead i see this as an opportunity to give back to a woman who has given so much to the world in her 92 years of life and I’m choosing to turn this into a positive experience not only for her and I on a personal level but for Christina and I and our relationship and the continued growth of our business.
Christina - We hope that this message is taken as it is intended and that if you are in a positive place financially and you are able to help that you would consider doing so. We wish all of you the best, and We look forward to continuing working with my amazing clients as business continues to grows just as while we continue to grow and our business continues to grow.
Brad - We are confident that this move will push us to expand to an even greater potential and that by moving to a larger metro city that opportunities will lead to ensuring that we are always learning, staying open to making new friends and relationships and that most importantly we would never forget or leave behind our awesome clients, friends and family in Florida. Thank you for taking the time to listen, thank you for being there and a part of in our lives in whatever capacity that might have been, because with the culmination of everything to where we are today, it is You that has helped to get us us to this place where we believe in ourselves enough and where we are secure enough in ourselves to take this leap of faith and take this next step of our journey and do what I know I need to in order to be there for my grandmother and being humble enough to know when I need to admit that we need help. Thank you and have a blessed day.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT! WE LOVE YOU GUYS! HELP US HELP GRANNY MUFFINS! LETS SPREAD THE WORD!
Organizer
Brad Dez Stevens
Organizer
Naples, FL