Hi, my name is Tatum.

My wonderful husband, Greg, and I met in March of 2021.

People always say, “When you meet the right person, you’ll know.”

When Greg came into my life, I finally understood that in my bones.

He captured my heart quickly and completely. He is a wonderful, brilliant, funny, kind, humble man who constantly seeks to help others in any way he can.

On November 19, 2022, just this past fall, we said, “I do.” I cried like a baby during my entire walk down the aisle because I was so deeply grateful to marry this man whom I love more than I ever thought possible.

Looking toward the future, we always knew we would face challenges together in life, but we never could have imagined the challenge we currently face.

Over the last several months, Greg has been afflicted by an illness, now suspected to be a very severe case of Central Nervous System Vasculitis attacking his body and his brain. He has suffered through strokes, heart attack, and increasingly severe unending pain. His kidney function rapidly declined, and he is now on the cusp between Stage 4 and Stage 5 Kidney Disease (very close to complete failure). He developed seizures, Congestive Heart Failure, and began to experience increasingly severe cognitive impairment. He now often struggles to walk with assistance, often struggles to even speak, and wrestles with severe memory loss, confusion, hallucinations, loss of balance, coordination, etc. His condition declined rapidly.

Through all of this, we have been in and out of countless specialists’ offices and hospitals.

Greg no longer has any memory of our wedding. Often, he does not know who I am.

Even then, though, when he doesn’t recognize me, he talks to me about how much he loves his wife and how beautiful she is.

He is the love of my life, and we are scared.

Currently (July 2023), his doctors have begun treating him with infusion treatments similar to chemo in the hopes that this “long shot” will work. We have been told this may be our only shot as the alternative course of action at this point would likely be fatal.

We desperately hope and pray that this treatment is effective, particularly since it is very high risk for someone with Congestive Heart Failure and advanced Kidney Disease.

His doctors have also told us to keep the Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, and Johns Hopkins in our back pocket. We have already contacted Mayo and Johns Hopkins and have been told we can pursue admission through General Services since he is so medically complex.

As of now, it is a waiting game…

Waiting to see if the treatments are effective (we’ve been told it could be weeks or months before we may see signs of improvement).

Waiting to see if the courts will grant my husband disability (we’ve been told he will never be able to work again).

Waiting in doctors’ offices.

Waiting for nurses to dash into my husband’s infusion room when his body reacts poorly to the treatment.

Waiting for medical bills.

Waiting on replies to patient portal messages.

Waiting for on-call physicians to contact me in the middle of the night when my husband’s symptoms worsen, or his blood pressure skyrockets, or his blood sugars blow through the roof.

Waiting for the moment when I have the honor and bliss of catching glimmers of the man I married in the midst of extraordinarily challenging days of fluctuating cognition.

In all of this, I cannot tell you how grateful we are for your prayers, encouragement, and support. We are praying and desperately hoping for the right facility, the right physicians, and the right care to successfully treat this and bring healing to my husband.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your desire to help us. We love you and are thankful for you.

Love,

Tatum and Greg

***Note: All donations received will be used for medical expenses and other costs associated with Greg's care and living expenses.

***If you would prefer to give through Venmo, our Venmo handle is @TatumSmithFFT