Harvey Broxmeyer in a coma & needs medical flight

Harvey Broxmeyer was so happy to make it all the way out to California on October 25th to celebrate his 40th wedding anniversary with a family trip to Disneyland.  He had not been to Disney in nine years and his biggest worry was which rides were handicap accessible!  (How thrilled he was when the Disney cast members let him stay on the Buzz Lightyear ride twice!)

Halfway through the trip, Harvey started to become weak and lethargic and was hospitalized with a urinary tract infection.  We felt so secure of him being in a safe environment to receive IV antibiotics and were comforted that they had even decided to monitor him on the telemetry floor. 

At around 3:40 am on November 4th, we received the heartbreaking call that he was suffering from cardiac arrest and that we should come to the hospital immediately.  

They were able to resuscitate him, but he has been in a coma ever since. 

As our promise upon taking him on this vacation was to keep him safe, we so have never left his side and are still in California visiting him every day so he can hear us talking and singing to him and feel us holding his hands and touching his face.  

We watch him relentlessly when we are at his bedside and every movement he makes is so important to us.  We feel that we can identify differences in him that medical staff cannot readily see, as they need to constantly be on the move to attend to patients.  This is why we decided to continue to let him fight to stay alive and agreed to surgeries for a trach with a ventilator and a feeding tube.

Social workers have begun making arrangements for him to leave ICU to transfer into a lower level of care facility.  On December 9th, we received the miraculous news that he was going home to NJ and that insurance was going to pay for the medical flight!  

Now it is two days before Christmas and I sit here asking for help because, on December 18th, we were told that insurance will not pay for the flight, as they feel the transport would be more for family convenience and not as a medical necessity.

In our hearts, we believe that our presence is a medical necessity and that Harvey needs to continue to have us by his side if he has a chance to wake up.  

Nothing about this trip has been “convenient” and we have worked hard every day on keeping an upbeat attitude and giving Harvey positive encouragement during our visits, but we cannot stay out here indefinitely.

We have not asked for assistance with the travel bills we have accumulated from our decision to stay by his side, as it was our choice to be here for him.  But the news of the payment required for the flight is more than we can handle on our own.  We were apparently given a “discount” quote for his medical flight, otherwise it would have been over $40,000.

Any little bit of a contribution would help and would be greatly appreciated.  I do not know how we are going to accomplish this, but we promised Harvey that we would not leave him and we will not let him down.  

He is a great husband and father and has always kept a positive attitude with everything life has thrown his way.  He has never let his disabilities define him and has always loved his life and talking to people.

It would have been cruel to have left him on November 11th for our scheduled flight home.  We could not leave our loved one 3000 miles away in a time of need.

Please help us get Harvey home!