Help Charles Overcome Rare Fungal Arthritis & Amputation

My name is Melissa. I have been a homeschooling, stay at home mom for the last 10 years. My husband is Charles. He’s an amazing husband and father. He has been suffering with an unknown knee issue for the last 10+ years. After 2 orthopedic surgeries 8 years ago, they didn’t know what they could do so they referred him to rheumatology. He didn’t ever test positive for rheumatoid arthritis but they assumed he was seronegative and started him on methotrexate, then humira, then enbrel then orencia. None of these medications ever really helped much but he trusted the doctors and continued to take them. If you’ve seen the advertisements for these injections they say “people with certain fungal infections should not take this” - well, he is the one with that certain fungal infection. And nobody checked for it before prescribing these medications. Unbelievable, I know.

We became nomadic for a while in our Toyota camper from 2017-2019 because he was immobile and applying for disability which was denied. His knee would blow up to the size of a volleyball. The doctors never had any answers. From Kauai to California, to Maine and finally to Illinois - no answers. And NO ONE EVER TESTED HIS KNEE FLUID. Finally, this year he asked for a 2nd opinion to get away from the local orthopedic office that kept draining and injecting him with zero answers and by godsend ended up at Barnes Jewish Hospital/Washington university in St. Louis where they finally tested his knee fluid and found he was infected with Candida Fungus in his knee and suffering from rare septic fungal arthritis for the last 10+ years. Since April when he found out he has had 2 washout surgeries and both have been unsuccessful even with a daily dose of 800mg of Fluconazole. His hair is falling out, he’s lost 30 pounds, his skin is shedding and he is still immobile. Yesterday he was feverish and the pain was unbearable, so we went in for an emergency appointment where his C-reactive protein and nucleocytes were through the roof. They admitted him immediately.

He is now at the point where a knee amputation is his best option. A rotationplasty will be performed in the next few days where they cut off his femur and his shin and attach his ankle/foot backwards where the knee would be. The infected knee will be removed. The backwards ankle will serve as his new knee joint and he will be able to be fitted for a prosthesis so he can still play with our young sons (ages 8 & 10) and maybe still have the hope to surf and swim again.

I’ve been working nights at Sam’s Club and trying to do it all with the homestead and 10 chickens, 2 cats and 2 boys. I’m going to have to take a leave of absence from work to help him get through this traumatic surgery (it’s about 2 hours to St Louis from our home) while my 74 year old father stays back to watch the kids and animals for me. I can’t stop crying when I’m alone but I put on my brave face for my kids and husband.

I’m just looking for a little help to get us through the next few months until I can get back to working while I help him heal and care take care of him and the kids. Anything will help. I make groceries stretch a long way and do most things from scratch and mow the yard etc by myself. Thank you for reading.