Help Ease the Pressure on Tim's Shoulders

Hey there, and thank you for checking out the fundraiser I've started up to help my dad.

About a decade ago, my father was diagnosed with Stage Four Lung Cancer and his doctors weren't certain about any chance of survival. After further research and lots of MRIs and CT scans, the doctors determine that the cancer cells had metastasized from the lungs to his lower back where they found a softball shaped mass at the base of his spine. He even had several small tumors in his brain. It was scary, to say the very least, but my dad's a fighter. After several months of fighting for his life with gamma knife surgeries, chemo, and radiation treatments, my dad overcame all the odds and beat his first round with cancer.

He became a walking miracle, and a walking medical mystery.

His doctors are constantly in awe of how long he's lived with his medical history, and they're always learning from his case.

And that's where the story takes a turn for the worse.

Several weeks ago, my dad started to complain of shortness of breath while trying to stand up, and he collapsed to the floor. My family then called for the local EMTs to come, and he was taken to the hospital. Once at the hospital, he was placed on oxygen and he began to throw up blood. His story nearly ended there.

It was determine that his hemoglobin had dropped from a normal 12 range down to a 3.8, which meant his was bleeding internally and they had no idea where the blood was coming from. He quickly was moved from the ER to ICU where his team of doctors began to run test after test to determine what the issue was with my dad.

After a few hours of not knowing what to do, we (my family all across the southern United States), just began to pray.

We prayed for peace.

We prayed for comfort.

We prayed for the doctors.

We prayed for one another.

It was absolutely the worse 24 hours of my life - not knowing if your dad was going to make it or not.

While he was in ICU, his GI doctor performed a procedure and discovered several bleeding ulcers within his stomach and an ulcer on the duodenum. At this time (July 12, 2021), I still don't know exactly how many ulcers were bleeding at one time, but the doctors just kept saying several. I fear there were more than what we could handle hearing.

Over the next 48 hours, we sat and prayed as a family, and my dad was starting to look and feel better.

His doctors and nurses began him on a routine of IVs, medications, and some lite physical therapy to help him feel more confident while standing.

He was doing so well that the doctors had nearly cleared him to go home, and then everything stopped.

On July 7, 2021 - his heart stopped. A nurse, and a family friend, was there while he started to code and she called for help.

He was dead - no signs of life for several minutes.

But then the team was able to bring him back, which was an absolute miracle.

He was immediately placed on a ventilator to help his body recover from the trauma he had gone through.

I rushed down from where I live in South Atlanta to be there with him in what I thought was his final hours. I was so incredibly scared. Words cannot even begin to describe the fear I felt that day.

When I got to the hospital, he was back in the ICU room and I was filled with so much fear when I saw him. To see someone you love hooked up to a machine that's helping them live . . . that's a sight I will literally never forget.

For the rest of the day, we all sat around and prayed for a miracle. The doctors discovered that the duodenal ulcer had burst and he was bleeding internally yet again. They went in and stopped the blood supply going to the ulcer and that helped to stop the bleeding.

Fear - that's all I could focus on.

. . . but then something in the air just changed . . .

Peace filled the ICU waiting room and we all just felt that things were going to get better.

That night, we all just prayed for a miracle.

and that's what happened.

At approximately 7:30 AM on July 8, 2021 my dad woke up and his nurse calmed him down so that he wouldn't try remove any of the cords that were hooked up to him.

By 8:30 AM, my mom and brother were able to go back in the room with him, and by 8:45 AM the nurses were prepping him to remove the ventilator. I was in the room when it was removed, and I was scared and happy all at the same time. My dad was still here with us but we still didn't know if all the bleeding had stopped or not. So over the course of that day, we all (his siblings, our family, and his grandkids) took turns going in and spending time with him. For someone who had literally died the day before, he actually had an incredible sense of humor about him.

Over the course of that day, his numbers began to stabilize and things were looking good, except for his hemoglobin.

As of today, July 12, 2021, we still aren't entirely sure if the bleeding has stopped or will stop. Earlier today he had another procedure to have a scope look around his stomach to check for any more bleeding, but at the time of writing this I do not know what the results were.

So, I'm starting this GoFundMe to help with the unknown - we have NO idea what's next in my dad's journey. Please consider sharing my dad's story so that someone else may find comfort in knowing that miracles still happen!

At this time, both of my parents are not working since my dad's in the hospital. All contributions will be sent directly to them to help with medical bills and living expenses.