Help for the Claudin's during a time of loss

Hi, my name is Austin and I'm fundraising money for my best friend Larry Claudin and his father, Dennis. Larry has been through a gut-wrenching couple of months, including losing his mother, his uncle and finding out that his dog has cancer. Him and his dad have had to step back significantly from their jobs for the past couple months to be able to focus on taking care of Theresa full time. Their loss of wages, coupled with the expenses from the funeral, hospital fees, and surgery for their dog has left them completely depleted and they could really use some help to get back on their feet. They would truly and wholeheartedly appreciate anything you'd be willing to donate to help them through this difficult period. Thank you so much.

I've asked Larry to share some words regarding the situation, if you would like more context.

This is not my moms whole story. It hardly scratches the surface of even the last 3 months of her life which is so chaotic and truly unbelievable that we’re still trying to figure out what happened. But for me to be doing a fundraiser for my dad and I, there should be some kind of explanation as to what happened to my mom.

In October 2023 my mom was a little over 100 pounds. In January 2024 my mom was under 75 pounds. Within these months my mom had 4 visits to the hospital. My dad and I each worked a handful of times within those months but ultimately one or both of us had to be with her at all times towards the end. Her health and weight rapidly declined as we tried to figure out what was happening.

Her last trip to the hospital was the day of the ice storm on January 22nd, 2024. She was under 75 pounds. She was taken to St. Joseph’s in Lake St. Louis where the staff was nothing short of incredible with her. Several days in, while trying to regulate her food intake, her glucose dropped to 23 (which is not good), her body temperature dropped significantly and she suffered from an internal bleed.

After she was intubated and put on a ventilator, my dad and I stayed with her in the ICU for everyday from 8 am-8 pm for a little over a week. After that she was moved to a step down unit where they tried to do everything they could to keep her body regulated in hopes of a comeback but ultimately they had done all they could do and decided to treat her solely for comfort on February 16th. My dad and I continued to stay by her side until she passed away on February 18th, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

Throughout all of this my dads brother went on hospice battling cancer and passed away a week after my mom.

Today we were told our dog, Tucker, needs to have surgery to have two cancerous tumors removed by the end of the month.

If you know us then you know asking for help isn’t something that either of us do lightly so truly anything, even just a dollar, is appreciated. Thank you.